Note to self: Who has all the answers?

What and Who is the be-all and end-all of my life?  My views, opinions, beliefs, or God, who is the One and Only Mind, the Creator of all true Being, Life, Truth, Love?  Whose glory fills the sky?  What can I do that is that great?

Who do I turn to when I’m trying to find an answer?  Me, another person, or God?  Why would it ever be me or any other person instead of God? Is it because I do not know God well enough? Do I not know Mind, God, as ever-present Perfect Selfhood who knows all, does all, created all?  Do I think I’m all alone trying to come up with something, an answer or plan, as if anything is better than nothing? But isn’t that type of grasping at anything pointless and aimed for destined failure?

When I turn to God with my whole heart, listening for higher guidance, learning His ever-presence, do not I feel His Peace and Grace?  Then why would I ever feel the need to do anything without His Will, His Way, His Perfect Selfhood?  Why would I turn to my small view of the Big Picture and try to figure out anything?  Why would I not humbly turn to Him, learn more of who I am through His eyes and His Love for me, and then obediently follow?

It is said, “the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.”¹

“O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.”²

“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”³

“Thy ways are not as ours. Thou knowest best what we need most,—hence my disappointed hope and grateful joy.  The redeemed should be happier than the elect.  Truth is strong with destiny; it takes life profoundly; it measures the infinite against the finite.”⁴

Why would I ever go to my minute sense of knowledge when I can always go to His All-knowing?

Oh may I consecrate my life, my thoughts, my choices, my prayers, to the One All-knowing Mind, God.  How or why would WE do less?

Gentle hug

1 The King James Version of the Bible Job 38:1-7, 18

2 ibid Psalms 69:5

3 ibid Psalms 139:2-12

4 Miscellany by Mary Baker Eddy page 229 lines 27 to 1

Expecting? What?

“A certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:”¹

The man that normally sat at the gate of the temple asking for alms didn’t limit his good to small bits of money or he could never have received a healing from Peter and John.  He had to have an expectant heart and thought that someday life would become better than what he was living at that moment.  He had to have expectancy of something good because when Peter said, “Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them”, he had to be mentally prepared for the grand occurrence that was about to follow.

Are we expecting good? Are we ready for ‘better’? Are we seeing the possibility of receiving healing, strength, an opportunity to praise God?  Or are we stuck in dark patterns of thought, followed by the same old, same old of yesterday brought today and through to tomorrow?  What are we expecting?

We must lift our lives through our thinking.  We must decided that Good is here.  We have to change our view from the depressing, dismal, uselessness in our thoughts to higher views of Good, being ever-present and ever available.  This will bring on a better Now. In other words, we have to start expecting Good to get Good.   How else could that beggar be lifted out of his circumstances into healing and praise?  We have to prepare our thoughts for better by expecting and thinking better.

Every time we are tempted to grumble or think that things are bad we need to change our thought from disgruntled to grateful. Every time we feel sad and lonely we must be ready to give instead of ‘get’.  Every time we feel uncomfortable, lazy, apathetic we need to turn our thoughts to sharing comfort, energizing our days by giving good, and getting excited about the opportunity to make other’s lives happier. 

A person that expects Good is a person that looks for and doesn’t miss the opportunity to give good.  A person that expects is the one that gains.

So let us turn our lives around by first turning our thoughts around.

“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.”²

Expect Good and receive Greatness!

Gentle hug

1 The Acts of the Apostles chapter 3 vs. 2-9 from the King James Version of The Holy Bible
2 Christian Science Hymnal No. 350

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