Some years ago, a Christian Science practitioner said something which so resonated with me, I immediately wrote down the words, and now have them printed on a little card on my study desk. She said, “Mind impels, but Mind also impedes”. Divine Mind impels progress and right decisions, it propels us forward into “new views of divine goodness and love”, and we intuitively recognise the right path to take.
But Mind also impedes...it stops us taking the wrong path, it prevents us from making mistakes, and we know intuitively when not to take a course of action. So Mind’s guidance is twofold...it impels, and it impedes.
I had a small experience recently when I clearly felt the impeding action of the divine Mind. Every year, I deliver about a dozen Christmas cards to the neighbours in our road, a little errand I always very much enjoy. However, one neighbouring family live round the corner, but as our back gardens adjoin each other, we have occasional contact with the married couple, Robert and Anne. In the week leading up to Christmas, I had delivered all the neighbours’ cards, with one exception...the card to Robert and Anne.
A strange thing had happened...every time I made a move to deliver their card, I felt a strong sense of resistance, as if something was stopping me from popping round to their house. This went on for several days...on each occasion when I made my way to their house, I was effectively stopped in my tracks, and I returned home. By Christmas Eve, it felt too late to deliver a card...it would almost look like an after-thought, so, feeling somewhat frustrated, I abandoned the whole idea.
A few days after Christmas, I was chatting to a friend in our road, and somehow the subject of our garden neighbours came up in the conversation. My friend said, “Did you hear that Anne has passed on?” In a flash, I knew why I had felt such resistance to delivering our Christmas card to Robert and Anne...unbeknown to us, she had passed on recently. Had I delivered our card, it would have been addressed as usual to “Dear Robert and Anne”, and this would have understandably caused some distress to the husband. On this occasion, the impeding power of the divine Mind had prevented me from delivering a card addressed to this dear couple, when they were no longer a couple.
Shortly afterwards, I popped a supportive condolence card through Robert’s letter-box. A few days later, we received the warmest of letters from him, thanking us for our kindness, and enclosing a copy of the Order of Service from his wife’s funeral. I later emailed Robert with our loving support, and just this week we popped round to see him with some of Martin’s home-made leek and potato soup!
We had a warm and animated conversation with this dear neighbour, and promised to keep in touch with him.
It is so comforting to know that God’s angel thoughts are ever in operation to guide us in every decision we have to make in life. As a line from a much-loved hymn reassures us, “He knows the angels that you need and sends them to your side, to comfort, guard and guide”.