A Junco, the Holy Ghost, and New Thoughts on “It might have happened anyway”

Recently I was visiting a friend, and we sat enjoying a lovely view of her colorful back yard. My friend, a bird lover, feeds many birds at her bird feeder. Suddenly there was a loud thunk! and we could see a small bird had flown full force into a window and now lay motionless on the ground.

Immediately, my friend and I stopped talking and began vigorous prayer for this small creature. My prayer went something like this: God, you are in control of every idea. You are supreme. Your law is the only one operating. Every idea, including this bird, is perpetually in Your sight. Not one could fall! Not one could ever be in the “wrong” place. This bird can hear You right now, dear Father. He is awake to his unhurt being, and he can get up now. “Not one faileth.” Since “accidents are unknown to God,” there could be no harmful effect from a non-event. “No evidence before the material senses can close my eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme,” writes Mrs. Eddy in Miscellaneous Writings, page 277, and I vigorously accepted this as true right then.

I noticed after a few minutes the bird had awakened and was now on its feet, but still seemed quite shaken, holding its head low and quivering, but I was glad to see progress. I then thought of this part of a sentence in Science and Health: “…the temple of the Holy Ghost, — the patient’s spiritual power to resuscitate himself,” and thought, this bird can respond to the present Holy Ghost, and feel that spiritual power to resuscitate himself. I then got some fresh insight on that idea—that whenever we might wonder or say in any situation, “Well, he would have gotten better anyway,” what might appear as spontaneous improvement is really the action of the “spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ,” at work, enabling “the patient’s spiritual power to resuscitate himself,” – even if the patient is a bird! Shortly after this, an inquisitive squirrel came up to the bird, to see what was going on. The bird, as if to say, Enough! flew away.

We were both happy to see this, but my biggest take-away of this experience was this insight. “It might have happened anyway,” sometimes uttered as if prayer might or might not have had anything to do with improvement, is really a recognition that good happens. God is good, and causes good. Prayer, as a recognition of good, uncovers and magnifies the good already present. So, “it might have happened anyway,” is really an acknowledgement, even if not understood, of the Christ present, at work, good!