No curse there

Sometimes when something comes at us out of the blue, it can be hard to know how to respond. That happened to me recently with a surprising, harsh comment from a friend. I didn’t respond verbally, but I was surprised at my inner reaction, which wasn’t very kind or forgiving.

Later, I began to think about it. Though I’d been silent, my inner response didn’t follow the golden rule Christ Jesus emphasized to his followers, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This bothered me, because I try to live by that rule. I also knew that thoughts – not just words – about other people and situations are important.

So I prayed about this, and a Bible story came to mind – that of a prophet named Balaam. A king named Balak came to ask Balaam to curse the children of Israel so that he could defeat them. But God said to Balaam, in effect, “I’ve already blessed them, and you cannot curse them.”

Balaam and Balak went round about this question, as Balak was insistent. But obedience to God won the day and protected the children of Israel. There was no curse there.

I realized this was an opportunity to make more real in my own life the understanding that we are all blessed by God. And because God, who is Spirit, created all – including my friend and me – in His image and likeness, we are God’s spiritual creation. We show forth God’s nature, and thus can only bless, never curse, what God has already blessed.

Recognizing these spiritual facts uplifted the way I’d been thinking about my friend and myself. This resulted in a complete turnaround in the situation with my friend. And even more than that, I was so grateful to know that this lesson I’d been shown can be applied in other situations, too, to help and heal.

We are created to bless!

Adapted from the Aug. 25, 2022, Christian Science Daily Lift podcast.