Awakened to the need to pray about everything

My stepdaughter was getting married the day after Thanksgiving, and I was busy with my seasonal business. On Wednesday when I got home from church, I discovered a note on my apartment door saying my upstairs neighbor had found a big box of merchandise addressed to me outside his door. I went upstairs and discovered that someone had opened the box and taken several thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. Thanksgiving was the next day, and this was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

I was, frankly, very angry. Based on video footage from the lobby, my building’s super suspected that a man who had previously stolen packages from our building had also taken my merchandise, and I was feeling personally angry at him. (Rather than praying about the claim of package theft in my building, I had just assumed that my 50-lb boxes would be too heavy for anyone to walk off with.) I called the police to report the theft and was told to wait until the officers arrived.

At this point, I thought I should really pray! My thought was rather agitated, but I picked up a Sentinel and read an article called “Humility, not reaction” by Thomas Mitchinson (Sentinel, December 2, 2024), which helped calm my thought. I felt led to pray for the person who had taken my merchandise, to try to see him as God sees him and to know that he could hear God speaking to him.

One idea from Science and Health that I pray with every day is “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible” (p. 514:28–30). I love to pray with this statement when I am driving, and I find it helpful in praying for the world to know that we are all moving “in the harmony of Science,” that we each are useful and cannot harm one another.

As I prayed about the theft, I realized I also needed to pray about the upcoming Thanksgiving gathering and the family wedding on Friday. At the wedding I would meet my husband’s ex-wife for the first time. I was nervous about meeting her, and there was also a claim of some family tensions. By the time I went to bed, I did feel a sense of peace. 

As we prepared to leave for Thanksgiving, I decided I was not going to mention the package situation at all. I just kept praying that we could only see, express, and experience Love. And it turned out to be an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving! There was no evidence of family tension, and I had lovely interactions with my husband’s ex-wife and all the very kind people I met. The wedding the next day was similarly harmonious and really joyful. We were so grateful for this love-filled time and for the expanded sense of family. Thank you, God.

In a nice little coda to this, my stepson encouraged me to file an insurance claim for the missing merchandise. I did and to my surprise, my claim was accepted. (I had thought my renter’s insurance would not cover a package for my business that was stolen from outside my door.) I did have to pay a deductible, but was very grateful to receive enough to cover quite a bit of the stolen merchandise. I think the most important part of this whole experience, though, was that it awakened me to the need to pray about everything!