A story sent in by a reader…
It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80’s, presented to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.
The physician took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.
On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.
The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer disease.
As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him. “And you are still going every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”
He smiled as he patted my hand and said…
“She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”
I had to hold back tears as he left.
I love this story because it reminds me of what a student of Christian Science strives to do every day.
When presented with suffering and disease, we work to see beyond the evil presented to the spiritual truth God put there to begin with. We do not look to the senses for evidence of Truth. We look to God, and there, in Truth, we discover who the other person really is—perfect, just the way God made them.
Knowing the spiritual truth, regardless of what sense outlines, is true love in action.
Thank you so much for this story! Our family went to a wonderful Methodist church in St. Louis with the sermon being about the butterfly–The beautiful is really there; the ugly catepillar we all see will soon pass. A close family member also seems to be suffering from Alzheimer disease. I forwarded your email story on to her brother for comfort. Thank you again. We all are surely blessed with this season.
I love this story….thank you..our love for God is why we pray…it’s who we are…
all love to you and yours Evan..Kate
Lovely story. About the caterpillar/butterfly idea, two caterpillars were crawling down the street when a beautiful butterfly flew by overhead. One caterpillar turned to the other and said, “you’ll never catch me up in one of those things!” Caterpillars are beautiful too and I’m grateful for the inclusion of your lovely idea.
What is the cause of the gap where we don’t see evidence of healing? It’s easy to understand that we should not look to the senses for evidence of Truth; however, how come we can’t bridge that gap, like Jesus was able to, where healing is evident in the human experience; in other words, alzheimer is healed? Everyone in the world would embrace Christian Science if it were able to demonstrate consistently healing of disease; healing of cancer,alzheimer and every other ailment that seems to afflict mankind. There seems to be something missing, that we cannot bridge the gap of understanding to tangible healing of every disease.
To anon above,
Prayer and fasting, prayer and fasting, as Jesus taught. It takes prayer and fasting to see through the greater needs to the spiritual truth that heals. Thus, we humble bow before Truth to receive the deeper understanding that cures the more demanding cases. It is always doable, but can take great humility and deep love to see the case all the way through to a healing conclusion.