"Murphy's law" rewritten

On a Sunday morning earlier this spring, I awoke at 9:06 a.m. and jumped out of bed. Because my son is Sunday School superintendent, we aim at arriving at church a half hour before the service. To accomplish this, we need to leave no later than 9:45. 

I quickly splashed cold water on my face, collected my hairbrush, curling iron, and hand mirror and returned to my bedroom to get ready for church.  I plugged in the curling iron and put the handle of the iron on top of a nearby heater, which left the heating barrel of the curling iron sticking out in space.

For the next 20 minutes I dressed, wrote a check for the collection, and gathered together what I needed to take to church. Now to fix my hair. I picked up the hand mirror in my left hand and looking into the mirror rather than at what I was doing, I swept my right hand down and grabbed the heated barrel of the curling iron, dropping it as soon as I realized what I had done.  I saw an angry red line across my palm, which seemed to be stinging badly.

Immediately, I realized that this wasn’t a case of flesh needing to be healed, but rather the universal claim that one is subject to chance and change, the belief that carelessness and accidents are part of everyday experience. (Murphy’s Law, if you will—if something can go wrong, it will go wrong.)

A verse from James came to thought, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Divine Principle never varies. God’s omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience aren’t running out, or running down, or running away. The natural unfolding of good is a constant.

Then came the thought, “God rests in action” from Science and Health. So right activity (and what could be more right than attending Church?) must be orderly, calm, careful. There is no push, no pull, no pressure in God’s plan. Therefore I could not experience anything underived from my Father-Mother God.

Arriving at church, I was greeted with warm welcoming by the ushers on duty. I went into the auditorium to pray for the service. Picking up a hymnal, I found it opening to Hymn 269:

Our God is Love, unchanging Love,

And can we ask for more?

Of course, the answer is a resounding No! Who could want or need more than ever-present, all-encompassing, all-powerful divine Love? I felt deep gratitude for the service and for every member and attendee of our branch church.

Some time during the Lesson-Sermon, the discomfort lessened and I forgot about it.

After lunch, I caught sight of the palm of my right hand, which I had not looked at since morning. There was not a mark or discoloration of any kind.

Though I am grateful for this quick healing, I am most grateful for being reminded of the importance of establishing, first thing upon waking, God’s presence, power, and constant, caring governance of His creation.

“To begin rightly is to end rightly” (Science and Health, MBE).