I am blessed to teach weekly a 3rd grade Sunday School class. The class is engaging and rewarding. Each week I begin the class by asking the students to share how they turn to God in prayer for their daily challenges. Their answers and openness are fantastic and full of examples of God’s ever present care for all kinds of things.
This past week, after our sharing, we began our bible lesson by counting the number of times the word love was mentioned in our opening texts from the weekly bible lesson that we recite during the beginning of Sunday School. It was a fun exercise and it allowed me to ask them to be specific about how Love can impact them on a daily basis.
Amazingly, we discovered the word eighteen different times in just a few short citations from the King James version of the Bible.
After the hunt for love, I began our class discussion by asking each student to compose a Love sentence that we could all write out on a piece of paper that we could use during our day. Everyone was eager to share their ideas and all of them did. “Love trusts in faith.” “Love is always with you.”
We had a fun and rewarding class finishing with many practical thoughts about how to demonstrate Love more fully in our daily lives. Shortly after class, my opportunity to see that “Love is always with you” came literally screaming at me.
My family and I, after a lovely Sunday Senior celebration at my daughter’s high school decided to make a trip to the store to pick up some groceries for the week. As we were busy collecting all the goodies into our shopping carts, I made a turn down one of the isles heading for some pancake mix.
My third grader, (who is in my Sunday School class,) managed to get his foot right into the path of my cart. Unfortunately, I did not see him and I ran over his little foot. He let out a scream that sent chills up the back of my neck and I flew into action to comfort him.
I sat right down in front of my cart where he was and cradled him into my arms immediately turning to God in prayer. The bible lesson we had earlier in the day was what I turned to and I worked to demonstrate right then and right there God’s ever-loving-presence. He was screaming and in a seeming great deal of pain. But I held firm to God, Love, and my faith in Him.
As I hugged my son tight, I reassured him that he was being cared for by me and that God, Love, would meet our prayer request for help. We declared the truth that God is always with us and that whatever the suggestion regarding his foot, that Love was right there for comfort, healing and complete recovery. I carried him while he regained his composure so we could finish our shopping.
We made our way through the check out stand and back to our car. On the way home I continued to support him through Christian Science treatment but I found that I was unintentionally blaming myself for having run over his foot. My mood changed and I became increasingly self-damning.
Although I had checked him out in the store, when we got home I again checked his foot thoroughly and found nothing out of place or discolored. He however, was not yet comfortable putting his weight on his foot so I continued to pray for him mentioning to him the truths from Sunday School class we had reviewed earlier in the day regarding Love.
Unfortunately, at this point, I needed the truths more than he did as my thought had noticeably deteriorated to the point that my wife commented on my poor attitude. I was kind of shocked myself and taken aback by these negative thoughts that were attacking me and that I was holding on too.
Where was my joy? Where was I placing my trust? Does Love ever die or cause harm or injury? I had a choice, continue to condemn myself or have faith in my own prayers for myself and my son. I had some work to do and I found myself being grateful for my wife’s comments even though I did not care for them at the time.
Later that evening when I went up to tuck my little guy into bed, I found him reviewing his notes from our Sunday School class. Right then, right there, the mesmerism that had been affecting my thought was wiped out. Tears welled up in my eyes as he told me the truth he was reciting in his prayers.
I hugged him and kissed him good night as he layed down to rest peacefully for the night. I was inspired by the faith of this little guy and his practical application of prayer.
Before going to bed, I read about Jesus’ parable of the talents and again was reminded to trust in God, specifically the gift of knowledge that I have received from my study of Jesus and the Bible. Depak Chopra in his book The Third Jesus states, “ that once you hear the truth about God, which has been freely given to you, you can’t bury it inside yourself but must act on it to make it grow.” That statement was inspiring to me and allowed me to trust God more fully the rest of the night.
When my son got up the next morning he was bright and cheery. I checked his foot and found no discoloration and minimal swelling, but it was still tender and not completely free of pain. He dressed himself and made his way down stairs without any assistance or complaint.
We had a normal morning and he was able to slip on his sneakers without any fuss. When we arrived at the bus stop he walked to the bus unaided with his backpack strapped to him and climbed aboard with a smile.
For my part, I began my day with the study of the Christian Science bible lesson and discovered some very comforting truth that I put into prayer action.
Dear heavenly Father-Mother God “search my life, find out everything about me;” (The Message) I am my Father-Mother’s son. All that I am, every decision I make, every word that I utter, every thought I think must be inspired by God, good, divine Love. As I live and move and breath, I do so as the perfect image and likeness of God.
I am in accord with God, all that is perfect and eternal. Spirit, not human will, is my guide in front of me, behind me, beside me. God will show me the way of life, nurturing reliance upon divine Mind, not human opinion.
This inspiration gave me the confidence I needed and complete freedom from the days previous events. I texted my wife and told her I loved her and apologized for my poor attitude.
I continue to appreciate practical prayer and the immense power of turning to God for every need as Jesus challenged me to do. The value of church work and it’s rewarding, demonstrable effect for me personally and my family. Particularly in this case where the inspiration from a Sunday School class of 3rd graders met the needs of the belief of accident and subsequent fear with immediate results of healing of an injured foot.
I am happy to report that my son is well on his way to complete recovery as all but a bit of pain is gone, no swelling, discoloration and he is walking normally. “I run to you, God; I run for dear life. Don’t let me down.” The Message Ps 31”
