How can we feel safe?

“Be careful of the missing corner on that last step tonight,” I warned my costar during a theater production.

Luminescent tape that normally would have marked the absent triangle of that step’s edge had been removed during repairs. My colleague heeded the warning, but I somehow failed to. En route to my first entrance, I felt my foot bend at an awkward angle when it found no supporting corner.

The injury seemed serious, but I had to simply go forward with the performance. During intermission, I didn’t remove my shoe, because I was worried that the foot was too swollen to replace the shoe before Act II started. I did, however, sit quietly to take stock of the situation.

Having had previous experiences in which relying on spiritual healing proved more effective and lasting than traditional medical remedies, I began to pray. Mary Baker Eddy, the author of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” revolutionized established conceptions of prayer; the Science she discovered – and named Christian Science – proved that prayer based on the spiritual laws of God can and does have a direct effect on health and well-being.

During the several years I’d been a student of this divine Science, I’d read arresting statements in Science and Health, one of which was, “Accidents are unknown to God ...” (p. 424). Other statements in the same book describe God as omniscient – that is, knowing all.

At first, these statements seemed contradictory to me. After all, if God knows everything, I thought, He must know when accidents happen. But if we think about it more deeply, we can see that the paradox these statements seem to present isn’t a paradox at all. It’s an invitation to look at things from a higher, spiritual perspective. You could say this comes under the heading of “Things are not always as they seem.”

Let’s assume both of the following statements are true: God knows all, and He does not know accidents. The only possible conclusion in this syllogism is that accidents don’t actually occur. This conclusion is supported by another spiritual fact: God, the one omniscient Mind, is infinite, filling all space. Therefore, there is no space in which anything that isn’t known by this infinite divine Mind can exist.

Sitting backstage, I began to see that we have a tendency to divide our perception of the world into two categories: safe and unsafe. We might think we’re safe at home but unsafe on an airplane, or safe when we’re employed but unsafe when we’re not.

But did God see us, or know us, any differently when we moved, say, from backstage to onstage, or from parking lot to theater? Since God knows and upholds everything that really exists, including us, aren’t we always safe no matter where we are?

The joy of knowing that I never had been, nor ever could be, beyond the scope of divine Mind’s intelligence, divine Principle’s control, and divine Love’s tender care washed over me. I rose and took my place. When I heard my cue, I entered with authority and dominion, all pain or discomfort erased from my awareness. My foot was completely healed.

By the following night, the luminescent tape had been restored to all the unlit edges backstage, a good protocol in theatrical practice. But by then I knew I didn’t need the tape to identify a “dangerous” place. There truly is no such place.

This experience has come back to me often – for instance, when driving on a freeway or walking across a darkened parking lot. When I read news reports about war-torn areas, homeless refugees, or at-risk youth, I also reach out for this insight: Because we are all inherently spiritual, cared for by God, we could never be in danger. Each individual’s spiritual identity is whole and secure, always held in the realm of divine Mind.

A spiritual law of safety is in operation, but unless we claim the operation of that law for ourselves and bring our thoughts into alignment with it, we don’t experience its saving grace or help others do so. In her “Message to The Mother Church for 1902,” Mrs. Eddy writes, “A danger besets thy path? – a spiritual behest, in reversion, awaits you” (p. 19).

When we’re tempted to believe a danger confronts us, we have the authority to be alert and reverse that suggestion, and establish ourselves and others as embraced and upheld by the Mind that is Love, always keeping us safe.

Adapted from an article published in the Sept. 23, 2019, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.