Health isn't linked to the weather

It's linked to God.

Pick a season. The weather that goes with it, whether rain or wind or cold or heat, is commonly believed to be the cause of some ailment. So, according to this belief, people have summer colds or winter colds. But is the problem with the weather? Not really. Rather, it's with the belief, which, although it may be labeled a health-law, isn't law at all. This supposed law claims a connection between health and weather that doesn't exist - at least not in the light of spiritual understanding.

Health isn't linked to the weather; it's linked to God. Think of God, who is divine Mind, divine Life itself, as the Bible implies. In reality, in absolute truth, He is the one governing power, the one source of all, including man, including health. Each quality of God is inherent in man's true nature. Man is, after all, the spiritual likeness of God. And health is a quality of God, so it's inherent in God's likeness. It is unwavering and is governed by unwavering divine law.

Even though it seems to be material, health really isn't a material thing or condition. It's a spiritual fact and a constant one. Christ Jesus could heal so effectively because he knew that so-called material health-laws must give way to God's law. God, through His law of good, imparts and constantly maintains perfect health in man. A growing recognition of this truth brings healing.

If we find ourselves facing a seasonal illness that seems to deny health, we can be healed through prayer. Prayer, at its best, is a crystal-clear realization of the presence and power of God, divine Mind, divine Life, and of man's uninterrupted spiritual wholeness as the image of divine Life.

The false beliefs associated with the weather are like a thick smog stagnating heavily over a city. We seem unconsciously to breathe them in and accept them as ''the way things are,'' without challenging them. Prayer, when it's imbued with an understanding of God's law of good for man, has the effect of a brisk breeze. It ushers in a fresher, clearer, more spiritual consciousness. And this moves off the smog of false belief.

We can rise to the clear understanding that God is Life and Mind - the source of all that is really true of us. We don't have to settle lethargically into the notion that weather has power over us. ''Power belongeth unto God,'' n1 says the Bible.

n1 Psalms 62:11.

God gave man dominion, and we can claim that dominion in matters of health and weather. Ill effects will diminish and disappear as we understand God and place our trust in Him. As the haze of fearful misconceptions breaks up and drifts off, the inseparability of God, man, and health - already and always intact - appears more vividly. We find that this clearer, purer consciousness of our relationship to God leaves us less subject to variations in the weather. What's more, we're helping out those around us, because we aren't polluting the mental atmosphere with fear.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes reassuringly, ''If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of perspiration is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza, congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of inflammatory rheumatism, your Mind-remedy is safe and sure.'' And further along she continues, ''When the fear subsides and the conviction abides that you have broken no law, neither rheumatism, consumption, nor any other disease will ever result from exposure to the weather.'' n2

n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 384.

We always have a choice. We can partake of fresh, healthful, and certain ideas that come from God, divine Mind. Or, we can sink into the fearful, hazy, sickly thoughts that would mistakenly link our well-being to something uncertain , like the weather. Whichever we choose will make a big difference in our daily lives. The thing to do is choose wisely, and then do all we can to really live the choice we're making, backing it up with all the prayer and understanding we can muster. The results will be good. DAILY BIBLE VERSE My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:2