Healing Allergies

LAST week it seemed as if everywhere I went people were talking about the pollen count and their allergies. And last night even the television meteorologist got into the act, attributing the high amount of pollen in the air to unusually warm, dry weather.As someone who used to suffer terribly from a severe allergic reaction to pollen, I can sympathize with how miserable one feels. I used to dread the summer, used to dread mowing the lawn or being where there was lots of pollen and dust in the air. But no more. After years of terrible suffering from hay fever, I've gained my freedom from such seasonal illness. On even the worst days, I no longer react or have physical symptoms. Even the impulse to sneeze is quickly dismissed. How could I suddenly have such freedom after years of suffering when all the physical remedies I tried proved useless? This new freedom hasn't come through drugs or through any material form of treatment. The freedom I've won has come through prayer and through the spiritual power that comes from understanding the God-given dominion we can exercise over such things as allergies and disease. This dominion and power is available to anyone who is willing to learn more about the true nature of God, of man, and of man's relationship to God, our heavenly Father-Mother. If we're thinking of ourselves as material, biological beings, we may feel we are subject to allergic reactions to foreign substances entering our bodies. But biology doesn't have the last word on who and what man is. God does. And looking deeply into the nature of God, we will find that man is not subject to material liabilities b ut is truly Godlike. In my battle with pollen allergies, I turned to the first and last word on man's true nature and being--the Bible. Here I found, in the first chapter of Genesis, an account of creation that shows man made in God's image with dominion over all things. Christian Science explains that this is a spiritual creation, because the image of infinite Spirit, God, could not be a finite mortal. In other words, we're not saying that the human being is the image of God, and then working backward to conclude that God must be like a human in some way. Instead we're saying, "What is the nature of God, as God reveals Himself? When we know what God is, then we begin to grasp the nature of His true likeness, man. If we start with God, who is infinite Spirit, then we see that Spirit's image must be spiritual, not biological or mortal. Because God is infinite Love, the image of Love must be altogether loving and free of evil. Because God is infinite Mind, the image of that Mind must itself be intelligent. Since God is good, the image of unlimited good must also be good. As the Scriptures say: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Working this way--scientifically starting with what God reveals Himself to be and then expecting man to be the image of His creator--we come to very different views of man. We begin to see, however faintly, what Christ Jesus meant when he said that God is our Father and that we are the children of God. The person who accepts the sonship that Jesus taught isn't just accepting the personal Jesus but God, the divine Principle behind Jesus' teachings and healing works. This Principle is consistent. With God, it literally is "like Father, like son. What God creates out of His own being must be wholly like Him. And man, reflecting the governing Principle of all, must express God's dominion over all things, as the Bible says. This was the core of how I reasoned in my prayers about allergies. If God gave man dominion over His creation--and He did--then I could claim this dominion. Man's God-given dominion was a present fact to be proved. And I could prove it because God Hi mself empowers us to express His true nature. Understanding more clearly who I was and the spiritual nature of God's creation, I began to see how ridiculous it was that anything material could inflame or irritate my being, which is spiritual. As Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "It is profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation, sneezing, and nasal pangs. Profane? Yes, profane--irreverent toward God--because such a belief would deny the true, spiritual nature of God and of His likeness, man. Mrs. Eddy's declaration is based on the conviction and practical proof her discovery gave her that so-called material laws do not govern the man God created in His own image. If you've been suffering from allergies, you can claim your God-given immunity. Pollen, dust, allergens, reactions to chemicals--these have no power over God's likeness. Through prayer based on a spiritual understanding of God and man, you can begin to prove your God-given dominion over allergies, just as I and many others have done.

BIBLE VERSE O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! . . . What is man, that thou art mindful of him? . . . For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels . . . . Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. Psalms 8:1, 4-6