Stilling the ‘I’ of the storm
We usually receive very little impact from hurricanes where I live, but as a hurricane was approaching I found myself watching storm updates more than I normally would.
At that point I stopped and prayed. As I noticed how much unhelpful attention I was giving all the predictions being broadcast, a play on words came to mind. Instead of being concerned about “the eye of the storm,” I needed to still “the I of the storm.” This prompted me to turn my focus to what God was guiding me to observe and keep my attention there, while still taking the practical steps recommended.
I remembered a passage written by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science: “The ‘I’ will go to the Father when meekness, purity, and love, informed by divine Science, the Comforter, lead to the one God: then the ego is found not in matter but in Mind, for there is but one God, one Mind; and man will then claim no mind apart from God” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” pp. 195-196).
The idea of “going to the Father” may sometimes be thought of along the lines of the commonly accepted concept that we each have a spiritual soul and a material body, and that, when a person passes on, the soul goes to God. But, in keeping with the Bible’s declarations, Christian Science brings out that God is Spirit and is our Father. So we are each always Spirit’s offspring, solely spiritual, however hard that may be to reckon with.
Christian Science doesn’t demand blind faith and willfulness but a willingness to surrender to this higher truth. We are never on our own; God is always supporting and drawing us closer to the reality of who we are as His children.
Back to my experience that early morning, this quote made me realize that qualities such as meekness, purity, and love would be better to express than fear and speculation. And I pondered how expressing these qualities leads us up to the one God.
I found another passage in the same book that offers various ways of thinking about Divine Science or the Comforter. In part it described it as “the ‘still, small voice’ that breathes His presence and power, casting out error and healing the sick” (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 174-175). God isn’t absent and blown in like a cloud to comfort us, but is always present. In God’s presence, erroneous suggestions of any other presence or power besides God are cleared out.
The idea of letting the Comforter breathe God’s presence and power in my thought brought peace. I could cherish the qualities of meekness, purity, and love, supported by God’s continuous assurance of His presence and power. Creation was and always will be spiritual, however much the circumstances would seem to contradict that.
As I yielded to these ideas, the storm was no longer my focus. I knew I had done what I could do to prepare and went to sleep. I slept through pretty much all of the storm. When I woke up, the greater clarity of thought that I had gave me the freedom to perform, without fears that might have given me pause in the past, the tasks needed to help with repairs: like climbing trees or onto a roof, or even using a chain saw after decades of not using one.
Further evidence that I had yielded to God’s message of His presence and power was several unexpected opportunities to help others. For instance, on an early morning walk I asked God how I could be more of service and turned the corner to find a man struggling to get his fence back up so that his kids could safely play in the yard. Together we were able to take care of it quickly.
My experience may be humble, but it evidences the same presence of God that calmed a storm when Jesus commanded, “Peace, be still” (see Mark 4:35-41). In the midst of any storm, or after it, we can take a moment and let the Comforter breathe God’s presence and power, which brings tangible peace.
