I enjoy playing the “Daily Challenge” in my Solitaire app on my iPhone.  It’s a little diversion that’s fun, but which I’ve noticed has other implications.

What am I talking about?

Well, for those of you who also partake of this game, you may have noticed that some days the “challenge” is pretty straightforward leading to a very simple victory.  While on others, it becomes quite—well—challenging!

Why?

Because the obvious moves don’t result in winning. They, in fact, lead to dead ends where it becomes impossible to complete the task of getting all the cards up into their proper suits.  And to win those games, you have to discipline your thought into not going for the obvious, but waiting to see what really needs to be done. What really needs to be (excuse the pun or not!) “dealt” with!

There’s a metaphysical lesson in that.

Over and over again, I’ve seen in my practice that what appears on the surface—the complaint that the patient is calling for help with—is not always what needs to be addressed.  It’s often something in their thought that might superficially appear to be totally unrelated, but which is actually the root of the problem.  And once that’s seen—once it’s exposed for what it is and replaced with the Christianly scientific truth—the healing generally follows quickly.

I’ll give you an example from my own experience.

Several years ago, I had done a 65-mile fast bike ride on a really hot day—in the upper 90’s.  The next day, I did a similarly long and energetic ride in the same conditions with some friends.  As we were returning home, two of my buddies were talking in detail about a then best-selling medical book and exclaiming how wonderful they thought it was—expounding quite a bit on some of the medical theories it purported.  I mentally blocked out the conversation.

And then, suddenly, I felt severe cramps in one of my legs making it impossible to continue pedaling—something that never happens to me.  I told my friends that I needed to stop and pray and that I would catch up with them, so they continued on.

Now the first suggestion that came to my thought was that, given the excessive heat and strenuous pace for the two days, I hadn’t been drinking enough, thereby causing the discomfort.  By the way, that’s the general sports medical belief about cramps and cycling.  But as I quickly turned in prayer to God, it became immediately clear that this supposed cause was nothing other than a smoke screen to cover up the real culprit—namely, all the medical discussion that had been taking place and which I hadn’t thoroughly dealt with metaphysically.

I proceeded to handle that discussion, knowing full-well that not only could it have no effect on me because it was not from God, but that my friends could neither be the vehicle for it nor could they be wrongfully influenced by its lies.

All of this, from start to finish, took only a couple of minutes and the cramps instantly disappeared!  Much to the surprise of my friends, I rapidly caught up with them.  And because they know that I’m a Christian Science practitioner, they were able to see first-hand how scientific prayers heal quickly and permanently!

Mary Bake Eddy wrote on p. 184 of Science and Health:

Belief produces the results of belief, and the penalties it affixes last so long as the belief and are inseparable from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yielding obedience to it. Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes.

And that, my friends, is the only obvious move to make!