the confidence of Christ

Spiritual resource to share: serenity

I am so very impressed with the story of Jesus raising Lazarus. (Click here to read this story.) This account, in particular, was one of his last acts and is instructive in the way he overcame numerous obstacles in order to raise Lazarus. Some of these obstacles were:

• Jesus' dearly loved friends (Martha and Mary) were grieved and burdened by Lazarus' death
• the misunderstanding and disbelief of the resurrection and its practical possibility now
• the Jewish thought at that time said a person dead for more than three days was beyond resuscitation
• the growing hostility from Jerusalem's leadership
• the crowds of people standing by including professional mourners and others who probably generally did not believe that a resurrection was possible.

And what did Jesus do when he got to the gravesite? He gave thanks - not for God's sake, but for the people around him, so that they might believe.

When reading of accounts like these, I like to juxtapose another verse from the Bible from Philippians 2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" and consider what Jesus was seeing and feeling at that moment? Jesus must have felt profoundly the ultimate confidence in God as life, the certainty of his mission and unquestioned expectation that God's will is done.

Bible stories like these give me time to ponder the promise that we, too, can feel God's presence and feel a confidence that comes from the proof that God's guidance and love are a tangible force in our lives.

Resurrection is a present possibility. Whether we are dealing with confusing relationships, a lack of direction in our lives, oppressive poltical situations, doubt, terminal illness, death, or simply feel we can't get our own footing in the noise of materialism today, we can look to Christ Jesus' example and draw from his confidence in God. Even if we can take a small step in that direction, we can make progress and see more light day by day by day.

All the mornings of the World by Sonja Maneri. Click on art to go to her website.




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the language of the heart

Spiritual resource to share: sincerity

Learning a second language (mine is Spanish) has always been expansive for me in knowing that there are worlds of ways to perceive things that go beyond our native language.

For instance, did you know that in Japanese, there is a word for the essence of a rock? In German, "zwischenraum" is a word for the space between things, and in Spanish the phrase for "to give birth" is "dar a luz" - which literally means to give to the light.

It takes humility to learn another language. I have visited a number of Spanish -speaking countries to use my second language skills and have found that it also takes a willingness to make yourself a little vulnerable as well as I have had to adjust my academic Spanish to the everyday spoken Spanish of that country! But the trade off is that you are entering another world, another way to see things. And if there is love in your heart for that country and respect for its people, doors will open up for you. It's well worth it. In Miscellaneous Writings, Mary Baker Eddy sums it up nicely:

When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts.

I thought of this whenever I find myself in a situation where I am not familiar with the "language" be it a visit to another country where English is not spoken, a party of people I have not yet met or being part of a discussion on an unfamiliar topic. If I bring a heart - sincere to understand, connect and contribute - there is always a level of acceptance.





click on image to see more about the 20 language families in the world


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not feeling inspired enough?

Spiritual resource to share: completeness
Have you ever had a morning that starts out...well, not as inspiring as you wanted? You have done everything you normally do for your spiritual study, but you feel there is something more. I have been working with this thought from Science and Health:

Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud.

To me, it means it doesn't take hours of study, fulfilling a schedule of readings, or logging on a certain amount of time for reflection. Spiritual study is about connecting with inspiration. And it just starts with one idea.

This one idea, even if it seems modest - like gratitude for a kind comment, a humble prayer of praise, or remembering a healing - has deep spiritual roots. It reflects God's omnipotence and has an eternal heritage. It points towards more possibilities for good. This one idea shines and blossoms. It fills you up completely with what is needed for the day.

Just one idea. Complete and satisfying for the day! What one idea has filled you up?




To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

the light at the end of a tunnel

Spiritual resource to share: hope

When I worked for the wider distribution of Science and Health worldwide, I used to collect quotes from people who were just hearing about Christian Science and reading Science and Health for the first time. I would often go back to those quotes which would remind me of the freshness and inspiration that this book gives me. In fact, I have a framed copy of four of my favorite quotes:

• From an AIDS worker: "This book is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel."
• From an author: "Every time I open Science and Health, it reaches into my heart."
• From a man from a war-torn country: "This book could help nations in turmoil."
• From an enthusiastic new reader of Science and Health: "I am healed and I'm happy. Really happy."
  

When I realize that there is an answer to every situation anyone could possibly endure, I feel a lifting of depression and a rush of fresh hope. There is a way to find the peace, contentment, productivity and love our hearts naturally yearn for. There are lessons along the way where we learn to drop the baggage of pride, ego and self-centered thinking. And these lessons broaden our lives and increase our receptivity to accept more of what is possible. Mary Baker Eddy writes:

Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee.

So, we can welcome in this new week, feel that hope and expect to learn deeper and broader aspects of God and who we are as God's children. And we can feel happy, really happy!










To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

Excuse me for interrupting............

Spiritual resource to share: self examination

I really thought she was wrong..So many times when I went in to talk to my boss, my co-worker would come in and interrupt. Something was always urgent, necessary or whatever. This interrupting habit of hers was getting to me.

But before I talked with her about it, I prayed. I knew that the question from the Sermon on the Mount would guide me well: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" I had to make sure that my eyes were beam free.

I realized I should watch how I conduct myself. I became more watchful of my own behaviour, and sure enough, I was doing the same thing. Whenever I needed a quick answer, I would barge in, interrupt and ask away. Oops.

As soon as I realized that, I apologized. I was able to exhibit better manners and not interrupt my colleague when she had important business to discuss with our boss. And surprisingly, she no longer interrupted me during my one on one times with our boss.

This was a good lesson and a reminder that when I am feeling critical of someone, I need to first deal with it in my own thought and in my own life. It also reminds me that the most effective self-examination is to peel off those things that are un-Godlike to reveal the man - or woman - of God's creating: patient, respectful, loving.

From Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy:

Examine yourselves, and see what, and how much, sin claims of you; and how much of this claim you admit as valid, or comply with. The knowledge of evil that brings on repentance is the most hopeful stage of mortal mentality. Even a mild mistake must be seen as a mistake, in order to be corrected; how much more, then, should one's sins be seen and repented of, before they can be reduced to their native nothingness!

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

totally, absolutely perfect

Spiritual resource to share: contemplation

I have been working this idea of what it means to be perfect over and over the last few weeks, so I thought I would share it here. Large as that idea is, I'll share just a few gleanings.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration." (From The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany p. 242:8 )

Accepting this and the principle that we are made in the image and likeness of God ( ie perfect), I reason that our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?

(follow the format of Perfect means….. So this means…. )

Perfect means: Having all parts present………
So this means: YOU ARE WHOLE

Having everything that is required…………
YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Complete in moral excellencies…………….
YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect Love…………………………………
YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

Exactly fitting the need in every situation………….
YOU ARE IN YOUR RIGHT PLACE and SITUATION; YOU HAVE A MISSION AND PURPOSE IN LIFE

Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and WELL INFORMED

So when we work out a problem from the standard of perfection, we are not looking for perfect matter, but for that principle of harmony out of which all human activity is expressed. The starting point is not matter. The starting point is perfect God, perfect man.

For example - struggling to get to the right weight to look just perfect is very different from understanding that your very nature right now includes beauty, balance and radiance. Out of that understanding comes an expression that may come in any form, but beauty, balance and radiance will naturally be expressed.

The study and application of this idea goes on and on. (There simply is no end to understanding infinite God, infinite Truth, Life and Love!) I hope this gives you a thoughtful nudge to contemplate what is infinitely good and infinitely perfect in our lives today.





To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

whooping it up

Spiritual resource to share: laughter


Inspired by buddy blogger Laura’s post on Happiness last Monday, I started giving some serious thought to laughter. Check out laughing in Singapore, Germany and near my home town in Minnesota.

Now, for those of you who checked out these links, I’ll bet you started laughing. And in the home town link, you probably were aware of how often the effects of laughter were analyzed from a material and emotional basis. It was interesting. But what I am interested in is the fact that we laugh.

I think we laugh because we are spiritual. And inherent in our spiritual origin is the fact that life always triumphs. Life always wins out. In fact, part of the definition of joy includes the understanding of the triumph of life. Laughter breaks down any hypnotic hold of hopelessness, worry or self-doubt, and it helps you see the light again.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy explains this:

The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by his creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.

A true story: I was working long and hard on a problem. The more I worked, the more elusive the solution seemed to be. I kept asking myself -- Is there something more? Something more I should be reading, understanding, grokking? And if I just knew what that unknown thing was, I would do it, and then I’d have my answer. This type of thinking is similar to trying to fill a hole with everything you don't have.

My husband must have seen this dark cloud of circuitous thinking over my head and suggested we go out for a walk, where he started to do or say whatever he could to make me laugh. It worked. I laughed. The hypnotic hold broke. And I could see that, once again, our solution is not the accomplishment of human understanding, but in the yielding to man's unity with Truth and Love. God is so very good.

So, go ahead! Subordinate that false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science today, and you will see His true likeness and reflection everywhere!

Another fun fact from the links above says that on average, children laugh 400 times a day (click here to see a real laughing champion) and adults only laugh 17 times a day. Here’s your challenge today – get yourself caught up with the kids and laugh your head off.

wrestling defeat into victory

Spiritual resource to share: constancy


Last Saturday, I spent hours at my son's wrestling meet taking it all in, when right in the middle of the bleachers in the middle of the day, I felt a blog coming on, and just had to write what I was seeing that day.

There is something to be said about the energy level of an auditorium filled with hundreds of kids, their adoring fans of family and friends, and the coaches who have worked with these kids, ages maybe 5 to 14 years old, for years. It's all good. Everyone cheers for their favorite, but there is no opposition. Everyone is being cheered on to do their best. Although it is thrilling to see the kids on your team win, I was really struck at what happens when a team member has a defeat.

Our coaches had an empowering impact on my son after he lost his two matches. Coaching him with practice moves and encouragement right before the match, cheering him on, yelling encouragement and instructions during the match, they were right there after the defeat, keeping that momentum of confidence going.

Their ability to depersonalize defeat, analyze where the problem was and where the improvement needs to be helped to keep thought focused on what is still possible. I saw it in my son's eyes: he was disappointed, but more determined; sad that he didn't win, but already figuring out how he could do better. The fact that they believe in their wrestlers' integrity and developing skill was continuous throughout the meet.

This whole episode was such a great example of God's love for each of us: constant, unwavering and ennobling.

On our spiritual journeys, we encounter storms, defeat, victory, the whole spectrum of human experience. But it is in the moments of defeat that hope enters in and we can still see God working in our lives, we can still see possibilities for good.

When Mary Baker Eddy writes,

Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it.

...it makes me think that nothing we do out of a pure heart can ever be defeated. I think that when we love a sport, a project, even a person, it is the love that we pour into our lives, lived out through how we love, how we work and how we play; it is that love that always enlarges and elevates our nature. In that way, our defeats always turn into victories.




To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

going deeper with Darfur

Spiritual resource to share: consecration

There has been some progress on the situation in Darfur and I find this morning that I want to feel even more strongly the power of God in light of the full restoration of what the United Nations has called "the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe."

So I have been drawing on my past experience asking myself: What do I know for sure? What have I demonstrated myself that I can re-affirm and build on spiritually? How can I pray about this situation more effectively?

Mary Baker Eddy's second sentence in her book on healing and prayer, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, states simply "...I speak from experience." Nothing can take away the experiences we have had, and those experiences where we have felt so strongly the power of God's love are uniquely ours forever. They become the foundation stones of our progress.

I can and have felt the power of God move in my life - with personal safety, reversing moral idiocy and breaking through the obstacles of red tape and bureaucracy. If I have proved these principles, it is easy for me to see that these principles are operating here and everywhere. My prayer this morning helps me to underline in bold markings what is True.

Personal safety
I remember river currents pulling me under a rock while I was kayaking. My simple prayer was to choose not to be afraid, to reach out to God and reach out my hand. This saved me and underlines the Truth that God is always guiding us, however severe or hopeless the situation.

Reversing moral idiocy
Once I was angry with a friend and turned it around. My experience with turning anger into love was a result of God governing my thoughts. This experience helped me understand how God directs Her creation and constantly talks with us and influences thought toward peace.

Cutting through red tape
I have had experience working to get spiritual books into countries where the government red tape was particulalry problematic. It took prayer and persistence, but unexpected ways opened up and we were able to accomplish what we set out to do. This experience was life-transforming to me in that I saw how our persistent prayer can lead us to see breakthrough in new ways.

Trusting Truth
"Truth is always the victor." Genocide will end. When we put our weight on the side of good, we will win. Combating hopelessness with the knowledge of God's laws of safety, progress and love - and accepting that these laws are working now - doesn't make them magically appear, but opens our eyes to acknowledge and support the inevitable progress of seeing a limited material basis of things yield to a spiritual, harmonious basis. Safety, progress and breakthrough are happening now.

Your influence for good depends upon the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness and falls, never to rise. - Mary Baker Eddy

Photo Credit: Daniel PepperSpecial Thanks: eLeaP eLearning Management System©2007 SaveDarfur.org







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gratitude + humility = protection

Spiritual resource to share: protection

• Humility is the stepping-stone to a higher recognition of Diety.
• Great charity and humility is necessary in this work of healing.
  - from Mary Baker Eddy's Miscellaneous Writings
  

I was an administrator of a nursing care facility in the late 80's and was attending a workshop hosted by our headquarters. A representative of the Board of Directors shared greetings from the Board and expressed gratitude for what we were doing. Well, I certainly felt justified in this gratitude - because after all, I was working nine hours a day and had to take occasional calls on weekends!

Then we were thanked again and this representative went into greater detail about just how grateful the Board was to have us there, how grrateful they were for the support of our families, etc. I remember thinking that that was nice.

Then, we were thanked again. I started feeling a little uncomfortable. But when we were thanked again for the fourth time, I started feeling that I needed to do much more if I was to be worthy of all this gratitude just pouring out from the Board!!

I also knew that this Board was under significant criticism for taking some new and innnovative steps. This only made their statement of gratitude even more poignant.

I could see how their sincere gratitude also provided a protection to the individuals on the Board. Nothing can really touch a heart deep in humility and gratitude. And not only did this provide a safe haven for those really out there making a difference, but it helped bring progressive ideas to the institution that are still in place today. So it provided protection to the individuals involved, to the institution as a whole and to the new and progressive ideas that helped many more outside of the institution's walls.

That experience gave me such a tangible sense of the power and protection of love, humility and gratitude, I will never forget it. It has and continues to embolden me to do those things I feel bring the most love and healing to others, and to do so with humility and grace.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity." We are safe when we love and when we heal.




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G U I D A N C E

Spiritual resource to share: the dance





Thanks to Sandi and to John Mark Ministries for this wonderful article! (And check out Sandi's new blog!)

Dancing with God

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.

It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw "G: I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God, "u" and "i" dance."
God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God's blessings
and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.





© John Mark Ministries. Articles may be reproduced in any medium, without applying for permission (provided they are unedited, and retain the original author/copyright information)

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