“Standing on solid ground”
/1) What did you find in the book that you would particularly like to pass along to fellow Scientists or family members or even those who know little of Christian Science?
On page 321 of We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Vol. II, under “Interpreting a dream” is an account by Anna B. White Baker of Mrs. Eddy telling her dream which she recently had: She was out on the sea in a storm and the vessel was wrecked. It was sinking. She looked in terror for her three companions, three students, and saw them on a raft. She exclaimed, “How can they be saved! They will not be able to hold on.” No vessel was in sight. The she said, “I thought not of myself, but only of them, these three beloved students, and while fear was manifesting itself greatly, suddenly I felt a solidity under me – a support. It was not the merciless water any longer. It had suddenly become solid. I was being saved and knew they would be. I was no longer afraid but realized that divine Love was protecting me and would save all who were with me.”
I felt that this book illustrated so beautifully the great love that Mrs. Eddy had for her students. It is now easy for me to see why so many people called her “Mother.”
A couple of weeks ago our daughter woke up on a Saturday not feeling well. I didn’t realize the seriousness of it until that evening when I came home from running errands and found out that she had been in bed all day, was feverish, and unable to speak or eat. I immediately called a practitioner and one of the things he said to me was “We’re on solid ground.” I was so excited to hear him say this and I asked him if he had read the book that I had been reading. He said he hadn’t yet so I was able to tell him about Mrs. Eddy’s dream and the “merciless water” becoming solid ground and how “there was no more sea.” I felt so much better after talking to him, so supported! and no longer fearful or alone. I had a wonderful time praying that evening and the next morning our daughter was her usual active self and was able to eat, drink, speak, and work on her homework. She said that the fever had left sometime during the night. We are so grateful for this healing and that she was able to be back in school on Monday morning.
Anna Baker’s account continues with Mrs. Eddy’s explanation of “what the Scripture means when it says, ‘There was no more sea’ [Rev 21:1]”:
We are on the waves of error in solution when we know not the truth of being. We are afraid, we know that we may not stem the tide. This is mortal sense. This sense overcome by spiritual knowledge destroys the fear of error and our inability to meet it; and the understanding of God and Life changes our condition of thought, fills us with truth, and realizing the presence of God, “There is no more sea” – no more error in solution, no more error, just conscious [M]ind, which overcomes all that is not [M]ind, and establishes the foundation, which is the rock of Christ.
Thinking about the power and effectiveness of standing on solid ground reminded me of an experience I had years ago (1988) when while out hiking in a marsh in Maine, I came across a man trapped in quicksand. I could hardly believe my eyes! He was up to his shoulders in it! There was nobody else around and when I told him I needed to go back to the road and to get help he pleaded with me not to leave him and convinced me to stay and help him by assuring me that there was solid ground just a few feet away from where he had fallen in. Finding this firm footing, I held out an old piece of plastic for him to grab on to and he was able to haul himself out of the mire. It all happened very quickly. Solid ground plus a willingness to help makes a world of difference!