Everyday is a day of Gladness!

It is said by Mary Baker Eddy, “Happiness consists in being and in doing good; only what God gives, and what we give ourselves and others through His tenure, confers happiness: conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and nothing else can.”¹

Has happiness and gladness seemed illusive, sometimes playing a disappearing act on you?  Happiness comes in doing good, God’s Good.  Happiness is what we give to ourselves and others by doing the highest sense of Good. By seeing that good isn’t selfish, self-centered, but the ultimate of sharing what is divinely Good.  It blesses us all by doing and being Good. It brings to everyone a Divine vision where God’s Glory is the purpose and motive. 

Today Christians celebrate this day of Easter not for the ham dinner, the egg hunts, or the frivolity, but for the Good that Christ Jesus revealed through his extreme action of Love.  He knew what the ultimate purpose was when he let the people try to kill the mortal body.  He knew that it was for the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’. He allowed the ugliest moment in human history to occur.  He had many other times walked through the crowds that wanted to stone him. But he knew that it was the time to break forth the light of eternal life by showing the nothingness of the ‘crowd mentality’ that thought it could end Life.  He knew that Life is God, our Life, our God.  He knew that Life is eternal, perfect, precious and all Good.  He knew that the demonstration of the resurrection would lift thought to higher ideals and purposes in individual and collective lives. Christ Jesus knew that it was the plan of the Fathers that he was to be used for not only God’s healing revelation but also the revelation of eternal Life. 

We may not have to go through a martyr situation.  But every time we give and share Good, glorifying Life as Good, we tear away the curtain of dismal views and beliefs about life in general. We lift all those around us to a higher sense of happiness, joy and Good.

Is it too much to ask to live and share Good?  This happiness of ‘being and doing good’ is given to us by God, Good, to be shared with all.  Is this too much to ask?

Let us be and share Good.  It is the ultimate healing activity.  It breaks oppression, depression and the darkness that tries to hide the light of Good. Let us let this Good resurrect our lives to higher purposes, ways and thoughts.

Gentle hug

1 Message to The Mother Church 1902 page 17 lines 22-25

Honor is honorable!

The word, ‘Honor’ isn’t used much anymore.  In looking up the word “Honor” a few words standout such as, “Recognition: Privilege: Credit: Integrity.”

The reason for this blog was something I saw today that made me so sad it hurt.  It reminded me of Christ Jesus’ statement, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven,” from the book of Matthew, Chapter 10 verse 33, in the King James version of the Bible. 

It has to be honorable and important to us to give ‘credit’ where credit is due.  It is actually our debt to pay, the recognition of where we found something that we found important enough to quote and share.  It is our ‘privilege’, a form of ‘integrity’, when we give the ‘recognition’ to the rightful ownership of words and deeds. 

On Facebook we are finding plagiarisms, people taking quotes of others and making them their own, all too frequently, it is sad.  Where did our honor go?  Is ego so running rampant that we have to take what is not ours, denying that others also have good to share and to give them the credit, honor, and recognition due?

What about quotes from other’s books, taking them and hiding the place that they were found?  Where is the honor in not sharing with the world the good that can be found in the books or groups that so deserve recognition?

""Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." In Christian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what of benefits it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, superstition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick and the success of the student." Mary Baker Eddy Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures page 372 lines 25-32

Let us stop this ugly trait of denial.  Let us regain our honorable selves.  Let us squelch denial, fear and ego and give to all their just recognition.  By recognizing where we found the good we help others to find it as well.  Let us not hide the good but honor it and share it with the world in the right way!

Gentle hug  

I can, I will, I do, I AM

[This blog touches upon a subject matter too large for a simple blog to cover.  This can only be a springboard to more personal study by all.  It gives thought direction towards the Divine relationship between God and man.  It reveals, to thought, the position of God and Man.  It shows how one must think through the daily temptations, decisions, opportunities that come to us with the knowledge that there is a Higher Purpose, a Higher thought than mortal man can begin to understand or follow.  This blog is to reveal Man and his relationship to God to be Divine, with perfect direction, purpose and plan.  ‘Man where unaided must fail but with God he prevails’.]

Throughout The Holy Bible, we find a conversation between God and Man, the Man of His creating.  But we also find the selfish world of ‘i’, where the ego of man brings with it all of the wars, heartaches, unhappiness that this ‘i’ leads mankind through.  The study of this precious Book reveals to us how we should see the ‘I’ of our lives.  The ‘I’ that leads to peace and purpose or the ‘i’ that leads us headlong into personal discouragements and disasters.

Christ Jesus, the most holy man that walked this earth said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”¹ God’s words answering back to this humble sentiment, “ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”²

The humility that Christ Jesus reveals protects us from self-will.  It is the true sentiment of Self-knowledge where God is the Self that man must turn to always. The knowledge that man can do nothing productive, progressive, or constructive without the Divine Will creates in us a protected standpoint in all things.  If we try to do anything without the Knowledge and Will of the “Father which hath sent me”, then we start everything in our daily lives in the wrong direction.  This leads to the necessity to then backtrack, reverse our personal agenda course, and go to where God is ‘the temple’ where we dwell, walk, and are the people of God.

It is highly important for all mankind to turn to God as the One in who we dwell, the perfect All-knowing, Mind, God.  When this is done we see what and how we should be and do.  Otherwise our lives are like a johnboat cast on the high seas.  Without the substance, intelligence, wisdom to handle all that is here for us to do we flounder and begin to drown.  We cannot boldly go onto these waters of thought without God’s Being and direction.

When the chief priest, and the scribes, and the elders pushed Jesus on the position of who and what his authority was “Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”³ The question Jesus asked them they turned into a no-win tongue twister.  They analyzed the question back and forth to the point that they got nowhere.  We must not over analyze our personal decisions and positions in life but give all our thoughts and actions over to the Christ life, the animating power that is within each of us, and follow the Will of our Divine Parent, God.  We must not be egotists but children, Children of the One God, the offspring of this Perfect Spirit, Love.

When we are sent to do and live out His Will we can see the promise, courage, and staff that God gave to Moses when he felt so unsure of his position in God’s purpose, His Life that Moses had been created to express.  “Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”⁴

“Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit,—of Life, not of matter.  Because Life is God, Life must be eternal, self-existent.  Life is the everlasting I AM, the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.”⁵

How important, how imperative our lives must be, seen through the Will and direction of God.  How futile, pointless, dangerous it is to try to live otherwise.  Why and how could man possibly live successful through the personal agenda of the little ‘i’ where God, the Creator, the Life of all Being, fills all space?  We have to come to the humble position that the only “I AM” there is is God and His All-knowing expression, manifested through His creation, Man.  Let us begin to live our days in the right manner, with God’s Will and Love above all things as our direction.  Let us live lives consecrated in His Purpose and power. Let us humbly turn our lives to the great “I AM” the One Life who we forever dwell in and express.

“Mighty Spirit, dwell with me:
I myself would mighty be,
Mighty, that I may prevail
Where unaided man must fail;
Ever by triumphant hope
Pressing on and bearing up.”⁶

“Only God can bring us gladness,
Only God can give us peace;
Joys are vain that end in sadness,
Joy divine shall never cease.
Mid the shade of want and sorrow
Undisturbed, our hearts rejoice;
Patient, wait the brighter morrow;
Faithful, heed the Father's voice.”⁷

Gentle hug

1 John 5:30
2 II Corinthians 6:16 (ye)
3 Mark 11 vs. 28, 29
4 Exodus 3 vs. 13-15
5 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy pg. 289 lines 31-2 n.p.
6 Christian Science Hymnal Hymn 88 vs. 3
7 ibid. Hymn 263 vs. 1

The miracles of yesteryear are here for us today

With Easter week and all of its plastic and chocolate eggs upon us, it is surprising that The King James Version of The Holy Bible only uses the word “Easter” once.  Until one realizes that Easter wasn’t Easter until the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus. There was no need for the word to be used before that consecrated act of Love.  

The real shock when the word “Easter” is found used, in The Act of the Apostles chapter 12 verse 4, wasn’t in reverence and holiness, but as a holding pattern for murder and crowd and self appeasement!

At the time it was mentioned Herod had already cut off the head of James, the brother of John, two of Christ Jesus’ disciples, and was holding Peter in prison for the same event. But the time was the Passover and Herod had to wait till after Easter to commence his murderous activity.  Herod’s delight in appeasing the Jews and their desire of this monstrous practice of taking hold of Jesus’ apostles and brutally killing them with not an axe but a sword, cutting off their heads as they did John the Baptist, had to wait until after Easter.  The incongruity of the two different celebrations has a vast chasm between the Holiness of the time of Easter and the heinous desire to execute the followers of the Christ.

The one next in line for this beheading was Peter.  He was sitting in prison awaiting his fate.  He had two chains holding him, two soldiers on either side of him, and the keepers before the door of the prison.  So what does he do?  Wale, whine, moan, ‘rent his clothes’, get over rot to the point of throwing up?  No, he sings, prays and at night he sleeps.   He and his group pray without ceasing unto God for him. He seems to be the very picture of peace, stillness and trust.  Had the Easter event of Christ Jesus given to Peter a trust that was higher than the evidences and threats of personal harm, even death? Was this trust justified?

It would seem so because in the middle of the night an ‘angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly.  And his chains fell off from his hands.  And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did.  And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.’¹

Peter was quite surprised by all of this Divine Activity that when ‘he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angle; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.  And when Peter was come to himself, he said, NOW I KNOW of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.’²

Now the question begs for an answer…why would one turn to bunnies and plastic eggs and the fan fair of Hallmark and ham, when one can celebrate the power of Easter that is Divine?

“The highest earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: ‘He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;’ and ‘These signs shall follow them that believe.’ ³

“Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural.  They are the sign of Immanuel, or ‘God with us,’—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,
To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised.”⁴

Through the life and works of Christ Jesus and the discovery of Christian Science we also can, through more consecrated lives, demonstrate healing works with ‘signs following them that believe.’  We can turn our lives into higher demonstrations of ‘Immanuel, God with us’ and bring humanity up higher than the nonsense of trivial celebrations into the ‘newness of life’ as powerful manifestation of the Christ-activity.

Let us throw away the heinous act of imprisoning ourselves from this Christ activity and learn HOW to demonstrate it.  It is our birthright as the Children of God.

Gentle hug


1        The King James Version of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 12 verses 1-11
2        Ibid
3        Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 52 lines 23-28
4        Ibid page Xi lines 14-21

"Do Good fear not"

Being a ‘goody-two-shoes’ all my life, with a strong sense of Principle, it shocks me when I find that I have accidentally fallen for the ‘crowd mentality’. Seeing us as unique individuals, not followers of crowd mentality, it always surprises me when I find out that I have fallen for some kind of mislead theory or desire based solely upon the crowd’s pushy agenda. 

Last night in watching a show I found that this mentality was trying to sway me in a big way through 'compassion'.  But compassion that helps the wrong isn’t compassion it is pity, which is melancholy, which is wretchedness.  Compassion without Divine Reason isn’t compassion at all, it is just following like sheep instead of the constructive Rule of “Feed my Sheep.” (Christ Jesus in John 21)

My love for God and His Idea, Man, makes me be even more compassionate.  It is the compassion of a wise mother to not let her child go astray.  It is the strength of conviction of a mother who says, ‘No’ when it would be so much easier to say, ‘oh, alright.’

God’s rules are in place for Man’s safety, not because God is proscriptive and cruel.  It is said that, God’s ways are higher than our ways.  His view and understanding is from the All-knowing Mind.  He knows what promotes happiness, health, and it is always through purity and goodness.

Any form of activity that isn’t from God’s expression can never bring us to a higher source of Life, Happiness.  The lower debase expressions of thought and deed are always led by the motivation of the ‘evil one’, which isn’t and can never be what leads us to our highest sense of Good. 

Good is power.  Good is purity.  Good is what God is and is doing.  Good is spiritual.  Good is upright and freeing.  When we follow, look to, express Good, we are blessed and brought up and out of the muddy thoughts of the ‘crowd mentality’, where all is confusion, chaos, and the works of the one evil. It is important to place our lives and activities on the highest sense of Good, so that we know and follow it up higher and higher every day.  It leads us to the recognition that we are in the kingdom of heaven. 

Evil, debase thinking and activity, leads us always downward.  It sounds ‘good’, sometimes even wise, such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but it always ends up in despair.   It always leads us into bondage, slavery to the senses, fettered by dis-ease, in a stranglehold of discomfort and sadness…melancholy. 

"Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."¹

“Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." ²

“Every step towards goodness is a departure from materiality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit. Material theories partially paralyze this attraction towards infinite and eternal good by an opposite attraction towards the finite, temporary, and discordant.”³

“Happiness consists in being and in doing good; only what God gives, and what we give ourselves and others through His tenure, confers happiness:  conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and nothing else can.”⁴

We must be strong in our understanding and faith in Goodness.  It takes us forward to higher realms of thought and activity.  It frees us from the bondage of evil.  It brings to us triumph and peace. There will be a struggle between the ways of wrong and the ways of righteousness (supreme Goodness).  But the battle is worth it.

Gentle hug


1 Psalms chapter 37 verses 27-31
2 I Peter chapter 3 verses 11, 12
3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 213 lines 11-15
4 Message to the Mother Church, 1902 by Mary Baker Eddy page 17 lines 22-25

The sweetness of Easter gladness: A celebration of eternal Life NOT bunnies and Cadbury!

Are we celebrating Easter as it should be, the celebration of eternal Life?  Or are we just all about the bunnies and Cadbury eggs? Are we celebrating the highest example of Pure Goodness or pagan rituals? In the long run, which is sweeter?

It is written, “He (Christ Jesus) came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.
40  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45  And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
46  And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”¹

What a precious example of humility, grace, love our Master revealed to all!  Even though he didn’t want to go through the upcoming extreme ordeal, he humbly served His purpose, the example of eternal Life.  But God, Love, didn’t leave him there in the garden to toil with fear and dread alone!  Love sent an angel to Jesus’ side to strengthen him and give him Peace.  This Peace carried Jesus all the way through, giving him the Word, the guidance, the strength to endure.  This Peace, eternal Life, and Love is given to us all.  But how important it is for us to not fall for the temptations of trivialization!!!

What is this ‘temptation’?  It is the temptation to trivialize the meaning of the crucifixion, to miss the reason for the crucifixion. We are to stay awake, stay alert to the realization of WHY Christ Jesus obediently went through this extreme ordeal, man trying to kill infinite Life. Have we fallen asleep to the wiles of triviality, forgetting the why of the crucifixion and the celebration of Easter, Resurrection?

The man, Jesus, dreading what he knew was about to happen, in simple request that the experience be passed from him. A request many if not all of us would make as well. But the servant of God, Christ Jesus, knew the necessity of obedience to this and all Divine activity.  He knew that each step needed to be revealed. Through the moments leading up to, the crucifixion itself, and the glory after, it taught us more than we are aware through slight investigation.  When one studies the hours leading up to the crucifixion and the hours afterwards, they are life changing.  Jesus was aware of what was to become of his mortal body and what was going to elevate all mankind through this activity. He was teaching by example that the mortal material experience called life isn’t to be compared to the realization of eternal Life.  His example revealed God’s all-inclusive Love for His Idea, Man.  Each step revealed God’s healing hand of Love and protection.  Each step was vital for us all to see and consecrate in our own lives.

We must take this time to acknowledge this activity as a Divine expression of deep Love.  Not by trivializing it, but by revering it, exploring it, studying it, and immolating this deep expression of Love. Are there times when we wish that the ‘cup’ may be passed from our lives as well? Of course, but then where would be the glory, the praise of God, and the revelation of His ever-presence?  By being a witness to Christ Jesus’ precious ultimate example, doesn’t it lead to higher examples in our own lives?

We must not miss the opportunities to serve God in whatever capacity that we’re required.  We mustn’t be tempted to run from our service to God and the revelation of His greatness in our lives.  We must not fall asleep, but face our responsibility as the children of God, to be examples such as Christ Jesus.  How important it is for us to pray continually to be alert, awake to the false claims of temptations. By leading our lives with higher purpose and examples of this precious Christ, Truth, we are helping others around us do the same.  The Angels of His Almighty power are with us.  They strengthen us with His Love, His power, His presence. 

On Easter, let us celebrate Jesus’ demonstration of eternal Life that was for us all.  Let us also celebrate that we too get to be not only the witnesses of eternal Life as receivers but as examples of eternal Life as well. This cannot be trivialized by candy and ‘easter’ egg hunts. This is a Holy Day that must be revered and celebrated with deep contemplation.  It is a day that the pagan rituals that have trivialized the day must be removed and the Holiness regained and revered.  

Let us truly celebrate and immolate this Holy example.
“Let us sing of Easter gladness
That rejoices every day,
Sing of hope and faith uplifted;
Love has rolled the stone away.
Lo, the promise and fulfillment,
Lo, the man whom God hath made,
Seen in glory of an Easter
Crowned with light that cannot fade.”²

Let this Easter gladness lift us to higher examples of our own resurrection! This is truly the sweetness of our Life.

Hugs

1 Luke 22:39-46

2 Christian Science Hymnal No. 171 vs. 1

Plan A or Divine's Perfect Plan

On Facebook there was a card that stated: “If “Plan A” Didn’t work.  The alphabet has 25 more letters! Stay Cool.”

On the surface that sends out a bit of hope, after all there are 26 letters in the alphabet.  BUT how does one react when ‘plan A’ doesn’t work?  By ‘plan B’s’ failure we’re pretty low and IF we go to a ‘plan C’ we are almost at the point of mental meltdown.  As small children trying to learn how to tie their shoes frustration kicks in, whining begins, crying is almost certain, futility, resentment, disgust, anger, etc., etc., etc. As the small child who needs their parent to come in and save the day, to show the child the right way, we too need a higher source of understanding.  This source is Divine.  This source is Perfect.  This source is Love.

It is said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”¹

We try so hard to do things our way. We think it is the ‘easy way’, the ‘right way’. But our personal agenda and opinions get in the way of the Perfect Way.  When will we realize that we are here for a higher purpose, a Divine Purpose? When will we see that we are put into a place that God created, knows, sustains, maintains, and brings forth?  When will we let go of a personal sense of things? When will we realize that our knowledge is crucially lacking in the understanding of the Divine ultimate of Being, a view from His Higher Understanding, His Idea?  When will we let go and be what He created, wonderful, beloved, good, obedient, precious, willing, humble, giving, kind, considerate, thoughtful, loving?

How many “plan A’s or B’s or even Z’s” do we need to make us realize that we do not have nor understand the full picture?

“The "Alpha and Omega" of Christian Science voices this question:  Where do we hold intelligence to be? Is it in both evil and good, in matter as well as Spirit? If so, we are literally and practically denying that God, good, is supreme, all power and presence, and are turning away from the only living and true God, to "lords many and gods many."  Where art thou, O mortal! who turnest away from the divine source of being, — calling on matter to work out the problem of Mind, to aid in understanding and securing the sweet harmonies of Spirit that relate to the universe, including man?  Paul asked: "What communion hath light with darkness?  And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"²

How long must we keep trying and finding the end result that we create is unsatisfying, unsuccessful, a waste of time, futile? Sometimes exciting and then devastating in the realization that what we thought was attained was unattainable? When will we realize that there is a divine Parent and that Parent is All-knowing, All-wise, All-good, and has the perfect Plan, a plan of Divine Success?

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.”³

Do we want “Peace”? Then we must turn to the God of Peace and His ways.  We have to stop trying to do it the ‘easy way’ and turn to the All-knowing for the RIGHT WAY.  This takes practice, just as we had to practice tying our shoes.  But it is Oh So worth it.

Hugs

1 Revelation 1:8
2 Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy page 333:10-23
3 Isaiah 55:8-12 (my) King James Version of The Holy Bible

Sing a new song to God and see His Love, protection, and healing power

We are taught, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;" therefore rejoice in tribulation, and welcome these spiritual signs of the new birth under the law and gospel of Christ, Truth.”1

At a time when things seemed very dim and dismal, living in a basement with no job but lots of resentment, the word ‘sing’ wasn’t in my vocabulary.  To say the least I wasn’t rejoicing in this tribulation at all!  I was desperate for a sense of happiness and purpose. But I wasn’t being obedient to the realization that I needed a higher spiritual view, a “new birth under the law and gospel of Christ, Truth.” Looking everywhere in my study books, The Holy Bible and the Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I struggled for a sense of peace, purpose and joy.

On a Wednesday evening I headed for church for the testimonial service.  A mid-week service that includes readings from the above mentioned books, as well as testimonies of healings and sharing by others of better understanding gained through their study of Christian Science. The service was on a theme of singing a new song to God.  I could truly say as I sat there that if I was ‘singing’ to God it was more mournful and whining than actual singing and rejoicing.

One of the readings was, “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day To-day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.”2

The testimonies were uplifting, the realization of what I was doing daily, hourly, weekly wrong was pointedly pronounced in my prayerful thought.  When I left the church service I had a renewed sense of what I needed to change in my daily thoughts and activities, a renewed sense of ‘How to’ that I needed to express better and learn more about.  On the way home the road was a dark two lane road.  Singing a new song in my croaky off key voice a glimmer of hope and happiness started shining through to me.  At one point I was even loving God and giggling at myself, rejoicing in the fact that I could change my tune and be more cheerful, despite my living conditions.  As I was singing and thinking I realized, yes I was in a basement but it was filled with art, beautiful light, comfortable furniture, and it was actually a very pleasant setting.  This is a far cry from my former dismal view.

As I was singing and praising God I came to a light that was placed on a one lane bridge that was under construction.  It was dark, lonely and kind of scary sitting there at the red light all by myself out in the country.  I started singing prayerful thoughts about how I wasn’t alone but was embraced in Love, surrounded by God. Bright lights from a car coming up very fast at me caught my attention.  Their speed implied that they didn’t realize that I was stopped completely at the light.  Turning my thought to God and the song I had just been prayerfully singing, the thought came to me that I was safe, I wasn’t alone in the dark but completely in His, God’s protective arms.  It was getting to the point that I looked for exit strategies if the car got much closer at his high speed.  Just as I was about to make my move, driving my car into a ditch, the other car slammed on his breaks and stopped just short of hitting my car by a couple of feet.  Sitting there, I sang more praises to God and His protection for all of His beloved children.  Being so grateful that I didn’t have to go for the ditch, the other car didn’t have to hit me or hurt himself, that all does move in accord to God’s harmonious Being.

I’m deeply grateful for that night.  Within a few weeks a business was started, a house was purchased, and new lessons were being learned.  I can truly say that through the years sense I have gained a firmer hand on happiness, trust, love, and singing better and more consistent prayers to God.

“I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.3

Joyful hug

1 Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy page 18 lines 3-7
2 Psalms 96:1-5
3 Psalms 144: 9, 10

God is THE NOUN and His activity is THE VERB

In Genesis 1:1 the very first words given to us in The Holy Bible are God and what He did. It is said that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  God being the Noun and His creative power being the Verb reveals the true source of All and Its activity. No one, nothing else is included in this simple and profound beginning of The Holy Bible.

In the last words of The Holy Bible in Revelation 22:21 His Son, Christ Jesus, is used to show that we are all included in this Grace and creation, then end of all subject and thought. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

The beginning is God and His magnificence, the ending is His highest and beloved Son revealed as our Grace.  Everything in between is covered from birth into the new/old man, relationships, supply, health, wealth, well-being, winning the struggles, HOW to battle and cast out the demons (the aggressive mental suggestions) that we must all conquer.  But through it all we win by realizing that God is the All-in-all, The Noun (The Person, Place, and Thing) of all, the Creator of all creation. Included in that understanding it is revealed that God is The Verb doing it all (the activity of healing power) that is shown in the burning bush, the mouths of the lions closed, the fiery furnace’s inability, the battle with giants, even the crucifixion’s incapability to end Life.

Each struggle and claim that there is an overpowering evil, hatred, envy, deity, idol, is cast away by God’s activity of Life, Truth, Love, His all-power. 

The Holy Bible is not a hard book to read and understand when one realizes that God is The Noun, the Be-all-end-all of everything and The Verb, active Power through it all.  God is the Victor and man wins when relying on God as the only Truth.  The Holy Bible reveals the grandness, power, and Allness of the One Perfect Deity, Love, and man’s relationship to this Perfect all-knowing Mind as the beloved.

Just see how it is constantly revealed to all in these few quotes where the underlined verb is highlighted:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:35, 37
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Ps 46:1
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” Matthew 25:34
“If action proceeds from the divine Mind, action is harmonious. If it comes from erring mortal mind, it is discordant and ends in sin, sickness and death.  Those two opposite sources never mingle in fount or stream.  The perfect Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind.” Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 239 lines 25-30

When we start looking to God as the Only and Perfect Being and His activity as the harmonious divine healing action, our lives are lifted to higher altitude and thought.  Christ Jesus understood the Allness of God.  Through this understanding Christ Jesus healed and fed the multitudes, raised the dead, and was resurrected, revealing for all time that Life is God and Life is infinite Being and is eternal.

Let us turn our thoughts, our ways, our day to the Supreme Being that knows all and does all.

Through the love of God our Saviour
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor;
All must be well;

Precious is the Love that healed us,
Perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us;
All, all is well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All must be well;

Happy still, in God confiding,
Fruitful, when in Christ abiding,
Holy, through the Spirit's guiding;
All, all is well.

We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
All must be well;

While His truth we are applying,
And upon His love relying,
God is every need supplying,
All, all is well.
Christian Science Hymnal No. 350

Hugs

God heals...Man witnesses

What is man's purpose? Is he to create? Is he to dominate? Is he to judge? Is he to decide if one should live or die? Or is he to just live a life of leisure? Does man have a purpose? YES, he is to witness to God’s healing presence.  He is to ‘watch and pray’, serve, praise, reveal, express, witness to God’s healing power. He is to witness to God’s perfection.

Has man lost his purpose?  Has he forgotten the Who and What of his creation?  Is it too late?

Once there was a man, who persecuted and killed Christians. He was stopped in his tracks on his way to bring in more Christians to the prison system. By being struck with blindness, both in the literal sense and in the spiritual sense, he was shown through this case of blindness his wrongs. It was Saul. He was brought blind into a town where Ananias, a devote man, came and told him, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth…thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.” Acts 22:12-15   Saul was so changed in his attitude, view, and realization of his true purpose that even his name was changed from Saul to Paul.

Paul became a great witness to the healing power of the Christ, Truth.  He preached, taught, saved, revealed, and praised the Christ everywhere to everyone.  No matter how many times he was beaten, imprisoned, or threatened with death, his witnessing never wavered. His work for the Christ never stopped.

If we are to express our purpose in life, we must learn how to be better at the who and what we were purposed to be, witnesses to the Christ healing activity.  We need to turn our lives around from the self-centered to the God-centered.  We need to be witnesses to the Divine Fact of Being.  God is the All-in-all.  He created us to witness to His Presence.  This presence heals through the Truth, Life and Love of our Lord.  We have a higher purpose, a higher mission in life than just gaining material possessions, mortal careers, status and titles.  Our highest purpose is to be witnesses to the Christ, Truth. 

It is said, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Psalms 37:37 We need to look to our higher selfhood as that perfect witness of God.  We need to be good ‘ensamples’.  We need to let go of personal agenda, personal self-aggrandizement and to be who and what we were created. Otherwise, we also are blind to the fact of our true being as God’s witness.

Christ Jesus revealed the healing activity of our Father not just to help uncomfortable man but to reveal man’s purpose, to be the whole, complete, healthy witnesses of God’s ever-present Being.

He revealed to everyone that he healed their true nature.  He revealed to many that they must stop the sinning of thinking of themselves as personal material entities but instead spiritual expressions of God.  Even his resurrection revealed life as spiritual, deathless, eternal.  What are we to be? Mortal, material, selfish? Or spiritual, whole, perfect witnesses to God as Life?

Let us “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright…” Let us see that we have a higher purpose.  Let us be better witnesses now to the Truth of God’s Being.  Let us stop being blind to the Christ activity and be who and what we were created to be, God’s precious witnesses of His Love.

Gentle hug
 

Oh be still and seek Him...God is with the watchful

A favorite hymn begins with “O may we be still and seek Him, Seek with consecration whole, Listening thus to hear the message…”

When we are quiet, meek, humble…in ‘listening-mode”…we can better seek and find God’s healing ways and messages, His guidance of which way to go in His already planned day, week, life.

Christ Jesus went up the mountain to pray.  Often he would send the multitudes away so that he could quietly commune with God.  Sometimes he would take a certain few with him. But still he would set himself apart from the multitudes of things, people, and cries for his schedule and attention so that he could earnestly be still and listen.   Always he looked for God’s direction.  He knew and showed to us all that everything comes from God because God is All-in-all, perfect, harmonious, thought and activity, the Originator of all Life.  Because Christ Jesus was so attuned to God and His Allness, Jesus healed through this perfect relationship between God and His creation, Man.

When we are still and seek God, we too are attuned to God and His higher view.  All circumstances are harmonized, health is given, God’s perfection seen when we still our thought and look to Him who is all Good.  We become better witnesses to God’s manifestation and expression. 

His purpose for us all is to be what He created…reflections of His image and likeness, transparencies of His thought and activity, rays of His Light of Life and Love. 

The more we become set in our thinking upon Him, we become better listeners and followers. By staying out of the way, by removing our lacking views and agendas, and looking to Him we can see His beauty, grace and healing power everywhere. 

“He hath promised we shall find Him, Love divine its promise keeps; God is watching with the watchful, God is Life that never sleeps.”

As we learn to be better listeners and more watchful, we can see Love is all around us.  We see His hand gently guiding us all.  We feel His powerful presence.  We demonstrate His healing message.

May we be still and seek Him today.  May we be more fully aware of His promise that is being unfolded to us all.

O may we be still and seek Him,
Seek with consecration whole,
Listening thus to hear the message,
Far from sense and hid in Soul.

He hath promised we shall find Him,
Love divine its promise keeps;
God is watching with the watchful,
God is Life that never sleeps.

If we pray to Him in secret,
Lift to Him the heart's desire,
We shall find our earthly longings
All made pure by Love's pure fire.

Then upon the precious metal
God's own image will appear,
Faithfully to Him reflected,
One with Him forever near.

Christian Science Hymnal 237

Gentle hug

Spiritual Attitude brings Spritual Altitude--Higher Views

Do you ever hear a voice within yourself saying, “I am no good; I am ugly; I am fat; I am old; I am poor; I’m stupid; I’m not good enough; My education is lacking; I am unworthy; I’m a failure; who would want me; I do not have enough money; I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…etc. etc. etc.”?  This kind of attitude doesn’t bring joy, fruition, happiness, progress.  This kind of attitude is self-hypnotic and damaging to the good that we are. This kind of attitude undermines us into apathy, lethargy, depression.  It makes us feel less than who we are and how we should feel about ourselves.

This kind of attitude isn’t the spiritual altitude that God has placed us and views us.  We need to look up and see a higher view of ourselves.

It is said, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:”1

Does the ugly downward thinking sound like the man that God made ‘a little lower than the angels’? What does this mean to our thinking?  Doesn’t it mean that we need to stop the self-hypnotic thoughts of ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m not’ and start thinking about ourselves as the highest ranking creation of God?

“God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis. Mind manifests all that exists in the infinitude of Truth. We know no more of man as the true divine image and likeness, than we know of God.”2

We need to gain a broader basis of thinking.  Thoughts and understanding that brings us from the low self-hypnotic rehearsal of negativity to the spiritual attitude that lifts thought to higher and higher spiritual altitudes.  It is the same way a bird goes from walking around in a mud puddle to flying higher and higher soaring through the atmospheric altitudes way above the highest trees.  We must lift thought our ways.

How? By looking to God in prayer, allowing God’s thoughts to lift us to a higher understanding of His view of us.  Let us look to God’s higher thoughts of His creation, Man. Through a better understanding of God we can lift our spirit from the negative weights that keep us from our highest selfhood. Higher images of thoughts about God and ourselves lift us to higher spiritual altitudes. 

When we realize God’s beauty, goodness, joy is ours by reflection.  We begin to get a better understanding of His perfect creation, Man.  This raises our consciousness to His higher ways and our existence as He sees us.  This better light of understanding lifts us up. It is like going above the dark and gloomy clouds to see the radiancy and brightness of the sunlight.  As we begin to see God as all Love, the Perfect Being, the Law of existence, and man in always and forever included in this Highest Being, we are lifted above the dismal views of self-doubt.  We are lifted above the downward tendencies of negativity through the understanding of God as being All-in-all.  As we begin to practice this higher way of thinking, our lives are lifted as well.

When the negativity tries to make us falter and go back down to that lower position of thought, let us lift our eyes back to what God is doing and seeing.  Let us let this activity of recognition bring us back to our higher views of ourselves and others.  Let us continually look up to our higher selves and see what this brings into our daily circumstances.  We do not have to continually wallow in the mud of negative thinking.  We can soar and sing to higher thoughts and purposes.

From these Thy children gathered in Thy name,
From hearts made whole, from lips redeemed from woe,
Thy praise, O Father, shall forever flow.
Alleluia!  Alleluia!

O perfect Life, in Thy completeness held,
None can beyond Thy omnipresence stray;
Safe in Thy Love, we live and sing alway
Alleluia!  Alleluia!

O perfect Mind, reveal Thy likeness true,
That higher selfhood which we all must prove,
Joy and dominion, love reflecting Love.
Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Thou, Soul, inspiring — give us vision clear,
Break earth-bound fetters, sweep away the veil,
Show the new heaven and earth that shall prevail.
Alleluia!  Alleluia!3

Gentle hugs

1 Ps 8:4-6
2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 258 line 13
3 Christian Science Hymnal No. 66