Raise the shade!

We were having lunch at the hotel when suddenly my hostess asked me, ''What did you think of the view from your window?'' When I didn't answer immediately, she said: ''The mountains? Aren't they spectacular?''

''I didn't see any,'' I answered, a little disappointed. ''Perhaps I'm on the wrong side of the hotel.''

''Oh no,'' she replied happily. ''They're there. I told the manager to be sure and put you in a room with a good view.'' I was too polite to argue, even though I knew she was wrong.

When we finished, she followed me up to my room, strode to the window with great confidence, and raised the shade - all the way to the top. Triumphantly, she pointed at the window: ''Look up!'' There, indeed, were the magnificent Rocky Mountains.

Often since then I've remembered that day. My friend had raised the shade and said, ''Look up.'' And there, through the upper pane of the window I looked out on a never-to-be-forgotten view. Ignorance, pride, or stubborn will, if indulged , might have robbed me of that experience. These traits too often tempt us to lower our sights and limit our view - especially our view of our relationship to God.

The Psalmist prayed, ''Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.'' n1 God's law is always available to bless and to heal. God's goodness and power and love are with us now. Our willingness to lift up our eyes (be receptive to this truth) and accept the concept of God as all good; of man as made in His likeness; of our actual status as the beloved child of God, is what brings into view these ''wondrous things'' - the effects of God's law in operation.

n1 Psalms 119:18.

Christ Jesus ''raised the shade'' for all mankind, teaching us to pray, ''Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'' n2 The Master proved by his healing work that God's will is always for good. He defied the so-called laws of physiology and instead looked to his heavenly Father, to divine law. This enabled him to bring healing to the sinner and health to the diseased; to give sight to the blind, speech to the mute, life to the dead, thereby proving that the law of God is unopposable, irresistible, incapable of being obstructed or annulled.

n2 Matthew 6:10.

Christian Science follows the teachings of the Master. It points to the supremacy of divine law and to the truth of man's original, innate purity and unblemished selfhood, made in God's likeness. It teaches that as we gain a more spiritual view of ourselves and others, we begin to see evidence of the healing power of God's law. It explains the importance of lifting thought above the commonly accepted, earthly picture of existence to a new view of God and His creation as wholly good. In the proportion that we are willing to do this, we can find release from the prison of disease and sin, and help others find their freedom.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ''Goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of Truth and Love to heal the sick.'' n3

n3 Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 1-2.

More and more as we pray with the willingness and humility of the Psalmist - ''Open thou mine eyes'' - we will find our prayers being answered and we'll begin to behold those ''wondrous things.''

But what if you have a friend or a loved one who doesn't believe in God or in God's goodness and love? Does this mean that he's ignorant, stubborn, or proud? Not necessarily. He may just need someone to raise the shade. And that someone could be you! DAILY BIBLE VERSE And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. . . And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . .And God saw every thing that he had make, and, behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:3, 4, 26, 31