Two weekends ago, my wife and I were in Spokane for a tennis tournament my wife’s USTA team had advanced too. Her last match ended as a victory Saturday night. Hooray! (She played well…) We went back to the hotel and prepared for a two hour drive home early Sunday morning in time to attend church.
Around 7 a.m. the next day, we headed out to the car.
Exiting the hotel, my wife exclaims, “Someone broke into our car last night!” I looked up and saw glass scattered all over the ground on the passenger side of my CRV.
“Oh, what an inconvenience,” I said aloud. I wasn’t angry or mad so much as annoyed that we had to deal with broken windows and a delayed schedule.
The two passenger side windows had been smashed.
The motive behind the break-in was beyond us. We decided it was because of an inexpensive blue tooth I left on the center tray between the seats. It had disappeared. We had taken our valuables into the hotel. A coat was also gone, we noticed.
It took a couple of hours, but we got the mess cleaned up, bought heavy clear plastic to line the windows with, and headed home without further incident.
Two days later, my car was fixed and back to normal.
But my mental gears kept grinding for several days to glean spiritual lessons out of the experience. I was trying to figure out the appropriate way to metaphysically respond to the robbery.
It was a crime. It was wrong. It was not justified. That was clear.
Should I get mad? I wasn’t. Should I be offended, feel violated, angry, seek revenge? I had no desire or inclination to entertain any of those negative emotions. They would only hurt me, I knew.
Should I ignore it, pretend like it didn’t happen? Absolutely not. That would make me an accessory to the crime.
What should I do?
I had compassion for the criminal. He or she may have had drug or alcohol problems, and needed help. Obviously they had moral shortcomings, had no respect for other’s property, perhaps felt desperate, maybe downright malicious or plagued by some other evil state of thought that led to their criminal behavior. But I have a tendency to see beyond those evils to the good a person is capable of, even when they don’t show it. I would have loved nothing more than the opportunity to sit down and talk with this individual about their ability to live a noble and upright life through God’s help. But that wasn’t happening.
So, what to do?
The answer finally came clear.
Love more.
I needed to love this person more, whoever he was, so that he would lose interest in being a criminal. This wayward one probably needed a lot of love to pull him out of a depraved disposition.
Jesus taught, “Love your enemies.” This was certainly a chance to practice this rule.
I was also reminded that the good we give comes back to us.
But how? I wondered. How would sending love in the direction of this criminal bring anything good back to me? After all, his malicious actions cost me over $800 for repairs. I could think of much better uses for $800 then fixing broken windows and replacing stolen items!
And then it hit me. The benefit of loving more would come to my practice of Christian Science healing.
If I successfully loved this robber despite the financial and material harm he inflicted on me, I would be a more effective practitioner than ever before.
To love him means I could see beyond the ruthless, blind, evil and dark side of a mortal he acted out on my CRV to the innately good, pure minded, trustworthy and upstanding person he was capable of being as a child of God.
Seeing beyond the surface appearance is what I do everyday when people call me for spiritual help with their woes.
Patients call with dozens of different problems all day long, some of them very ugly, and it’s my job to see through every one of them. And I do, to the best of my understanding. So, to love this criminal more was to do my job, to do what I always do.
This break-in was an opportunity to do my job even better. The reward coming back to me would be patients more quickly healed in my practice because of my improved spiritual outlook and understanding of how to love in the face of great evil. This gain would be worth far more to me in the future than $800 out of pocket in the present.
Not that I sought this importunity. I did not. And I did nothing wrong to deserve it. But it happened, and I had to deal with it. Rather than getting angry and upset, I chose to love more. And that’s what I’m doing. It gives me great peace and a feeling of dominion and control over the situation that no amount of negative energy expended could ever bring.
Once again this very week the radio station that broadcasts the Christian Science Sentinel radio poogram in my area has screwed up. I am awaiting an explanation as to why, and during my wait I checked out your Spiritward blog. Love more! Why had I not thought of that? Thanx for a timely reminder to DO Christian Science and not to simmer in irritation.
It’s an opportunity to pray deeper than we might otherwise and to bring healing to a specific individual, if they are open, and maybe even if they aren’t.
We had a family situation over the weekend that was very painful. Your article is a great reminder that I don’t have to simmer in it today. I resolve to “love more” too. Thanks to you and to Anonymous. Congrats to your wife, also!
Your message blesses me, helps me to see the reasoning basing your understanding is the application and operation of divine Love. This law of love could also be applied to the gulf oil spill to bring about an improved atmosphere, to see Love in operation there – transforming and overcoming all. We must “see beyond” the picture being presented, replace it with God’s view.
Thank you so much for these gifts you so generously share.
An excellent prescription for those of us who want to improve our practice—–
Thank you.
I love that idea of “don’t simmer”.
We have experienced theft from our car several times while it was parked at our house with no damage to the car because it was unlocked. One time it was my cased set of leather bound textbooks that was taken. Knowing that “simmering” in the false picture of manhood would affect my practice of Christian Science, I prayed to remain “undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses . . . ” as Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 306 of Science and Health. About 10 days later my husband found my books in the field behind our house. It had rained. The case was ruined. Science and Health was in fair shape but the Bible was badly waterlogged. My husband, who is not a student of Science, took the Bible, hung it up to dry, and then worked it over with leather-preserving products. That copy of the Bible will never be the same, but I use it anyway.
Dear Evan,
This blog has made all the difference in the world for me today! Such an encouraging reminder to stop simmering, love more, and reverse the picture of wrongdoing by praying to see the man of God’s creation. Through the mail and by telephone, scam artists have been targeting my parents, and I have been praying with all my heart to help them see through these falsehoods.
I’ve been reflecting on Mrs. Eddy’s article, “Love Your Enemies”, Misc. Writings most of the day. The statement on p. 10:17-21 seems like what you are referring to in your blog. Crossing swords with temptation, with fear and the besetments of evil…. These trials, tests do make us stronger and better suited for our next task. I’m grateful for I have demonstrated yet again that Love works.
Thank you, Evan, a well timing reminder for me. Just yesterday I was upset about my computer laptop.
It seemed that it was broken after a quite big thunder storm. I simmered the whole night long, miserable on the thought of having to repair it, who is to blame for this misfit and some other negative thoughts.
Reading your article this morning somehow calm me down and inspire me to do as you do, to love more. The only thing is who or what should I love more?
Who should you love more? Love doesn’t have to have an object to pour forth. Like the sun shines, Love loves. Just love like a light glows.
I find it helpful to get rid of the idea that some person has invaded or violated my space or things and just go straight to the fact that NOTHING can invade or disrupt my existence. This came to me after someone near to me had been killed in her home. I became afraid of something similar happening to me. One night I realized that should anyone break in at that very moment, I couldn’t be any more scared than I already was. I’d already let the “criminal” in, and that criminal was an invasive thought. Moving to that dimension I saw I was not in an uncontrollable situation, because I could control my THOUGHT. Same concept can apply to stem any tide — of fear, crime, resentment, violation, pollution, adulteration. Take it from there, friends! And, Evan, you named the counteracting element: love, love, love.
Great ideas Susan. Thanks for sharing!
It’s just so wonderfully helpful to know that others are are meeting these difficult situations with the “law of Love.” It’s like a big family meeting! Thank you all for sharing.