Health and God's ever-presence

HAVE you ever associated ill health with some climatic condition--the east wind, excessive heat, cold, humidity? And have you ever thought of associating health with a realization of the omnipresence and power of God, whatever the climatic conditions may be? Associating good health with the ever-presence of God, who is unchanging good, helps us to see that, in the deepest, most realistic sense, there isn't any place that can be harmful to us. But if we accept the common concept of man as merely a material body governed by material conditions, whether favorable or unfavorable, we find that this acceptance acts as a law to our experience unless it is challenged. When we begin to understand instead that man is in reality wholly spiritual, the expression of God, Spirit, we find a sure foundation for health. Knowing that we're governed by God and that our selfhood is actually spiritual, invulnerable, we won't be affected by exposure to climatic conditions but will have dominion over them. A woman learned something of this one Sunday evening. She was suffering from pain and bronchial congestion, and was wondering how she could get to work the next morning. It was very important that she do so. She asked her husband to telephone a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. The practitioner referred to a passage from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy1: ``A woman, whom I cured of consumption, always breathed with great difficulty when the wind was from the east. I sat silently by her side a few moments. . . . I then requested her to look at the weather-vane. She looked and saw that it pointed due east. The wind had not changed, but her thought of it had and so her difficulty in breathing had gone. The wind had not produced the difficulty. My metaphysical treatment changed the action of her belief on the lungs, and she never suffered again from east winds, but was restored to health.'' 2 The practitioner explained that ``east winds'' can be extended to include whatever seems hostile in the climate of thought. Next morning the woman was ready to go to work. There was no trace of the problem. Furthermore she felt spiritually refreshed enough to dismiss any ``east wind'' thoughts that might come along, thoughts of a recurrence of the trouble. Christ Jesus had no doubts of God's constant presence and protecting power. He spent whole nights in prayer on the mountaintop, but it wasn't the mountain air that renewed his strength. He carried with him wherever he went the inspiration that came to him there through communion with God. And he lived in implicit accord with God's law. Once when a storm arose on a lake he calmed it with the words ``Peace, be still.'' The account goes on, ``And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.'' 3 When we are faced with a menacing situation, it's helpful to remind ourselves of the ever-presence of God by asking, ``Can there be a place where disease has gained a foothold, a locality where intelligence and love have been crowded out, a thought beyond divine Mind's control?'' The answer to these questions must always be ``no.'' Anyone who learns to associate health with the ever-presence of God and who daily follows Jesus' teachings will find that he can continue to enjoy good health under any circumstances. 1 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 2 Science and Health, pp. 184-185. 3 Mark 4:39.