Out of nowhere, our 6 year old daughter began biting her bottom lip until it was raw. Telling her to stop biting her lip only aggravated the situation. So, I prayed a bewildered prayer and trusted a power higher than myself to take another step to help our daughter. As was my habit, I went to her school to volunteer in her classroom. Immediately when walking into the classroom, I knew what to do: bring my mind into agreement with community compassion; sounds obscure, but soon after, our daughter stopped biting her lip.
What happened?
Our daughter’s class friend, Kyra, was biting her bottom lip and our daughter was being influenced to copy the damaging fixation. I considered manipulating the friendship so that they could not spend time together, but Kyra needed a friend. Kyra’s dad was a doctor who lately had been headline news in the community newspaper because a few of his patients were convicting him of indecent practices.
I knew the family. The news related to the dad was a heavy blow to Kyra’s mom and Kyra’s older sisters. Kyra’s mom was searching Scriptures for answers. Her religious background was different from mine, therefore I respected her path and we didn’t talk about it. I treated her as I normally did.
It was obvious that the news (now known and being gossiped about by the local mass populace) was harshly affecting Kyra and her sisters. My peace was restored as I read this from 21st Century Science and Health, “Humanity must learn that the influences of propaganda or crowd thinking are powerless. Crowd thinking is oppressive, but only a phase of nothingness. Christian Science devastates the kingdom of evil, and preeminently promotes good-will and virtue in families and therefore in the community…God is not influenced by human beings.”
Human beings automatically assume we have power to influence. We whine, threaten, coerce, or get pushy, but loss of control persists because the countercosmology that God is the only influence is the only source of control. Therefore, instead of giving human beings power to influence, my prayer was attentive to the influence of Love and Truth. If Kyra’s dad needed to be corrected by the truth, it would happen and it can be juxtaposed with love, not a “feel sorry for” love, but a “demand for integrity on the job,” love.
Nasty things happen in life and we get through the nastiness gracefully when Truth and Love, instead of peer pressure or crowd thinking, are influencing our thoughts and actions.
The prayer, grounded on the scientific fact that Truth and Love are the only influence, proved effective. Our daughter stopped biting her lip and did well in school, even while continuing her friendship with Kyra. Her dad did have to correct his ways. It wasn’t easy for the family but they were not totally ostracized in the community and the mom and daughters matured nobly.
Tagged: biting lip, books on spirituality, Christian Science, christian scientist, christian scientists, crowd thinking, doctor malpractice, peer pressure, social science, spirituality and health, spirituality and practice, the Bible, what is christian science
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