My wife and I were walking our dog in the neighborhood, a popular area for dog-walkers. We always kept him on a leash, and most of our neighbors did the same for their dogs. But this day, someone didn’t.
A large dog about the same size as ours dashed out of an open front door, barking viciously, and headed straight for our dog. Without any provocation, he attacked.
In a moment or two, a woman came out of the house calling out to her dog, but to no avail. I held our dog as close to me as I could in the hope that the woman would be able to take control of hers, but she was no match for him – and didn’t appear to be concerned. As the attack continued, I felt both protective and angry. I held back our dog as best I could, while being angry with the neighbor for ignoring the leash law and for not appearing to care about the consequences. It was her husband’s dog, she said, so it wasn’t her fault.
Eventually, she got her arms around her dog and pulled him away. I got control of ours, and we headed home.
For the next couple of blocks, all I could think about was how I should respond. “We’re in the right,” I commented to my wife. “We obeyed the law.” She checked our dog for injuries and, fortunately, found none. As we continued to walk, I wondered what I should do next. I couldn’t just ignore this. What was the right thing to do? The moment I asked myself that question, I knew I was on the right track. The thought came clearly that I was to do God’s will.
When we listen closely for God’s guidance, we can expect to discern the thoughts that divine Mind is conveying to everyone to bring the greatest blessings possible, since God is pure Love. His will is surely for good, since He is totally good. As we’re humble and willing to trust the unerring guidance of Mind, we’ll be receptive to the right motives, thoughts, and actions that result from God’s harmonious government of His creation. To see the right course of action or to know if we need to make a course correction, we can trust Mind to lead us in the right way and give us the willingness to make any needed adjustment.
Just then, I remembered this verse from a poem titled “Love” by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science:
If thou the bending reed wouldst break
By thought or word unkind,
Pray that his spirit you partake,
Who loved and healed mankind:
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,
That make men one in love remain.
(“Poems,” p. 6).
It’s always the will of God, Love, that we love one another with the love with which He loves each one of us.
This felt like the correction and guidance I needed. It was right for me to seek holy thoughts, as Christ Jesus did throughout his healing ministry. I should have done a better job of that in the first place, but now I was committed to praying more earnestly and listening more carefully, seeking the thoughts Love gives us and putting them into practice in daily living.
I turned the dog’s leash over to my wife and told her I needed to go back and apologize to the woman. She deserved better than my unkind thoughts.
As I approached her house, she saw me coming and came outside in a rather defensive posture. I said to her, “I came to apologize.” At that moment, she melted. Before I could say anything more, she ran forward, threw her arms around me, and said, “No! I should apologize to you – you did nothing wrong!” We had a very positive conversation for the next few minutes and parted ways on very good terms.
I returned home thinking about all that had happened – the good lessons that had been learned about humility, seeking holy thoughts, loving one another, and trusting in the rightness of God’s will.
The inspiration from Mrs. Eddy’s poem is both an anchor and a guiding light. It reminds us that God loves each one of us as His very own, and that in that love, unkindness must dissolve and love for one another prevail. As the final lines promise,
Fed by Thy love divine we live,
For Love alone is Life;
And life most sweet, as heart to heart
Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
Adapted from an article published in the March 23, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
