Accident or Design?

MY husband was just leaving for work--and the children for school--when I cut my finger, bumped my head, and dropped something heavy on my foot. I could hardly believe it! One accident right after another!

Through my study of Christian Science I had been learning to accept God's law of unassailable harmony for me and for my family. These small incidents were certainly not a part of that! I decided to postpone my morning tasks while I spent some time in prayer. Although the incidents were quite minor, I felt the need to challenge the implication that man is vulnerable to accidents, large or small.

As I prayed, I saw that an accident is simply a self-assertive, and false, claim that God is not all-powerful and is not in constant control of His creation. The spiritual fact is the reverse of material appearances, and when I looked up the word accident, I discovered that one opposite is design. Design! What a liberating, comforting thought to know that we are embraced in God's divine design and are not vulnerable to random evil.

I pictured an intricate wrought-iron gate, carefully planned and crafted. There is nothing random in such a masterfully designed work of art. Great care is given to delineate strength, function, and beauty according to the plan of the artist. Doesn't it follow, then, that God, the grand creator, would establish His creation as the very unfoldment of His design? And, because God is Spirit, that He would maintain that creation in perfect spiritual harmony?

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us: ``Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to a proper sense of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony." As we turn to the Father, God, who is infinite, unerring Mind, we leave behind ``the mortal basis" of viewing our situation--the vulnerability, chance, luck, that many believe govern them--and we embrace the uninterruptible safety and protection inherent in the kingdom of heaven, our true dwelling place.

And why is it that God holds us safe within His design? Because divine Love is law to its entire creation. Luke's Gospel records Christ Jesus as saying, ``Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? . . . Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." God cares for us because He is Love, and we are valuable and necessary in His grand design as the very expression of His love.

During the morning I gained great confidence in the fact that God's children express the unfolding of His very own plan, of His perfect design, and are not simply mortals trying to fend for themselves among evils of all sorts. I saw that my family is within the structure of God's, infinite Love's, care, guidance, and direction; that we are established in harmony and not subject to chance or circumstance. That evening, at the dinner table, one child was quiet for a few moments and then said that an intere sting thing had happened that day. She had been playing on the playground at school when she suddenly fell backward off a piece of climbing equipment. She said that the neat thing was that someone was walking by at that moment and caught her in mid-air. She had not been hurt at all.

There truly had been no accident. God's design, His law of constant care and uninterruptible harmony, was a power for good in her experience. God's ever-present love, His divine design, was greater than the human predicament and provided a solution that was no accident.