Love spring!

I recently saw a headline that started with the words: “Hate Spring?” The article pointed out that many Americans suffer with weather-related allergies – but I was having trouble getting past the first two words: “Hate Spring?”

Because I live in the Midwest, where it seems that nearly five months of the year we are covered in snow, spring has always been a source of joy and delight. The signs of spring signal fresh, bright, warm days to come. I had always loved spring – the very opposite of that headline’s suggestion! Yet, having a son who had struggled at one time with allergies, I was reminded of the wonderful healing he had some years back, and I thought sharing it would be helpful to others who might need to be healed of that condition.

My son absolutely loves playing soccer, but one season he began to struggle with symptoms of hay fever. Since he loved spring as I did, it wasn’t natural for him to associate this discomfort with the advent of spring. Having been raised in Christian Science, he had always found quick healing and relief by relying on prayer-based Christian Science treatment to address any health concern. Because I’m a practitioner of Christian Science, he turned to me and asked if I would help him pray about this challenge, and I did.

The teachings of Christian Science reveal that there is only one God, who is only good, and that this all-harmonious God can create only that which is good and harmonious – as is shared in the inspired Word of the Bible. Furthermore, God’s creation is actually spiritual, not material, because God is Spirit (see John 4:24). So, all of God’s creation – from the least manifestation of God to the greatest – reflects all the spiritual beauty and harmony of God. As the spiritual expression of God’s beauty, we actually dwell in the atmosphere of God – of Love divine – where we are harmonious and thrive in all our activities. This means that there actually is nothing in God’s creation that can cause harm or discomfort, because there is no cause besides God, and God cannot cause suffering.

 Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this newspaper and author of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” wrote, “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible” (p. 514). Divine Science, the laws of God, governs everything in perfect harmony. So, we can know and rejoice in God’s harmless, useful, and beautiful creation, and realize there is no cause to fear any part of it.

When I discussed these ideas with my son, we talked about how much he enjoyed running with a soccer ball in the freshly cut grass – expressing strength and freedom. He realized that these qualities he naturally expressed could never be interrupted or hindered because they had their source in God’s infinite goodness. So he could freely enjoy his activities. And from that time on, he affirmed within himself that the only things he could express in this season – or any season – were vigor, joy, and beauty. With my son’s determination to reject the fear that there was anything harmful in God’s creation, and his insistence on expressing joy and freedom, the allergies faded away and their symptoms haven’t returned.

Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy explains that God’s creation cannot be made to suffer or cause suffering, and that even the beauties of nature often point to this spiritual fact. She writes: “What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose, the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever” (p. 175).

Whatever our activities this season, we can express joy instead of fear; love instead of hate; and gratitude instead of dismay – and rejoice in a renewed spiritual sense of beauty and promise.