An old friend and Psalm 91

The Lord's Prayer teaches us that God will give us daily 'bread', grace for today, all the inspiration and understanding and healing we need. And that has just proven itself to me again. Each morning, as part of my daily work, I read one article from the current Sentinel and Journal. This morning I was so very touched by one in the Sentinel, Under the shadow of the Almighty. The mom told of how she used Psalm 91 when praying for various challenges to her sons.

What stood out was something she discovered that I had not noticed before, how beautifully that Psalm mirrors Mrs. Eddy's poem, our hymn 207. As soon as I finished reading the article I turned to Psalm 91 and fell in love with it all over again. And it reminded me of the old friend who introduced it to me.

Many years ago, we moved to New England and settled in a little seacoast town north of Boston. I was not a student of Christian Science at that time but we were expecting our first child and both felt it was important to be attending church regularly. I was open to the idea of visiting the Christian Science church and when we went met a young woman, about my own age, who had two small children. I was very impressed with how she expressed so much love and patience with them. Those were qualities I very much wanted to have myself. We became friends and she was so patient with me as I showered her with questions about Christian Science and the things I was reading in Science and Health. Her husband was a Christian Science practitioner and I also became good friends with him. Especially after he helped me deal with the death of a young child we both knew.

We would take long walks around the harbor and I asked him for treatment on several occasions. Once when I wanted to know how to go about studying the Bible, he suggested regular use of our Bible lessons and an indepth study of Psalm 91.  My deep love and appreciation for the Bible has just grown and grown over the years. And I never forgot how it felt to walk with him and talk about God.

So as I read that article this morning I remembered my friend and how happy he was when years later I was able to list my name as a practitioner in our Journal. Today I will keep my Bible open to Psalm 91 and visit with it all day. I will also work and pray with our hymns 99 and 100 which are adapted from that psalm. My friend passed on years ago but in the words of hymn 99....My Gd, in Him I will confide.  What a blessing to know I can continue to take those walks with God at my side.