Can we tell the future?

Helping children learn about God's care

Have you ever thought about what it would be like if we could see into the future?

For one thing, we'd be able to prevent mistakes before we made them. Maybe we wouldn't step in the sticky bubble gum someone left on the sidewalk. Or maybe we'd get a cup with our ice-cream cone just because we knew that the scoop of ice cream was going to fall off the cone after only a few licks.

Lots of TV shows and movies have played with the idea of seeing into the future. We've watched people prevent disasters, save a friend, and perform other heroic deeds – all because they knew something was going to happen long before it actually did.

Even though seeing into the future is a feat we'll never be able to perform, maybe it's better that way. After all, what's the point of a surprise party if you already know it's going to happen?

But what about when it comes to feeling safe and protected? Wouldn't it be better to know the future so we could stay out of trouble?

It's a good thing that God is always guiding and protecting us. Just as your parents take care of you and make sure you feel safe and loved, so God takes care of everyone. He does this by being infinite Love, infinite good. And because He is infinite good, that means good is present everywhere.

Even when things seem scary, God is there. His goodness is what's true and real no matter what circumstances we're in. And when we trust God's goodness and love, we're protected. This trust shows us that there's no room for the things that would make us feel scared, since every little bit of space is filled with God. We can't be separated from that goodness.

I learned about the way God protects us when I was at camp one summer. For two weeks I'd been learning and thinking a lot about God. I'd always known that God was right with me at all times. But during those two weeks, I was feeling that closeness more than I ever had before.

One morning, I was out on the porch of our cabin sweeping. We had a neat cabin that was built into a hill; the back part of the porch was actually about two stories off the ground. So, as I swept, I had a great view of the forest that lay all around and behind us.

The porch was cool, because part of it was built around the trees that had already been growing when the cabin was built. There were big holes in the side portion of the porch with trees growing right up through them. I liked living among the trees like that.

That particular morning, I'd been sweeping and thinking about other things. Suddenly, I heard "Stop!" I didn't hear it out loud. I heard it in my thoughts. But it was such a forceful "Stop!" that that was exactly what I did. I stopped right where I was.

It was only after I stopped that I realized I was standing just a few inches from one of those big holes where a tree was growing through the porch. I was small, and the hole had been made a bit larger than the trunk so the tree still had room to grow. One more step backward, and I would have fallen right through.

I know that the "Stop!" that protected me came from God. It's what I like to think of as an angel message. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy calls angels "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect" (pg. 581).

These angels make me feel sure that I'll be safe in the future, even when I don't know what the circumstances and events might be. They remind us of God's presence and goodness, of His love for us. In my case, that reminder came in a way that kept me safe.

Intuition is a quality everyone has, because God's thoughts are with us all the time. They speak to us in ways we can understand. They bring us messages of God's guiding ever-presence. And when we listen to and obey these messages, we can't help being protected. After all, what those messages tell us about is God's loving promise for everyone: Ours is a future filled with good.

Thou, Lord, only makest me

dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8