Ad INFINITUM . . . . . .

Welcome to my new site and blog!

2012-01-05T08:43:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: fresh new starts!

Introducing Practical Healing Prayer and

The calm strong currents of true spirituality...must deepen human experience...."
- Mary Baker Eddy

Please click here to go to my new site and blog, now conveniently combined!
You can go to www.practicalhealingprayer.com to get to the site via the new blog,
or go to www.kimckorinek.com to get to the site via the home page.
Either way, you'll get there!

Since I have over 700 posts on my "ad infinitum" blog, I am going to keep this live for a while, but practicalhealingprayer.com will be where all the new posts will be available.
You can subscribe to practicalhealingprayer.com by clicking on the RSS feed.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy the new format and fun features!

photo (c) Jeff Rennicke at jeffrennicke.com

"Begin anywhere."

2011-12-31T08:07:00.000-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: fresh starts

"Begin anywhere." This is one of two quotes that hangs around my office. Its only two words are attributed to John Cage, American composer and philosopher. It is a constant reminder that we are able to change thought, break through a lull, reverse directions at any time. We have that authority to start anew - right now.

Starting anew - right now. What hope! This newness and freshness can mark the beginning of our new year. It can mark the beginning of our new week. It can even happen in the littlest moments of the day. A total turn around. A fresh start.

After having a very bleary morning where interruptions threatened any advancement on a number of projects, I felt the day could have turned out totally unproductive. But these two little words "begin anywhere" provided enough of a jolt to encourage me to stop this fuzzy accommodation of blah to totally reverse direction. I literally closed the door on my little interruptions, forgave my wandering morning, and gave myself permission to have a great day! I jumped into one project at a time and completed what needed to be done.

This same principle of fresh starts that can turn our day around, can also turn our lives around. This principle can be seen in the remarkable lives of such people as Buckminster Fuller whose life took a 180 degree turn and continues to be a marvel, and to our own everyday lives. Mary Baker Eddy, another individual whose life proved this principle of fresh starts offers these words, written over a hundred years ago:

The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should. You have begun at the numeration-table of Christian Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement. Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way. "Who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?"

Begin anywhere. Whatever your background, your history, or your prospects, you can begin - right now - to claim your inheritance as a child of God. All that is good, pure, true and fulfilling is at hand! A happy new year? Yes! And a happy new week, a happy new day, and a string of happy new moments.

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.

step by step

2011-12-17T10:16:00.004-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: guest blogger - Leslie Larsen

Step by step will those who trust Him find that
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

There are 67 stairs out of this cave back into the world we are used to. That’s 67 steps out of the darkness and into the sunlight once again.

Metaphorically speaking, this cave of darkness could represent so many things. The phrase “one step closer” and “light at the end of the tunnel” seem somehow appropriate. For me, it symbolizes growth. Every challenge life presents allows you one more step towards the light. Every challenge means climbing another stair, whether with exuberance or exhaustion, the end goal of the light will not come any closer without conquering that stair, along with all of the others. Sometimes, a daunting task, sometimes a menial snap of the fingers.

But also notice, with every step, there is more light, more air, more to see and appreciate. It is not only about the task of the stairs, not only about the destination of getting to the light and wide open spaces, but also to appreciate the sights on the way there. What lesson is complete without the beauty of the journey? Things are laying there to be learned while you’re figuring out your challenge, neat little rewards of learning to supplement each step with something you would not have seen had you not come this far.

An interesting thought on the passageways of caves.

By Leslie Larsen

S&H 513:6
Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind

lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings.

To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant,

gray in the sombre hues of twilight;

but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.

considering Mary

2011-12-12T10:02:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: humility and receptivity

Infinite possibilities by Misha

In this cornucopia of inspiration about Christmas flooding in over the internet, this one article, Mary's humble Christmas prayer asks the questions: what did Mary hear in prayer? What was she doing or thinking to receive so profound a message?

(from the article) "The words she heard from the angel Gabriel may have meant nothing without Mary’s precious humility and receptivity to the divine message that would change human experience forever."

Understanding God's omnipresence and understanding that God is constantly communicating to us ( think of it as a continual stream), it makes sense that we are always capable of listening to and connecting to those right ideas that will bring out whatever glorifies God. Whatever glorifies God fills us with meaning and hope and joy! This is all very good!

This made me think about what it takes to listen. Two things: humility and receptivity

Humility – that genius of Christian Science – takes ego out of the equation. It is meekness, free of false pride; being unpretentious. To humble something is to cause a transformation. Humility reminds me of that place you can go to in prayer when the outward experience is aggressive, confusing, attacking or demeaning. You can lower yourself into that secret hiding place, take yourself out of the target's range and be quiet. In that stillness, the only voice that can be heard is Love, God. God's messages of light and love transform us.

Receptivity – goes hand in hand with willingness, readiness to receive; openness. Our receptivity is as focused on what we know of God as we are focused when we are tuning into a radio program.

God's tender love, infinite goodness, and intelligent care brings out all kinds of surprising solutions for us. How wonderful then to go into this holiday season knowing that we can tune in to the right responses we need for any situation. God is speaking to us, sharing those messages. It is our humility and receptivity that is picking up on these messages and showing us the way to be a blessing in the wide array of family situations, to be a blessing in our churches and communities, to bring the Christ light to our friends and acquaintances.

There is no end to the good in store and no end to the good we can do and the good we can be.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

2011-11-28T18:49:00.003-06:00

Hi friends,

I'll be spending the next couple of weeks in a redesign of my blog and my website making it into one seamless whole and I hope to launch before January 1st.

See you then!

Kim

the innocence and protection of a child - revisited

2011-11-14T13:23:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: power of purity

Last year about this time, facebook friends were asked to show their support for children and speak out against child abuse by posting their favorite cartoon character from their childhood. It was an invasion of memories!! What a blast to see who friends choose! And how fun to see one another as childlike! There is something pure about these cartoon characters that speaks to the purity in each of us.

I grew up being told that I was a child of God, and that this God is all powerful and all good. Now that I am much older, those first lessons have opened up a world of good to me.

Understanding our original relationship to God helped me to see what is changeless and what is all-powerful about me and about everyone. Purity is the basis of that relationship. And because it is from God, it is also powerful. Our innocence, then, is also our power. This is power that cannot be tainted, touched or manipulated. Purity is part of our original design.

This has been proved to me again and again. I did a lot of traveling as a college student through Latin America. And there were a number of situations where I experienced this protection. Whether it was in the middle of a military shakedown, as the only woman on a crowded bus, or driving along some treacherous roads, I was protected. Prayer was my constant companion during my travels, I can tell you!

But I have also seen this insistent prayer of purity rise up and be the impulse to protect friends of mine who had experienced abusive situations. Time and again, it was their purity which led them to find right solutions, and that led them to find the resources they needed. And in those cases where we prayed together, this same God-bestowed purity restored their confidence, gave them the realization that their spiritual identity (their only identity!) could never be touched, revealed their inherit nature as a child of God – totally loved and cherished, and gave them the courage to go forward with their lives.

Childhood and its accompanying joy, curiosity and goodness are everyone’s right. We can take this stand, full well knowing that we have divine authority to take a stand against violence. This song of King David, written in the book of Psalms, defines that authority that is timeless and timely.

Psalm 91 from the New Living Translation of the Bible

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This I declare about the LORD:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.

For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.

He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the LORD your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.

For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.

They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

More resources, check out:
Some thoughts on Facebook profiles, cartoon characters, social movements and healthy child development.

to learn more about the issue, click below:
Prevent Child Abuse America

Announcing! a new resource blog about Jesus' healing words and works

2011-11-05T21:53:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: lessons we can take from Jesus' healings

For all my Bible-loving friends who are in earnest to learn as much as they can about the how and what and who and where about Jesus' healings, I have put together a new blog as a resource anyone can use, and share their own comments and research if they want.

Check out: http://healinglessons.blogspot.com/

This is not a commentary about Jesus. Simply, I have listed Jesus' healings chronologically and then tagged each healing in a way to share, quantitatively, the types of healings, how the healings were initiated, the context or environment where each healing took place, the directives Jesus used and the actions that were taken. To learn how to use the tags, go here: http://healinglessons.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-use-tags.html

This is going out to all and especially those friends who are fellow healers and those in our local Ministerial group.

Enjoy! And please feel free to write your own comments in with the posts. If you have more to add, please contact me and I'll add it all in.

"A true friend is the best possession." - Ben Franklin

2011-10-31T13:51:00.054-05:00

It's time to close my singing about friends series!

A lot of my friends are in the same boat with me - we all have children growing up and out of the nest. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, I cherished what doesn't go up and out - my friends.

Of course, there are friends that come and go, but I am happy for the friends who have stayed with me - through many moves, through births of our children, through crisis, loss, victories and elation.

In many cases, family members are my friends. But mostly, I count among my friends those who I have met along my journey, and our journeys crossed and intertwined and my life has been shaped and refined by their good graces.

Our capacity for friendship seems equal to our capacity to understand God. But what if there is a time when we are without friends? "Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank?" writes Mary Baker Eddy. "Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love." Even in times of seeming loneliness, there is Love. It is the substance of life, it is its foundation. And from that foundation, we grow friends!

Some gems on friendship:

My friends are my estate.
- Emily Dickinson

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.
-Woodrow Wilson

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A true friend is the best possession.
-Ben Franklin

Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shall drink it with pleasure.
- Sirach 9:10

A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
- Arabian Proverb

Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful.
-Mary Baker Eddy

Please add your own comments or email this article to a friend.

For more information, contact Kim or call her directly via skype!

Get Skype and call me for free.

The power of Paula

2011-10-26T21:31:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our home

Although Paula was much prettier,
this photo
reminds me of her.
When she would sing, her voice
filled up every single room
in the house.

Thinking about friends for this FRIEND series, I knew I had to write about Paula. I have lost track of her now, and writing this blog helps me put out there how much this older woman did for our family. She was a true friend and wonderful mother for our family, she will never be forgotten.

Our family regularly included someone living with us for one of any number of reasons: to house sit or to help out, to wait for another house to open up, to have a place while going to college, etc. So to have another person come and live with us was a normal thing.

Paula came to our house when we heard she needed a place while going through a transition in her life. Paula was the one who gave our sons and me voice and piano lessons. So, when she moved in, she continued and added helping with dinners four evenings a week. For me, a working mom with a heavy travel schedule, it was heaven!
Paula lived with us for a year and a half. Paula was a gentle woman of amazing stories. These stories were shared with a humble heart that had experienced a side of life that was totally foreign to us.

Through her, I learned what it was like to live growing up with great grandparents who were former slaves, living through the civil rights movement, and daily dealing with racism in her work, her church and her community. Throughout her ordeals, she never lost sight of what she loved and found a way to actively pursue her first love: singing opera.

After a few months of music lessons, we had recitals at our house, and she would show off the boys' developing talents. Then, at our insistence, she would sing. She would sing in Latin, then German, and follow it up with pieces from opera in English and Italian. She would get herself in a corner (an effective acoustic strategy) and then open her mouth and fill that whole house with sound. Her opera training gave her a set of lungs that blew us away.

Into our house of men, she brought the beauty and drama of a life well lived. Her care of the boys was very parent-centered and her mild manner and humility made it easy to immediately claim her as family. Her stories of her great grandfather and her early battles with racism, were received with respect and awe.

The power of Paula was such that she had a steely reserve and a gentle touch: an abundance of talent and the humble willingess to share it with us rookies. Meekness, might, humility and grace blessed our home and she became one of our dearest friends. She opened my eyes to the depth of character we all possess, and how an earnest listening ear can bring out the brilliance in another. She certainly brought out all that was good in our family. She gave our home a consistency of mothering for that year and a half, teaching us compassion, how to cook and how to live by singing out our hearts.

"There is no one alive who is Youer than you." -Dr. Seuss

2011-10-23T19:54:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: authenticity

Today you are you,

that's truer than true.

There is no one alive

who is Youer than You.

from Dr. Seuss

What a thought! What an idea! There is no one in the world quite like you. SO how does this figure into the grand scheme of things. What makes you You? What is it about you that makes you so unique?

For some it may not always be easy to discover your unique gifts, and then have the courage to share them. For others, it's a breeze. But it is such a worthwhile undertaking to make that discovery.

First of all, coming from the basis that we are all created in the image and likeness of God, and knowing that God is infinite, there is an infinite store of spiritual qualities each of us reflect. That we all have our own unique signature to give to the world, of this I am sure!

This was demonstrated to me early on in my career when I was studying dance at the University of Minnesota. I took an experimental class in Dance Improvisation. There, the teacher removed any guidelines, threw away all dance disciplines and asked us to start moving for most of the class period.

We all started out a bit intimated and feeling directionless. But one by one, we started experimenting with the moves that felt most natural to us. Pretty soon, as we took turns watching one another and dancing, it was becoming obvious that each dancer focussed his or her movements on a specific theme.

I loved exploring the spiral - movements rising, falling, turning inside then outside; another was fascinated with balance - each part of the body brought its own balance and imbalance to the rest of the body; another kept dancing within the theme of contrasts; another centered on the contraction and the movements that emerged out of that, and on and on. The point was that each of us had a strength that emerged and our own unique signature blossomed in an open and inviting atmosphere.

How can we do that today? Can we develop our own voice? Our own way of dancing through life? Can we identify our authentic self and give that to the world?

Sure.

Do this fun exercise. Leave aside all expectations, and put yourself in an open and inviting atmosphere. Now, write down everything that you are. Come up with at least, let's say, 20 things. Done? OK, now remove any titles or jobs you may have (like professor, award-winning pie eater), any roles you have or positions that define you in relation to others (mother, second cousin, etc), any thing that defines you physically (drop dead gorgeous, short and round, etc.) and finally remove any dead end quality (like boring, lazy, etc.)

Now that outside expectations, labels and dead end stuff have been removed, you should have a list of your primitive spiritual qualities. (For more ways of discovering your spiritual qualities, see past post on the Spirituality Matrix.)

This embodiment of spiritual qualities is you, your theme. Let's say what is left on your list is grace, order and spontaneity. Or strength, precision and tenderness. Or maybe it's warmth, intelligence, promptness. Taking this cluster of spiritual ideas (which is actually you, now understood spiritually) how would you respond in a variety of settings? How would Grace/Order/Spontaneity respond at a family Christmas dinner? How would Strength/Precision/Tenderness deal with a new challenging project at work? Or how would Warmth/Intelligence/Promptness deal with paying overdue bills?

You are unique. And you bring your God-given qualities with you wherever you go - bringing a unique dimension of God's love to every activity in the way that only you can.

Signing off as Curious/Adventurous/Embracing,

Kim

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 foreverness of friends - revisited

2011-10-21T14:42:00.002-05:00

spiritual resource to share: Friends ( third in my series)

The northern lights right off Lake Superior's coast

With one son off to school, the other son and husband off to a ten day wilderness canoe trip, I planned to take three days off to a hiking, swimming, camping venture on an island on Lake Superior with a friend I hadn't seen in about six years.

The morning of our trip, I got a call from her and as we were making rendezvous plans, she blurted "I can't wait! You're my best friend!" And she is mine, too! We have had an almost twenty-five year history of paddling whitewater, wilderness camping and leading trips including co-leading a rafting trip on the Rio Grande down in Texas' Big Bend area, and had a memorable hike on the Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota that she wrote about in a regional magazine (as well as writing a book about the Lake Superior area).

The first time we saw each other in the parking lot on Day One of our trip, it was like we had never been apart. I have heard about that with other people who have really good friends. Distance and time just don't cut the bonds of friendship.

She brought another friend along, and the three of us proceeded to have three days of really good food, great stories, hiking along the rocky shoreline and walking the boardwalk and swimming in the clear waters. We figured out one another's life problems, read some, sang some, and walked some more. Then our last evening together was topped off with the northern lights.

Mary Baker Eddy has some great things to say about friends:

Pure humanity, friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth a foretaste of heaven. They unite terrestrial and celestial joys, and crown them with blessings infinite. (Miscellaneous Writings)

There are no greater miracles known to earth than perfection and an unbroken friendship. (Retrospection and Introspection)

For more information, contact Kim or call her directly via skype!

Get Skype and call me for free.

seeing through Laura's eyes

2011-10-18T00:28:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: renewal

I was starting to feel a bit dull about my life here. After all, I have lived here for over six years, and I haven't lived in one place for over six years for a long, long time. I was looking for a change. Not anything major, mind you, but I was just wanting something different.

Then, my buddy Laura came for a visit. Laura and I met through work during one of the most exciting work projects I had ever been on. Although we had different jobs pioneering different tasks, we were both working on the same goal. It was thrilling. But then our jobs ended, and that's when our friendship bloomed.

Laura was always the one to get new ideas started and going, and she took on Herculean tasks. Her energy, focus and determination was palpable. I could feel her jolt just talking to her on the phone when she called to see if she could come for a visit.

I wondered how she would repond to my quiet life up in the Northwoods. This is where it got interesting.
The day came when she arrived and entered my house. "I love this house!" she burst out, "It is so you!" I had to agree. Later, we hiked one of my favorite trails. "Oh, this is just gorgeous," she commented looking over the lake reflecting its fringe of colored leaves. I realized she was right. Another time, we cruised the main street of my town known for its tiny shops of antiques, clothes, tea and chocolates, hand-made quilts from the Midwest, and imported pottery from Italy and art from local artisans and more. "This is fascinating," she oohed at a hand thrown bowl. I could see I was starting to wake up. "Oh you are just so beautiful," she said. Yes, I am, I nodded in agreement.

On one of our hikes, I pointed out the remnants of several art installations that were put on the trail years ago. We were so engrossed in our talking that we missed a major art sculpture just two feet from the trail. After a couple of days of non-stop conversations, she left to go back home, leaving me with the reminder of how good life is, and how precious and connected we all are to one another. She left me seeing things in sharper focus with a brighter light, and I got to see the wonder that lives right here with me right now.

Love never loses sight of loveliness.

Its halo rests upon its object.

One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful.
-Mary Baker Eddy

Mocha sits next to the art sculpture
on the Raven Trail in Minocqua

Part of the Forest Art Wisconsin Native/Invasive Events by Edgardo Madanes of Argentina right in my neighborhood

My breakfast with Cori

2011-10-15T10:07:00.005-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our art --- of books and healing

Sitting down in to an early morning send-off, my friend and I had breakfast at my favorite place. Last month, she had just completed a month long artist's residency at the Anderson Center in Red Wing and wanted to share her latest project.

Cori is a book artist, and her work has stretched and opened my ideas as to what a book is and can be.

She has distilled the meaning of a book to three of its native elements: it is a narrative ( each sentence, phrase or word has its own story), it is interactive (the reader is integral to the book -- can you have a book if you have no reader?*) and it is on a time continuum (whether you read a book cover-to-cover, read a sentence, or one word, you have a starting point and ending point). Her latest book project would involve the highlighting of our life journeys: the importance of seeing the entire landscape, while at the same time idenitifying the singular weed by the road -- all in a way that crystalizes those moments and puts it on a pedestal to make each moment sacred.

Throughout her explanation, over tea and mango eggs, I had to ask her to stop until I was able to wrap my head around some of the ideas she was sharing. I had to give up how I normally perceived a road weed, a life journey, not to mention what I thought a book was! Once I abandoned my own assumptions, I was open to see things in a new way.

"I need this kind of mind-stretching," I said. "It keeps my thought fresh and open to new ways of seeing things."

"Kim," she said, "that is exactly how I feel when you explain Christian Science to me."

I immediately got the connection. In Christian Science, we see beyond the limited and the stereotyped to the most primal spiritual essence of things. We strive to see things the way God sees them - as spiritual. In doing so, we change the basis of thought - from the material to the spiritual; the limited to the unlimited; the dull to the brilliant; the academic to the inspirational. Only when this is done, can we make real (realize) our original perfection. And in the case of our art, only when we slough off the limited, etc., can we make original, transformative art! Mary Baker Eddy summarizes it like this:

When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle. This must be the climax before harmonious and immortal man is obtained and his capabilities revealed.

*As each reader brings his or her experience to the book, so no one can experience the book in the same way. And the reader, who is always a dynamic, growing force him or herself, can never read the same book in the same way. This explains why we always seem to get new ideas from books we love and re-read over and over again!

Godwords - revisited

2011-10-12T14:39:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: synonyms

Just about everyday, I list a handful of defining words about God. For today, I am looking at the words: persistent, patient, purity, power, potential as ways to understand God.

This stems from a definition of God that comes from Mary Baker Eddy's classic book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.

For a time, understanding God didn't really appeal to me. I didn't see the connection with the great I AM to my daily life - of having friends, enough money to cover rent and other necessities, and of school and work.

But slowly, I came to realize that it is our concept of God that gives us the parameters of our world view - that our world is as big as our God. Or in other words, God is our world.

So if my world is based on an understanding of God as punishing, erratic, and unknowable, my life may be characterized by a sense of caution, or maybe even distrust.

But if my world is based on an infinite God who is infinite good, my life might be characterized by more openness, less fear of the unknown.

Once I understood this, I made knowing God more of a priority. At first, my motive was oriented toward self. I wanted a bigger sense of possibilities for my life and a more confident world view, so I figured that knowing God would do that for me.

But as I continued to explore who God is, I found myself getting more and more curious to know God - just for the sake of knowing God. I mean, what does it mean that God is ALL power? God is Love and God is omnipresent. What does that mean that Love is always present? This was interesting quickly working its way into fascinating.....

To know the wholeness of God is a way to love God. Paul, writer of many books in the New Testament, was a passionate, adventurous and deeply loving man who wrote in his letter to the Romans:

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

King David, poet and political and religious leader, wrote many songs in praise of God and his yearning to know God better:

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is....

Like David and Paul, when we work to understand God, we are actually developing our spiritual sense, and " to understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire."

I find some comfort in knowing that we will never get to a point where we say, "OK! Done! I got it. I now know God. Next topic!" What we know of God becomes an ever-growing storehouse of wisdom. Good is infinite. Brilliance is never-ending. Possibilities for wonder abound. Solutions are always at hand.

Knowing God, we know more of who we are - as we are made in the image and likeness of God. We know more of our neighbor, and it follows that we understand the fundamental nature of all mankind. Mary Baker Eddy shares more of the impact of understanding God:

To understand God strengthens hope, enthrones faith in Truth,
and verifies Jesus' word:

"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Godwords for today: persistent, patient, purity, power, potential

Today, it is good to know that God loves for me is persistent and patient: the God's purity is the source of my health and well-being; that God has the power to maintain and sustain Her creation; and that God gives us the potential to understand all of what God is.

And I can't wait for tomorrow.

God is big.

2011-10-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: a walk

Okay, walk with me on this one. No, skip with me because that's how this fun little musing felt. I kept thinking of ways to answer the question "Why do I love God?" As I kept thinking about this and how I would answer, I kept bumping into different bits of songs from the book of Psalms.

I love God because.....
God is big. Really, really big. God includes everything that I love and everything that is worth loving.
God is about abundance, joy, triumph, satisfaction. Everything that I love has its source in God and in what is infinite, eternal, substantial and real.
"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." Pslams 104

I love God because....
I can relate to God. I relate to Love and God is Love. I relate to harmony and balance. I love those qualities. I love structure and improvisation - evidence of Love's order and spontaneity. I love these ideas because I am made of these ideas. I can relate to God because I am the very evidence of God -an idea of God - a child of God! In the most basic way, then, God has made me.
"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139

I love God because....
God is always more. Although there is an end to the search for God, there is no end in discovering how far-reaching and all-encompassing God is. There is no end to knowing how intimate and exacting God's care is and how infinite and available God's resources are. Knowing God even in a small way, I recognize God's love when in a new place, I recognize God's provision in the midst of seeming lack, and God's guidance when there once was doubt.
"The Lord, the Mighty One, is God, and he has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets. From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance." Psalm 50

So it follows on this path, that I should ask you, Why do you love God?

Photo by Kim C Korinek
King James Version used in Psalms 104 and 139
New Living Translation used in Psalm 50

what Love does

2011-10-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: poetry

I make strong demands on Love*
to dissolve divisions,
to clarify our connections to each other,
to soften our sympathies,
to teach beyond tolerance to tenderness,
to call for active witnesses, noble sacrifices and grand achievements*
to satisfy our searching.

Love inspires, illumines, designates and leads the way.
Oh, Love, show me what you love about me
and why You have chosen me for Your holy purpose;
Then show me how Your Love reveals what You love about each of Your children
and how each of Your children has his/her own Holy purpose.

Love is no respecter of persons.
God does not know the categories and qualifications of conditional love.
God's love runs through us like a river,
flushing away the false dams of
race, orientation, age, economic status, gender,
intellectual capacity,
and uniting us into
one
full force of sparking, brilliant achievement:
we are all the loved of Love.

* See Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 250

Photos: Top: Kim, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Bottom: http://bit.ly/rrpwKw, Arkansas River

answering the call to compassion

2011-09-29T09:26:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our healing response

My two nieces recently posted on their facebook status, heartfelt calls for compassion to those struggling with an invisible illness and to those who have been targets of prejudice due to circumstances beyond their control. Both of my nieces know what they are talking about and can share from first hand experience how deep is the demand for compassion. I woke up this morning thinking over what Christ Jesus taught about compassion and how this compassion can lead to healing.

In the Bible's book of John, it says simply "God is Love." Jesus' own healing works demonstrated how far-reaching and life-transforming that Love is. What Jesus proved and taught his disciples to do can be done today.

The websites spirituality.com and christianscience.com are stocked with accounts of healing after healing of the power of Love. I'm listing just a few here. Compassion starts and ends with love, and I love that my nieces have put the call out there. You can go to these sites and write in the search box for any of these compassionate and healing responses:

Healing of depression
Healing of obesity
Healing of chronic pain
Erasing prejudice
Prayer for rape victims
Healing of injury
Healing of cancer
Healing of arthritis

Of course, healing compassion is always the right response in every situation, whether it is opening a door for someone, listening attentively or sending a gracious note of thanks. So I am sending a note of thanks to two very compassionate nieces. Their love is touching and uplifting others' lives, I know.

Healing happens at the point of letting go

2011-09-21T01:00:00.001-05:00

Amazing. It has been six years to the day that I started this blog. It was a small group of Christian Science practitioners who got together over several conference calls and learned as much as they could to see how to further the word about Christian Science and its healing prayer through the internet. Today, I have lost track of how many sites there are about Christian Science! Each of us has a singular voice sharing with the world that most singular and universal love that can be demonstrated and practiced in Christian Science. This post is six years old, but the ideas are ever new! Enjoy!

Explore with me a minute what this means: healing happens at the point of letting go.

Healing through prayer can at times sound so simple as to seem simplistic, or as one of my friends said after hearing an explanation for the first time, it seems like magic. It is neither simplistic nor magic. The basis of healing through prayer, as taught by Christ Jesus, is sound. Its basis is comprised of three basic facts:

God (good) is All.
We are His reflection.
Anything unlike God (good) is unreal and powerless.

When I work with a patient, I listen and mainly work with these three ideas, whatever the situation is. For example:

What Truth calms an anxious thought about the future? Understanding that God is All.
What Truth dissolves low self-esteem? Knowing that we are God's reflection.
What Truth heals disease? Reasoning that anything unlike God (good) is unreal -- that is, powerless to impact who you are, as God's reflection, because God is All.

When the faith in God grows to be more than the faith in evil/disease/death/bad things happening to good people, we are more ready to trust God and let go of our concerns, arguments, and fears.(Click here to see Science and Health citation.)

When we understand that we can never be separated from God ( because we are His reflection) and that God is All ( good is always present) and we are safe ( bad things have no power to impact us/ anything unGodlike is unreal), we can let go and experience healing.

As a child, I grew up with some simple and profound ideas:

Let go and let God.
Don't outline good, because you can't outline good enough!
There is no spot where God is not.
Just Trust.

God is incredibly, powerfully, thoroughly good. His power dissolves and dissipates anything unlike Him, and we are safe in His care. (Click here to see Bible citation.) Understanding this - even in a degree - helps us to let go and experience healing.

photo from http://binged.it/rbMRrX

Decline or resurrection?

2011-09-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: published articles
I am so happy to be able to share what I have learned and experienced about church in the last six years, all compiled and published into one neat little article!

Reprinted from the September 2011 issue of The Christian Science Journal.

Here's how it starts:

I could sense the grief a friend felt as she recalled the days of church services filled with members, lots of children in the Sunday School, and a packed church parking lot. But afterward, I felt a need to answer what has been a question for me as well—What happened? Why aren’t churches as full now as they used to be?

There are plenty of reasonable explanations for the decline in the numbers attending church. It’s a trend in most “mainstream” churches and faith organizations. People maintain that churches simply are not responding to today’s need for more relevancy and practicality. (You can do a Google search on “decline in churches” and get millions of responses.)

And there are the not-so-reasonable explanations, where the drop in popularity turns into a blame game, pointing at the actions of others—church leaders, changes to the status quo, and so on—as the culprit for fewer people occupying the pews.

But answers like these don’t get to the heart of the matter. This brought me back to thinking how Jesus’ mission is something we can learn from.

.....

To read the rest, please go to: http://bit.ly/pU9ikg

Beyond 9/11: rebuilding with forgiveness and love

2011-09-13T21:17:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: special readings from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

On Wednesday, I'll be reading selected citations from the Bible and Science and Health, after which people attending can share inspiration and healing that they have gotten from their study and practice of Christian Science.

If you have a phone and can make the time, please feel free to join us!

Phone: 1-201-793-9022 Access Code: 7040344#

For more information, please go to the website: http://www.prayerfulgathering.com/

There has been a flood of healing ideas flying over the internet, and I am happy to be adding these inspiring readings! (See below for some links.)

Beyond 9/11: rebuilding with forgiveness and love

From the Bible (book, chapter: verse(s)

Psalms 130: 2-5
Micah 4: 1-4
Mark 12: 29-31
I John 4: 16, 18, 20, 21
Leviticus 19: 17, 18
I Peter 5: 6-10
Joshua 1: 9
Ps 139: 9, 10, 11
Acts 17: 28
Isaiah 42: 6
John 16:33
Galatians 5: 19-23
Romans 12:21
I John 3: 13, 18, 19, 22, 23
Luke 10:19
Phil 4: 8
I Corinthians 13: 13
II Thessalonians 3: 5

From Science and Health (page: line)

225: 14
102:18-23, 30-2
96:31
572: 6
496: 5-9
43: 32
241: 9
327: 8-13
22: 30-32
542: 19-21
391: 17-18
36: 19-21
405: 5-11
9: 11-24
445: 19
374: 5-6
568: 1 (only)
201: 1-9
560: 13-19
454: 9
407: 6-16
264: 24
158: 24-25
96:12-20
233: 5-7
569: 6-14
55: 16
vii: 25

with Hymns from the Christian Science Hymn book

Hymns 179, 163, 65
_________________________________________________________________________

Other articles and chats about 9/11:

Question of the week: How have you been thinking and praying about the ten year anniversary of 9/11?
http://www.spirituality.com/question/index.jhtml

Ten years after the 9/11 attacks: a new day
http://www.spirituality.com/article.jhtml?ElementId=/repositories/shcomarticle/Sep2011/1315946408.xml&ElementName=Ten%20years%20after%20the%20September%2011%20attacks%3A%20A%20new%20day

9/11 - still a call for comfort
http://www.spirituality.com/article.jhtml?ElementId=/repositories/shcomarticle/Sep2009/1252683501.xml&ElementName=9/11%20%13%20still%20a%20call%20for%20comfort

and more.....
http://christianscience.com/healing/praying-about-911/

We are all connected

2011-09-08T13:44:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: continuing knowledge

I came across this delightful inspiring set of videos about how science proves our unity with all things. As a Christian Scientist, I am constantly studying, discovering, practicing and proving from a scientific ( thus provable) basis of being. I practice the laws of Life and of Love. These are laws of God.

What thrills me is to come across other practicing scientists - whether they are physicists, astronomers, Christians - whose ideas jive with what I am learning and seeing.

I am not a student of the physical sciences, but Christian Science has led me to understand the basic premise of all sciences - the discovery and the proof of repeatable laws that lead to publicly verifiable evidence that lifts thought to a higher and more practical basis.

Some of the ideas in this video shares insights into our connectivity with all things biologically and chemically thus proving that we are made of the same stuff of stars, that the cosmos is actually within us and that there is still so much to be learned.

After seeing this clip, consider Mary Baker Eddy (a woman who discovered Christian Science in the mid 1800's), and her definition of man and of earth and of the universe. What is exciting here is that we are hearing something now, although based on materiality, opens the way to a higher view that MBEddy was onto decades ago:

S&H 585:5
EARTH.A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality, which are likewise without beginning or end. To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense, it is a compound idea.

S&H 591:5

MAN.The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God;

the full representation of Mind.

S&H 475:6
Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas.

S&H 507:15
The universe of Spirit reflects the creative power of the divine Principle, or Life, which reproduces the multitudinous forms of Mind and governs the multiplication of the compound idea man. The tree and herb do not yield fruit because of any propagating power of their own, but because they reflect the Mind which includes all. A material world implies a mortal mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.

Lengthen your days - revisited

2011-08-29T01:31:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: effiiciency, focus and genius

"Oh, if only there were more hours in a day!"

We are coming into September. Kids are back at school and summer toys are packed up. But that's not all that is getting packed. At a recent Ministerial meeting, others shared with a sigh how quickly their calendars are filling up as we tried to find a regular time to meet for our autumn meetings. How does one manage time and stay above the fray?

I came across these two ideas recently and was reminded of a time when I was really time crunched and how these two ideas helped pull me out and above that pressure:

That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days

The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

A number of years ago, I was hired for a wonderful job. As it required some post graduate education, I started out by working full time AND going to school full time. In addition, I was heading up the whole operation. People were looking to me for answers right away. Oh. I felt pressure. But I also prayed about the whole situation.

What I found was that when I felt the burden was on me to perform, that I needed to do everything and the demands were pulling me every which way, that is the time I felt like an accordion - squeezed to the max with hardly any breath to pull off much of a tune at all!

But when I could see that what I was doing was to be a help to people, that I was there to reflect God and respond to all requests and requirements with love, order, joy and peace, I could lean on God and the inspiration just flowed.

When I was obedient to God ( like not putting my ego out there, but being grateful and glorifying God), things flowed. Literally, if I had to do a paper or prepare a presentation to the Board, I was able to work efficiently - with very little wasted effort. I came to trust God in a new way. I trusted that all that needed doing could be done by trusting God's plan.

My days were lengthened - I could soon get everything done that needed to be done. Whatever brilliant ideas were needed were there. Whatever books I needed were easily located. Whatever energy I needed to get the tasks done was there.

What stays with me today is that I can expect schedules to blend, large jobs to be completed on time and harmony between everyone's coming and going. I can expect Love to lead my days.

We have all the time, ideas, strength, humor and joy we need every moment. Our days are lengthened -- we understand God's timing is always sufficient. We can rest assured and trust that God's will is done. And we can all be blessed, rested and refreshed.

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.

Complete. Perfect.

2011-08-23T01:14:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: new-old inspiration
Well, this is my last in the series of "Complete" posts. So to sum it all up, what does it mean to be complete? It has a lot to do with understanding that we are the expression of God, aka the children of God.

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), our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?

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

Perfect means: Having everything that is required…………
So this means: YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Perfect means: Complete in moral excellencies…………….
So this means: YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect means: Perfect Love…………………………………
So this means: YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

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

Perfect means: Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
So this means: YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and PURE

From this basis of wholeness, we can meet any challenge with increased confidence. We have all we need to meet any discord, disease, or lack. And that is something for which we can be completely grateful!

Bird. A prayer.

2011-08-19T11:29:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: everyday gratitude

The nieces come for a visit

We have a family prayer before dinner that we have been saying....well ever since we've become a family, so that's over 21 years ago. It starts out by addressing our Father-Mother God, thanks the people who prepared the meal, thanks the land that produced the meal and in its grand finale, blesses everyone.

Now that our two sons are in college, we thought this might be a good time to update our prayer. Enter my nieces: The eight year old twins and the four year old. They spent a day and a night with us, full of exploring the marshy areas and the beach in our neighborhood. They got their fill of frogs, toads, ducks, deer, fox, and all kinds of birds - which especially caught the attention of Sophie - the youngest.

That night we ate pizza and a salad (that the girls helped make with the brocoli and tomatoes they picked from our garden). We ate outside on the deck, waiting for the hummingbirds and chickadees that regularly show up at this time. I shared our family prayer, saying it slowly so that they would catch how full of gratitude and how inclusive it was, and how simple and direct it was. Then I asked them if they could update our family prayer.

Sophie said she had a prayer she wanted to share. "All right Sophie, let's hear it." I said.

"Bird."

"Is that it?"

"Yes. Bird."

"I see."

There is a song I rarely sing from the Christian Science Hymnal. It's Hymn 284 with words written by James Montgomery. It seems to set up the criteria pretty well for what a prayer should be.

Prayer is the heart's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed;

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

And prayer's sublimest strain doth reach

The Majesty on high.

Sophie's prayer was all that. It was eloquent, simple, and included what she was most passionate about that day, and it was a recognition of some of God's most gloriest stuff.

Bird. Our new family dinner prayer.

One of the many sources of inspiration for Sophie's prayer.

Complete. We have infinite value.

2011-08-17T00:54:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our own worthiness

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer the question:

Is there a belief that we are blameworthy or unworthy?

Feeling unworthy is a definite distraction to experiencing life fully. So how does the idea that we are blameworthy or unworthy get traction in our thought?

Of course if you have committed a wrong, there is a need to correct that - and that is a big topic, worthy of its own blog posting - not to say its own sermon, book or seminar. But I want to look at those times where there is a nagging doubt about one's own self-worth.

Much of Christendom relies on the Adam and Eve story in the book of Genesis to be the basis for their theology. Modern day Eves operate on this paradigm that they did something wrong and deserve to be blamed, that they have set up the archetype of woman as temptress, and that they came to life only because their husbands sacrificed a rib for them. Modern day Adams operate on a paradigm in which they have to admit that they were duped, that they have to till the soil (and not like it) and that their primal origin was actually dirt. This story is similar to other creation stories and may be an easy way to answer the difficult questions about the origins of evil and erratic behaviour of both men and women, but it does not allow for healing or a satisfying or sustainable sense of self.

However, looking at the first chapter of Genesis, there is a whole new way of seeing ourselves: made in the image and likeness of an all-powerful and all-loving God. Male and female are created at the same time. This highest creation is pronounced good. (See the end of Genesis chapter 1). This ultimate goodness, this pure concept of living Love is our origin.

If this is our framework for finding meaning and well-being in our lives, what can we find?
With our standpoint of purity goodness and love, we find we can heal, in a degree, just as Jesus healed.

Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.

There is much in the Bible that helps us affirm this perfect and loved view of ourselves. Psalm 139 is one of my favorites and includes this line:

Ps 139:14

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

The bigger question is: can we accept that we are loved, cherished, considered precious? Or that we have infinite value because we are the beloved children of Love itself! Answering "Yes!" to this question will deliver an emphatic "NO!" to the question: is there a belief that you are blameworthy or unworthy?

Accepting that you have no inherent lack, and that you are created wholy good and complete, puts you on the right track for claiming the peace and confidence and poise you were always meant to have.

Complete. We are not in process.

2011-08-12T14:23:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: the right starting point

As the third part in this Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there a mistaken assumption that we need to go through something ( like a process, a period of suffering, a certified procedure) in order to be complete?

Do any of these comments sound familiar?

Once I get my degree, then I will be able to do more.
If only I had more background on the Bible, then I would be able to contribute more.
Once I get over this cold, then I can get my work done.
Of course I am suffering now, I had to stay up all night to get the project done.

What is similar in all these comments is a sense that one lacks something now, and has to go outside of self in order to gain something. This lack - of time, of health, of intelligence, of skill - is a shaky place to try to build on.

Mary Baker Eddy writes:

Man is God's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.

The starting point here is that we are already complete. Then it follows that our lives are the revealing of that completeness. This eliminates the stress of believing we have to move ourselves from a position of a "have-not" to a "have." And this replaces it with a sense of exploring what God has already given us.

When facing a challenge, we can approach it with eyes open to what we already do have.

More education is definitely helpful, but now you can claim the intelligent ideas that God is constantly giving to you as ample to meet the need at hand.

Health is more contagious than disease, and disease is cured in proportion as our understanding of Life, God's supremacy increases.

Ideas from God are constant, and we kind find that accomplishing our tasks require less time when we are more open to the ideas that are already present.

Our primal origin to intelligent good and robust Life is our starting point and these lead to good and timely solutions. We find that we are complete, having all we need at all times, when we start out by seeing ourselves as the reflection of God, of infinite Love, Truth and Life.

Complete. We are not vulnerable.

2011-08-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: life answers to difficult questions

Being complete and at peace is
our natural state of being

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there the thought that life includes vulnerability? a subtle argument that we are flawed? an unconscious acceptance that we are at fault and we should expect bad things to happen to us as if this type of punishment was justified?

After I had gone through a difficult time in my life, I called a Christian Science practitioner (a healer) and asked her point blank: "Is there something wrong with me? If you could just tell me what is wrong wth me, then I will gladly fix it, and I could get on with my life."

She paused and said slowly, "There is nothing wrong with you."

This shocked me. It also made me realize how deeply imbedded was the idea that there was some hidden subtlety that had caused the one difficulty that I just emerged from.

But even deeper still, was her conviction that I was not inherently flawed. She saw - what I was learning to accept - "the perfect man." Mary Baker Eddy explains this in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (See S&H 476:28 )

"Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

As I grew to understand God as invariable Love, and as a purifying and transformative Truth about my life, I grew to accept that I was a direct result of Life, of God. And as I grew to accept that the very nature of my being is a reflection of God, I could affirm with authority my own goodness and virtue. I grew to see that I was created in the image and likeness of God - pure and free - and that was my natural state!

However, just as an engine that is miscalibrated cannot function, neither could God's creation function if it were flawed. But God's creation does function, so it follows that it cannot be flawed.

Yes! This all made sense! I saw myself more clearly as a child of God. Whatever was discordant or irritating or painful was not in the original plan, and needed to be rooted out. Actually, I saw that whatever was unGodlike could not attach itself to me. So the self-doubt or the belief that I could be vulnerable or lacking in anyway was flushed away in light of the freeing Truth that I was created complete. I realize that I have the strength, confidence and authority to heal, to live life fully and to be joyful!

And if this is true for me, it is true for everyone. Wonderful!

Complete.

2011-08-04T11:47:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: perfection

One statement says everything. It creates the most sustainable, viable and purposeful framework in which to understand who we are in the largest possible context.

We are complete, made in the image and likeness of God (pure Love, Life, Spirit). Or as it says in Genesis :

Gen 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

Gen 1:31

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

If this were understood in its entirety, we would see more stability, development and joy in our lives. In fact, you can read story after story of healing in all aspects of life from people who have experienced life more fully because of their understanding of this very idea. (See any of the posts on www.spirituality.com)

So, if this is indeed so wonderful and true, then what would try to keep us from really embracing this key sustaining principle of Life itself!

It is good to note that whatever would try to keep us from understanding our completeness can be corrected.

Is there the thought that life includes vulnerability? a subtle argument that we are flawed? an unconscious acceptance that we are at fault and punishment is justified?
Is there a mistaken assumption that we need to go through something in order to reach harmony ( a process, a period of suffering, a certified procedure)?
Is there a belief that we are blameworthy or unworthy?

I'll be exploring the answers to those questions in a series of posts. Please add your comments below and I'll keep posting during the next two weeks!

the everyday infinite

2011-08-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: awe

A few months ago, I went to a little mountain town in the cloud forests of Costa Rica to see my son graduate from high school and to visit his host family. One night, I was walking with a friend under a rare and almost clear night. Some thin wisps of clouds were brushed across the sky and I commented on it.

My friend loves stars so much that she can name them all, and there is even a star with her name on it. She later wrote me: "The universe ... is almost certainly infinite and expanding in all directions so no matter where you are in the universe (or whichever galaxy you are in) it appears that you are at the center and the universe is expanding around you. What we were seeing that clear night in Costa Rica was the Galactic Center, the center of our own galaxy which is called the Milky Way. "

What appeared as a simple, wispy cloud was actually an innumerable amount of stars swirling, twirling in their own orbits. My thought was letting in the infinite and started expanding itself.

Inspired that night? Yes. And reminded of the everyday infinite that we can brush right by if we're not alert. Things have more complexity and order than it may first appear. People have more compassion and capacity for good than it first may appear. Everyday we can experience what is infinite: It's in the pure darkness and breadth of the sky as readily as it is in the intimate tenderness and depth in the eyes of the person right next to you.

This everyday infinite is the stuff we are made of. There is no end to the infinite possibilities and love we each carry within ourselves.

There is beauty and revelation everywhere.

Be still and know that I am God

2011-07-16T22:43:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: fulfillment

Be still and know that I am God.Quiet the noisy rush of daily duties, arguments and demands, and remember God.

Be still and know that I am.In this stillness, contemplate the very nature of the I AM - "the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence."

Be still and know.Soak up the confident knowing of God's gentle presence and peaceful power.

Be still.Affirm, again, that all is well and under God's government. Out of the quiet peaceful space of God's love comes the form of all of our human activities.

Be.
You are because God is the I AM. You are because I AM.

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.
photo by Gabe Korinek
© text by Kim Korinek, CS

Persistence wins the prize

2011-07-11T13:12:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: persistence

Hammering the spike in volleyball, getting the dance sequence spot on, hitting your stride while cross-country skiing, learning to ride a bike for the first time -- all of these accomplishments are exhilarating. You have overcome fear and self-doubt to realize a sense of grace and dominion that you didn't realize was there!

You can do it! Just watch this video of a little boy who persisted and practiced until he could ride his bike on his own. http://youtu.be/eaIvk1cSyG8

Mary Baker Eddy gives us some of that same encouragement in practicing Christian Science.

Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every statement, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every department of life.

Each step we take in understanding God's supremacy, leads us to have more and more dominion over fear and self-doubt, to a realization of our own grace and power to do good. You, too, will feel "happy of yourself" with a joy that overflows!

Lay your burdens down -revisited

2011-06-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: freedom from resentment

I felt I had a perfectly justifiable reason to feel this disgust. I had been a part of a noble effort to uphold a cause that was near and precious to me. Others I would have normally depended to help uphold this issue were distracted into ignoring this effort and some even maligned it. I buried my anger and took up the fight without them. We gained some ground, lost some ground, and life went on.

A couple of decades later this anger surfaced in a very subtle way. I found myself becoming dismissive to anyone who even slightly resembled this type of distracted and reluctant thought. This grew to feeling contempt towards others. Every time I recognized these thoughts, however, I would replace them, and gain some ground on the front of loving my neighbors as myself.

As I continued to grow in my healing practice, I realized that I needed to root out these feelings of contempt, once and for all. There is simply no room for anything in a healing thought, but love.

A good friend once defined sin as a boulder. One voluntarily picks up the boulder, carries it around for however long they want and then decides when they want to lay it down. The sin is never a part of them.

I also realized that if I was seeing others as misguided (or in any way sinful), that I have planted in my thought the possibility that others could be misguided. I too could be misguided. So, in essence, if I am seeing another as sinful, I have picked up my own boulder! No wonder I feel burdened!

In my prayer, I realized that God knows nothing about the human drama. It is so irrelevant to life, that God does not even acknowledge it. Whereas I don't ignore what others are saying or doing, I realized that the human drama of apathy, resentment, distraction only has the power we give it -- it simply has no reality or power of its own. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

When we pray, we let in the light. We accept that there is another way to see things. We follow the Christ, who multiplies our efforts to see and to do good things. Thought totally shifts from a material basis to a spiritual.

Then, if God doesn't know it, why should I? Why should I experience any type of discord?

And why did Christ Jesus say that we could cast all our cares on him? He said that "my yoke is easy, my burden in light." What did he know? Perhaps he knew that the only real thing going on is God's activity.
Christ Jesus could take on our burdens because he knew their weight - nothing. And he knew the allness, the thoroughness of God's pure and perfect control of each of Her ideas.

Each idea of God (this includes each person, each activity, each group) is coordinate, harmonious, self-less and helpful. I realized that I cannot lose anything good. And if this is true for me, it is true for others. No one can lose anything good.

I can lay my burdens down. The battle is not mine, but God's and Truth is always the victor. With this, I felt God’s power and love. I felt power in my ability to replace apathy and contempt with compassion for others, who may be feeling that they are fighting an uphill battle. I felt power in my ability to reflect God's love. And I felt more freedom and joy in my days.

singing your own song

2011-06-24T15:55:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: your voice

Last week, I visited a church during their Wednesday service. In the audience, there were members of a four generation family with the little three year old representing the fourth generation.

Throughout the service she played and stayed close to her mother. But when it came time to sing, she SANG! I think she sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" loudly and happily while the rest of us sang a song from the hymnal. But she was singing and, most importantly, she was singing with us. And not only was that important, but it made us all laugh as we sang along.

Each of us has a song to sing, a reason for living, and a unique purpose that each of us individually can fill. Singing out who we are, what we love, singing out our joy - that kind of harmony blends with others all the time. We need not be afraid or timid about who we are. God made us, in His/Her own likeness, and God's work is never undone, is always good, and we are forever a part of God's symphony of Love.

Photo (c) fotolia #1109820

dance: becoming an athlete of God

2011-06-20T23:10:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: rhythm of head and heart

A friend once asked for a more tangible definition of Soul. I could think of no better explanation that to see Soul as expressed through dance. I was a student of dance for about ten years and loved Martha Graham's deep and organic structure of movement. As Martha Graham was a pioneer in dance, I included some of her ideas about dance. See for yourself how much of dance defines the rhythm and beauty of life all around us and enjoy this dance class as if it were your own!

Selected Martha Graham Quotations

• There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. We are, all of us, unique, each a unique pattern of creativity, and if it is not fulfilled it is lost for all ...

• The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body.

• No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time. It is just that the others are behind the time.

• Dancing is just discovery, discovery, discovery.

• Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.

• In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being.

• I am absorbed in the magic of movement and light. Movement never lies. It is the magic of what I call the outer space of the imagination. There is a great deal of outer space, distant from our daily lives, where I feel our imagination wanders sometimes. It will find a planet or it will not find a planet, and that is what a dancer does.

• We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.

• We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

• It takes ten years, usually, to make a dancer. It takes ten years of handling the instrument, handling the material with which you are dealing, for you to know it completely.

• I'm asked so often at ninety-six whether I believe in life after death. I do believe in the sanctity of life, the continuity of life and of energy.

the adventurous life

2011-06-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: self-discovery

My son's neighborhood this past year in the mountains and
cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica
(c) Gabe Korinek, 2011

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.

- Andre Gide

The adventurous life is a life of challenge. It is highly glamorized, but in actuality, an adventurous life is one that requires you cast off all that is comfortable, in search of something beyond what is convenient, stereotyped, or inherited.

Stripped of the culture one was born into, of family obligations and social expectations, one finds a sense of self that is surprisingly original. In addition to that, one finds those aspects of life that are universal: joy, connection, industry, family, success (defined in a full spectrum of ways).

In deliberately setting out for an adventure, and to be good at adventuring, one's whole concept of self and of home and of life work stretches to accommodate the expanding world view. Taking a risk to experience life more fully, you see who you are more clearly. And that is the biggest adventure of all.

a look at money - revisited

2011-06-07T01:13:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: constant circulation of possibilities

When I put myself through college, I was faced with lack of many things: lack of funds for tuition and travel, not enough food, clothing and not enough time. But each time it looked like I might come up short, I turned to prayer and my needs were met. I got quite good at it. In fact, I laughingly thought that if I ever became a Christian Science practitioner (that is a healer), that perhaps I could specialize in supply issues.

Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, had an idea that gave me lots of hope:

God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.
What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the "Peace, be still" to all human fears, to suffering of every sort.

Do you kind of get that happy feeling just reading this! Even happier still, it leads to practical and satisfying results.

When the stock market is looking - well - ill, and credit reports dismal, housing market reports a slump, there is another report. God, as omnipotent good, reports a balance and steady flow of productive, progressive ideas. The fresh circulation of ideas is never interrupted by fear, speculation, manipulation or ignorance.

So when I run up against the idea of lack, I have been able to respond in a way that I not only have what I need, but usually it is done in a surprising and totally satisfying way. Here is what I have learned along the way about demonstrating supply:

Value every idea that comes to you
Trust the provision and abundance of God's love -- Love also includes nourishment, harmony and balance, contentment and satisfaction
Be grateful -- and you will see just how rich you truly are
Discipline your wants -- Know where your desires come from and where they are leading you
Clarify your needs
Square each of your accounts/debts
Be honorable and honest -- Honesty is spiritual power and integrity is "more valuable than riches"
Be generous
Don't be afraid -- act on behalf of the ideas and inspiration you are receiving
Trust the provision and abundance of God's love -- Worth mentioning twice.

Truly we have a glorious inheritance! We can move forward knowing that Love is always supplying the ideas, that, when acted on, are meeting our needs.

citizens of the world - revisited

2011-06-05T04:30:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our humanity

I read this book and loved it from the first page! M. L. Rossi, author of the smart and sassy book, What Every American Should Know about the Rest of the World writes “Just call me a cultural romantic. I love to explore other worlds. I love to live where the history is unfamiliar; the architecture thrills me; the language, the food, the rituals are altogether exotic. I love being immersed in the entirely foreign, being in a place where I have to learn about life there from scratch.” I could so relate!

Her book has pointed out simply and clearly what is needed to become a well-informed global citizen. She goes on to share two of the ways to do this:

1. To understand where you are in the world, you need a map
2. Life is a lot easier if you know the language.

Maps and vocabulary are going to be key ingredients to becoming a global citizen. But there may be more to it.

Prior to becoming very familiar with traveling to other countries, I did some coursework with intercultural communication at a university. It was interesting to know of different customs, cultural mores, the development of a people’s pride, etc. These were almost like mental exercises to test one’s level of credibility of other cultures and determined how static or flexible was one’s sense of values. I learned that the more unlimited the mindset, the more unlimited the life experience.

So maps, vocabulary, tolerance, credibility, flexibility and an open mindset are all part of being a global citizen. If we add to each of the qualities above a more spiritual view, I think we have it all. Here are some key spiritual qualities that I have exerised along my travels and stays:

Equality - To understand where you are in the world - you need to understand we all have an equal place in the world. It is knowing that there are other ways to think and to live. This means respect, humility and accepting that you will need to lean on a power higher than yourself to be able to truly love mankind.

Speaking love - Life is a lot easier if you know the language. To be able to speak another’s language is an act of humility and respect (especially if you can speak the language well!). However, it is even more important to actively love the individuals I
am coming into contact with for the first time whose ways and culture are quite different from mine. “When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always heard from those who have hearts.” writes Mary Baker Eddy. Love is a universal language.

And “Love is the fulfilling of the law” as it says in the Bible. I have found when I nurture those qualities of humility, and love, and respect and wisdom, I am shown the appropriate ways of showing respect and care. I will be welcomed in to more people's experiences and experience a richness and depth to life that I have come to love.

Credibility – understanding that you can love, help, heal, receive gifts from others graciously gives you a humble authority to see and do good.

Tolerance – comes easily when you are open to learn, to not judge and to ask questions. There are other ways to see beauty, progress, success, fulfillment. There are an infinite number of ways to think and to be. Be firm in your understanding that we are all rooted in universal qualities such as Truth, intelligence. The expressions of these qualities are infinite, but we can be confident that these qualities are evident in every experience we encounter.

Discernment - The exciting thing I have found is that we DO have one Father and Mother - Everyone IS my brother and sister! Understanding cultures helps me to see what in my thought is original thought and what may be a result of my picking up influences around me. It also helps me protect my thought against prejudices and stereotyping.

Flexibility – always be ready to be surprised. Realize that you don’t know what you don’t know and be open to learning. In a world of infinite good and infinite possibilities, goodness blooms in many different ways. On the other hand, I enjoy other cultures, in that i enjoy seeing how diverse, how infinite is God's expression in His children. There are whole new ways of expressing marriage, family, education, commerce, leisure and more.

An open heart – let in the glory of Life. Life’s lessons are learned from everyone and everything. Seeing with an open heart puts infinity on the faces of strangers and places. It is also knowing that there is one heartbeat – a pulsating force of Love that flows through each of us. I have grown so much in the atmosphere of those who have grown up in cultures different than my own. The largest lesson is to learn to
love and listen.

I have come to see that each one of us is a country, a continent, a compound idea of infinite Spirit. Did you know that MBEddy defines both earth and man as a compound idea? My ability to have a little more compassion has grown, as I exercise my thought in contemplating others' perspectives. My relations with others have improved as I learn to listen more and be open to new ideas.

Two of my favorite citizens of the world are my mother and a former colleague. What they have in common was that they love people deeply and unconditionally. My mother has not yet traveled outside of her country, but every friend I have ever introduced to my parents, from Ethiopia, Iceland, Germany, Cameroon, Colombia, Brazil, Colorado, next door – it almost doesn’t matter where they are from – she just loves them. Likewise, a former colleague: She speaks nine languages and moves from one culture to the next with hardly a blip. They both know what it takes to be a global citizen. The best "global citizens" I know are those who love most unconditionally. They love beyond cultures and borders. It is to know that we are all God’s children and we are all welcomed and at home in the world.

Being a citizen of the world, we know each of us has a place and a purpose. Each nation has its own color and unique contribution to the world. With love, humility and respect, we can all find our way to bring more progress and peace to all mankind at the street level and on a global scale.

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.

oneness - revisited

2011-06-03T01:59:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: a rousing call for unity

Got this note in an email and loved it. It is a quote from one of Paul's letter to the Ephesians and taken from The Message. It applies to everything!

"In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting on your hands.

"I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

"You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.

"Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness."

Say AMEN somebody!

Public photo by Bill Adams

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.

cool old guys - revisited

2011-06-01T03:05:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: ageless living

When I grow up, I want to be like these guys. My dad and my two uncles are adventurous, always trying new things, traveling, reading, teaching others or joking around. Life is never dull here.

About a year and a half ago, I was inspired my my parents and aunts and uncles and wrote this blog and called it celebrate the octogenarian. Enjoy!

Here are some of the activities from the last few years of my favorite octogenarians: downhill skiing, travel to Italy, sailing across the Black Sea, writing as a regular columnist for the local paper, canoeing, managing a specialty bookstore, getting back into real estate, memorizing Shakespeare, etc.

Even Mary Baker Eddy is on my list of favorites -- she was the one who put the finishing touches on the Christian Science world wide movement and started up The Christian Science Monitor when she was eighty-something. All before women even had the right to vote!

These guys have got a wonderful sense of agelessness. Who says you can't play at any age? The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures written by Mary Baker Eddy certainly confirm this:

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning - Job

The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. - Science and Health

I love how Mary Baker Eddy characterizes growing older. She says,

Men and women of riper years and larger lessons ought to ripen into health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness or gloom. - Science and Health

As my lessons are getting larger and my years more ripe I remember years ago, when I went to a talk (later written up as an essay entitled "Doing Sixty") by Gloria Steinem. It was unforgettable. "I love sixty" she said "there are no rules anymore."

So I am now asking myself, "Whose rules am I following? Material health laws or God's laws?"

The choice is, of course, God's laws. My expectation is that year after year, I will grow into understanding more about beauty, power, abundance and peace. One day, after skiing down some slope, hiking up some mountain or writing a prize winning blog about spirituality and agelessness, I, too, will become someone's favorite octogenarian.

imagine............. (revisited)

2011-05-29T01:19:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our timeless Truth

Graduation! A few years ago, I remember as our oldest son crossed the stage to be handed his high school diploma. To see his class of 35, who represented about ten countries, and knowing that they have just been educated into a love of nature and a responsibility to take care of it, was inspiring to say the least.

One of the sweetest moments that started me off on a long train of thoughts was when our son's graduating class sang the song "Imagine" by John Lennon as their class song.

As they sang, I realized that there is no generation gap between my son's generation and my generation's love of music and hope for peace. This led me to consider my parent's generation. We definitely had different tastes in music, but also had the same hope for peace. And then this led to the realization that the desire for peace, as for Truth, is timeless.

There is a point that I get to in my healing work where I realize the timelessness of the Truth that I follow and practice: it isn't about generations, or persons or time, or anything linear at all. Truth, peace, hope are timeless and universal. "Imagine" speaks of a universal hope and a prayer that we all live as one.

Jesus sang this same song :
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:

And hundreds of years before that, King David sang:
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

In fact, one could say that all major world religions sing the praises of unity and peace!

So.... what is my song that I can contribute? I wanted to sing along with my son's class. My best contribution for the world I imagine for my children is through my practice of Christian Science. To me, it is the most practical, inspirational, and universal of any discipline I have ever come across. It applies to the care of nations and to the care of an infant. You prove love. You prove what you believe by how you live.

In Christian Science, progress is demonstration, not doctrine. This Science is ameliorative and regenerative, delivering mankind from all error through the light and love of Truth.

It gives to the race loftier desires and new possibilities. It lays the axe at the root of the tree of knowledge, to cut down all that bringeth not forth good fruit; "and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

It touches mind to more spiritual issues, systematizes action, gives a keener sense of Truth and a stronger desire for it.

....This movement of thought must push on the ages: it must start the wheels of reason aright, educate the affections to higher resources, and leave Christianity unbiased by the superstitions of a senior period.

-from Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 235

What is your song?

© AndreasG - Fotolia.com

travelers and tourists - revisited

2011-05-27T01:09:00.003-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: open road

"So in a word, what did you think your son learned from his trip abroad?" asked my cousin. I love questions like this, when you have to distill all kinds of experiences and ideas into a word. "I think that he became a traveler," was my almost automatic response.

Let me explain.

A tourist is one who brings all of what they know into a new experience. Each new experience is compared to what they expected; perspectives and prejudices are confirmed, and if not, the experience is usually held at fault.

A traveler leaves themselves open. They know that they don't know what they don't know and so they enter each new experience unconditionally, with an expectation to learn and with a willingness to step out of their comfort zone.

Mark Twain, rascal that he is, has some great things to say about travel and what a true traveler is:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.- Innocents Abroad

...nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.- Letter to San Francisco Alta
California, dated May 18th, 1867; published June 23, 1867

Mary Baker Eddy, a much less rascally person, wrote, "Meekness and charity have divine authority." I think that's what my son experienced.

He fit comfortably into the family he stayed with for a year in Germany. He listened. He appreciated things. He let go of pre-conceived ideas. He saw his own country in a new light; he was able to see that there are many ways to do things: zip a zipper, travel in a car, eat chocolate, as well as understand politics, experience new uses of space, success, and time. He felt the presence of history in the castles and architecture. He saw how much in common we all have - much like the Harry Potter book he bought in Germany: the cover was different , but the inside was all the same.

And best of all, it stirred in him a desire to possibly become tri-lingual and to continue to explore more broadly, learn more deeply, and find one's place among humanity. And in my book, that's a traveler.

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.

hitting the road again

2011-05-26T01:02:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: timeless inspiration

Gabe's friends climbing down from Cerro Negro in Nicaragua

It's time to be heading far south again - to Costa Rica - where I'll be celebrating another landmark: my younger son's graduation from high school. He's been attending a Quaker high school in the mountains of Monteverde, Costa Rica, and has taken several trips in the country and to neighboring Nicaragua. His experience there has been rich.

While I'm away, I've scheduled a series of blog posts every couple of days on a variety of ideas: travel, supply, feeling the strength of a single purpose, what it means to be a global citizen and being ageless

Enjoy! And I'll be back mid June!

Photo by Gabe Korinek (c) 2011

The world has been healed of its flatness!

2011-05-20T20:28:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share:

a spiritually perfect starting point

Isn’t this wonderful news! People have been praying to see earth in its perfect orbness, and because they prayed so hard, for so long, and got different practitioners to work with them at different times, the earth responded and became round!

Not.

After reading Laurance Doyle’s article: A spiritual, higher view, I had to laugh just thinking about a hypothetical news article announcing earth’s “healing.”

Do we sometimes approach our healing work like this? Wanting to change what seems so real to us, we give our best efforts to try to change one so-called "fact" for another. We may feel that we need to achieve a level of spirituality that we don’t quite yet have, so we vow to try harder and harder and pray more and more. We’d accept even a little change.

But that’s not how Jesus healed.

Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.

Just as the world was always round and we needed to wake up to this fact, we start with the fact that we are made in the perfect image and likeness of God. Healing is about waking up to that fact.

As Laurance Doyle says in his article “The earth didn’t need fixing, but our thought of it did.” Likewise, who we are doesn’t need fixing, but our thought about who we are does.

Our spiritually perfect starting point also becomes our ending point. Just like the earth was found to be always round, we see ourselves as always whole, robust, and free - the image and likeness of God. The mistaken view is corrected and we are healed.

No labels in God's kingdom

2011-05-14T12:54:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: our common heritage

A bustling humanity at an international airport
"Have we not all one Father?" Malachi 2: 10

I regularly read tmcyouth.com - a website for those who want to know more about Christian Science a/o are practicing Christian Science. It has, as its name implies, a youthful bent.

One post shared how a young Christian Scientist came to grips with who he was and how to break through any resistance to share who he is - as a Christian Scientist!

Its title: "I'm gay" "Oh yeah! I'm a Christian Scientist!" made me think about all the categories we find ourselves in and responding to, and how there is a higher calling - a more all-inclusive uber-category that we all belong to. Here is my response to that post:

What a startling title! And what a great example of coming out and blessing others!

Today, I thought about this post and just knew I needed to respond.

You know, being gay and being Christian Scientist have a bit in common: They are both labels; there are arguments in some circles that both are against the Bible; and again, in some circles, they are both perceived as being strange.

Michael (this is the individual who wrote the tmcyouth post), I love that you were brave enough to announce that you are a Christian Scientist – you had to face up to some stereotypes and had the moral courage to do so. So anyone who is stuck with a label that has been maligned or misunderstood has had to have that same moral courage and to show themselves as God knows them.

The bottom line is that we are not all running around in scared and isolated little categories! We are all the children of God.

A friend of mine was going to Brazil for the first time and was a little nervous about fitting into that culture. I had gone to Brazil a number of times and told her so. “And you know,” I shared, “the Christ is already there! In fact, the place is crawling with children of God!” We laughed. And that certainly broke any mesmeric sense of being an outsider. She went and had a wonderful time.

What was healing with my traveling friend and what I got was healing in Michael’s case is that there is an understanding that we are spiritual, not material. And because we are all the spiritual image and likeness of Love, we have something profound in common with everyone – we are all children of God.

This is the healing idea (that we are ALL the children of God) that lifts stereotypes we have of others, dissolves fears that others are bad influences, it reverses prejudices and false assumptions. We can get a better glimpse that we “… are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus….. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”* We can add ...there is no human category: neither Brazilian, nor gay, nor Christian Scientist, etc…..for we are all have one Father-Mother God!

*Galatians 3: 26, 28

to end hatred and terror

2011-05-03T14:09:00.004-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: the calm strong currents of true spirituality

And Hussein Rashid, a native New Yorker and Muslim commentator, said: “The way Osama bin Laden died is difficult for me as an American opposed to the death penalty and committed to the courts as a space for the performance of justice. [Bin Laden’s] death does not heal the world, but allows the dirt in the wound to be washed away. Now we need to spend time healing, and it will be a job. The symbol is dead, what he symbolised should die as well.”

Swirling around on the internet are healing, redemptive currents of thought. It is deeply moving to see, once again, the attraction to a higher calling of healing.

My cousin, Sandi, and I both had the same idea today: to collect the many ideas of comfort, guidance and love to counter the impact of hatred surrounding Osama bin Laden's death. Thank you friends for your comments via facebook, twitter, and email.

Love your enemies. -Christ Jesus

The pursuit of truth does not permit violence being inflicted on one's opponent. - Gandhi

Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble. —Proverbs 24:17

Humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die. … If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction. – Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and writer

If we're ever going to collectively begin to grapple with the problems that we have collectively, we're going to have to move back the veil and deal with each other on a more human level.
– Wilma Mankiller, chief of the Cherokee Nation

If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world. – Deepak Chopra, spiritual teacher and writer

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?…I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. -Ezekiel 18

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. - Anonymous

Religion is caring, intensely, for God and for God's creation. – Faraz Rabbani, Muslim scholar

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. - Martin Luther King

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed. -Mary Baker Eddy

cherry blossoms and nesting pelicans and the permanent presence of Life

2011-04-26T11:50:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: persistent, insistent and consistent Life

These two stories came into my newsfeed this morning. There was a story about cherry blossoms moving north into the Tohoku region of Japan – the region most affected by the earthquake and tsunami. And once relocated Gulf pelicans making their way back home to an area that was severely damaged by the oil spill of last year.

Psalms 104: 30 sings out: Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

What is this spirit, captured in the determined blossoms and insistent pelicans? What are the rules of Life that persist in the face of what can seem almost hopeless disaster? It is this: that Life is insistent and Life is God. Truth is always the victor and Love never fails.

What occurs to me is that these rules set down and practiced over thousands of years are not soothing words that sugar-coat the problems facing us, or catchy phrases that inspire us to ignore what most needs attention and healing. These rules are facts that define what is real. Our ability to wake up to these rules are what ushers in healing.

Healing is inevitable. We can learn grand lessons from the blossoms and nesting birds. Life lives. And this we will find restores each of us, and frees us from despair, hopelessness and allows us to do what we were created to do: to be loving, to do good works, and to heal.

Photo of Japan from http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011.htmlPhoto

Photo of pelicans from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/19/national/main20055305.shtml

PLaYing -- revisited

2011-04-18T00:07:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: the spiritual root of play

some kid playing in puddles

I tell this story so much that my sons roll their eyes when I tell it to someone in their presence. Although they have heard it a gazillion times, it still holds fresh lessons for me. This is the story.

Gabe (at 4 years old) had a bad earache/infection. I was praying for healing, praying and affirming God's allness and the powerlessness of illness to harm Gabe, when Micah (at 6 years old) came to the door. I asked him to help me pray. He waited about two seconds, said okay and then said 'Gabe, let's go play!!' Gabe immediately woke, his ear totally cleared up. Both boys then ran into the next room where they proceeded to jump up and down on our guest bed.

After a while I joined them. I asked Gabe how his right ear was and he said fine. I asked him how his left ear was and he said fine, then went back to the business of jumping. When I asked Micah how he prayed he told me that "God gave me His playing thoughts."

Micah knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God made us to play. Nothing could convince him otherwise. Nothing could stand in the way of that clear truth. Although my sons are much older now, I continue to draw lessons from this wonderful healing.

We are made to play. Our Father/Mother God did not make us to suffer, God made us to jump up and down. God made us in His image and likeness, perfect, whole and entire.

Play (in a very unplayful analysis) is about engagement, presentness and adventure. I once attended an educational conference on play. The speaker, Herb Brokering, started off with an umbrella, a brick and a plastic flower or some other obscure thing on the stage. It was a widely disjointed talk, at times even silly and I found myself getting irritated. But as his presentation went on, there was also something magic in what he was saying. He kept talking, weaving stories and anecdotes along the way. Toward the end, he got us all to sing a beautiful lilting tune.

He had invited us all to come to a place of playing.

There was this huge auditorium of students and professionals all singing. It was almost hushed and we were quietly happy. We were remembering what it was like to play. We were all made vulnerable a bit, being caught with one another playing. It was delightful!

Those experts of play - children - are showing us the way back to play. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new,
renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false
landmarks and joy to see them disappear, - this disposition helps to
precipitate the ultimate harmony.

In the book of Matthew of the New Testament, Christ Jesus says,

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven

So I think that playing is about dropping pretension. Play is selfless and is about the serious business of discovery. It's about being open to new possibilities, about connecting to very different things and laughing that things do connect in surprising ways. Play brings us home to who we really are. And in healing, who we really are is God's perfect and play-full child.

purity

2011-04-10T21:15:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: fresh starts

The Virtues Project was first introduced to me by one of my son's teachers. It is a global project designed to encourage our practice of virtues, and everyday, you can have a new virtue pop up in your email.

Today's virtue is purity. Loving to play with synonyms of synonyms, I see that purity is also about truth, honesty, clarity. The Virtues Project adds these characteristics to purity: keeping one's space orderly and cleaning up our mistakes, choosing responsibility over guilt.

There is something very empowering about taking responsibility for mistakes. For instance, I was feeling badly for something I had forgotten to do for my son. I spent some time grieving over it, feeling like a terrible mother and beating myself up with guilt.

But this aspect of purity - to take responsibility for my mistake - was a wake up call. I immediately recognized that I made a mistake, forgave myself for it, and made the necessary changes to right the wrong.

There was a very clean feeling about it. I felt no more guilt. The mistake corrected, I could move on.

Purity gives us a clean slate, a fresh start. And with that new promise, we are free to move forward.

Removing the mask and nailing the veil

2011-04-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: clarity

A song came into my head recently. One line is: "Thou Soul, inspiring - give us vision clear, break earthbound fetters, sweep away the veil....." It got me thinking.....

A veil is a flimsy thing, easily swayed in any amount of breeze. And there are times when I feel I am seeing things through a veil. Thoughts are murky, prospects seem few, resources limited, or there seem to be too many human opinions splintering off into random directions. To this material sense of things, what is spiritually crisp and clear seems inaccessible until I can lift this veil and see more of God's infinite design!

Fortunately, a veil has no substance. It is easy to remove. An object with a veil may have the form of that object, but the true outline and character is revealed once the veil is lifted. Likewise with material sense – it has no substance, which means it has no ability to define us or confine us. It, too, can be easily removed and reveal the original.

As we grow spiritually, we start seeing ourselves and others as God sees us – made in His/Her image and likeness. As we grow spiritually, we get good at nailing the veil.

A veil is defined in Science and Health as a cover, concealment, hiding and hypocrisy. Here are some thoughts about what a veil is and what is revealed after the lifting of it. Feel free to add your ideas to this!

Lifting the veil of…. //To reveal God’s (and our)….

Frailty //Strength
Decrepitude //Robust health
Awkwardness// Gracefulness
Limitation //Infinite possibilities
Incompleteness //Maturity
Fragmentation //Wholeness
Lack //Abundance
Bondage //Freedom
Division //United
Heaviness //Lightness
Sluggishness //Deftness
Drudgery //Buoyancy
Apathy //Empathy
Isolation //Interconnectedness
Fear //Love
Sadness //Spiritual identity
Discontent //Deep happiness, contentment

OK, this might hurt a bit.....

2011-03-30T12:11:00.000-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: self-examination and relationships

I was reading a self-help article in a popular magazine the other day. It suggested that the way out of a snarly relationship issue may be to write a letter to that person (the snarler, no doubt) and share all your concerns and hurts and criticisms. Then after you have written it all down, you (the snarlee) are to erase that person's name and replace it with your own. Then re-read it with your name at the top.

Ouch.

But I saw that there was great merit to this. It is based in part by the timeless idea of casting the log out of one's own eye before removing the speck in your neighbor's. Many of you will recognize this from Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. (See the Bible Matthew chapters 5 to 7.) We won't see what is snarly unless we know it. And we may know it because we may already be acting a bit snarly ourselves. This little letter writing exercise helps to uncover that in thought.

But Christ Jesus' work takes us farther than this exercise. His healing work was based on the principle of perfect God and perfect man. He could see "the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals." In Christian Science, we are taught to see the perfect man, and this starts with ourselves. We are made in the image and likeness of God. We are not a mass of unresolved issues, reactions and temptations. We are made to be the expressed likeness of all that is good, pure, productive and brilliant.

And so are others.

The deepest self-examination takes humility to pierce the self-imposed justifications and condemnations that may be jamming the systems of our thought to reveal God's very loved and lovely man or woman (or child). Letting go of the log of false and hurtful view of ourselves frees us to be at peace with the child whom God has created. This brings more freedom - because now we can see others - without a speck - and in the clearer light of God's creating.

answering the world's call for Church

2011-03-24T23:32:00.004-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: healing spiritual ignorance and isolation

This was part of a chat with other church workers who are preparing for a large regional conference in Chicago on the vibrancy and relevancy of church. Here is a part of my contribution.

Mid January, I was a part of a national conference call with others who were seeking comfort and understanding after the tragic shooting of Rep. Giffords and others. I wanted to listen so I could target my prayer more effectively.

The many speakers who contributed thoughts, ideas, suggestions and fears and concerns showed me that there was an earnest call for healing - although this call was not put out under any religious name.

One woman on the call said this horrendous act proved that our nation needs to combat two things: spiritual ignorance and isolation.

Why, I thought, this is what church does! Church - in its most elemental form - combats spiritual ignorance - by rousing the dormant thought and casting out error, it removes isolation by elevating the race and healing the sick.

There is such a call for Church! Libya needs our healing prayer, perfected in the discipline and education of our Church; our neighbors need our healing prayer, softened by the elbow to elbow work we do in Church. There is a need to feed the hungering heart, heal the broken-hearted and to bring into community those who feel isolated or marginalized.

When I look at how I can love, help and heal mankind, I am not concerned about the changing forms of our churches. Although there are studies that show a decline in church memberships throughout the country, other studies show a strong majority of those who believe in God and in prayer. This suggests to me that Church is a demand that is outgrowing its present forms and that we be open to those forms of Church that will most effectively and directly heal the sick and sinning and be the blessing it is meant to be.

The world is still in need of healing and it is calling out for what Church has to offer: healing, comfort, community, love, forgiveness, progress.

Definition of Church from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:

CHURCH. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.

This photo was taken of my family in Costa Rica. We are displaying our jungle juice bracelets - bracelets that were "made" from the juice of one of the trees of the rainforest we had just hiked through near Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica.

Never trapped

2011-03-15T11:18:00.001-05:00

Spiritual resource to share: tmcyouth.com's timely inspiration

tmcyouth.com, spirituality.com and christianscience.com have all been running (and continually run) blog posts, articles and chats dealing with global issues. This one blog posting is from tmcyouth.com and is one of the streams of healing prayers targeted to Japan.

When I heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, my heart immediately went out to those who were trapped. And I’ve been praying ever since. My life has shown me that despite grim human circumstances, God is on the job communicating to those who need help exactly what they need.

How can I be so sure? When I was trapped underwater, I remember that timeless feeling of calm and the clear guidance I felt that led me to do what I needed to do to get free.

....

to read the rest, go to http://tmcyouth.com/blogs/never-trapped/

a flood of witnesses

2011-03-11T22:09:00.000-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: stability and peace for Japan

Watching the swirls of water and destruction on video as the reports about Japan flowed in, I reminded myself that God is right there.

Whenever I am faced with the news of something of this magnitude, I go back to the basics of what I know and have proved for myself. I know that if I have proved even a little of one of God's laws of Love, I can realize that same law magnified for mankind.

When I was trapped underwater, I remember that timeless feeling of calm and the clear guidance I felt that led me to do what I needed to do to get free.

When I experienced waves of nausea while I was conducting a church service, I remember the calm and warm feeling of God’s love wrapping me up and melting away the sickness that helped me get back up to finish the service.

When the students at a school I was working in broke out into fighting and yelling, I remember feeling the power of God’s governance helping me to keep my classroom quiet, obedient and patiently waiting for the peace to be restored, which it quickly was.

My teacher tells of the time she would practice patience and feeling God’s omnipresent peace during bomb raids during World War II in London, enabling her to help and comfort others.

God is always there. No earthquake, fear, or shock can ever trump God’s omnipresence. God is right there for each individual covering them with God's warmth, guiding and strengthening them.

Mary Baker Eddy writes that “physical force and mortal mind are one” and that “… mortal mind, when instructed by Truth, yields to divine power, which steers the body into health” and chaos into calm (See Science and Health 484: 15 and 425:32).

I am so grateful for all the communications and prayers rapidly covering the world. These help instruct mortal mind out of chaos and fear to right responses, intelligent care and intuitive decisions. This flood of witnesses to God’s ability to meet every human need is out there in full force, healing, comforting, finding and helping.

powerful womanhood

2011-03-08T00:34:00.002-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: timeless ideas on true womanhood

Because we are celebrating National Women's History Month and, today, we are celebrating Internnational Woman's Day, I'd like to join in by sharing some thoughts about womanhood. I go to the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Here are some of my finds:

The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity.

Eddy's take on Eve (of the Adam and Eve story in Genesis) is radical. Recognizing Eve's ability to see and admit the mistake she made, Eddy points out a most important point: Eve is first to abandon the belief of sensuous life and to understand our spiritual origin.

She [Eve] has already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation.

So what resources do we have that will empower a woman ( as well as a man)?

God is the only power. And we can reflect Her in many ways. My all time favorite Bible verses are in Proverbs 31. This chapter has a wealth of resources we all can draw on to understand what it means to be powerful and has defined the virtue and strength of woman thoroughly!

Excerpts from Proverbs 31: Verses 10-31

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

12 DEPENDABLE: She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 SKILLED: She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14 RESOURCEFUL: She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 FULL of CARE: She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 ENTREPRENEURIAL: She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 STRONG: She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 INSIGHTFUL: She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 PREPARED: She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 COMPASSIONATE: She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 FEARLESS and DIGNIFIED: She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 BEAUTY: She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 COMPANIONED WITH NOBLE IDEAS/IDEALS: Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 EXCELLENCE: She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 CONFIDENT: Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 WISE: She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 KIND and INDUSTRIOUS: She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 ACKNOWLEDGED: Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her....Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

What are your thoughts on true womanhood?

Here are some select readings on True Womanhood taken from the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's classic textbok on spirituality and healing: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Proverbs 11: 16

Picture taken from care.org's website highlighting their campaign on empowering women.

Proverbs 31: 10-31

Ruth 1: 3-5, 8, 14, 16-18, 22

Ruth 2: 1, 2, 5-8, 11, 12

Ruth 3: 10, 11

Ruth 4: 13-15

II Peter 1: 5-8, 10

2 John 1 : 1-6, 8

Phil 4: 1-9

from Science and Health

516: 21

517: 8

508: 13

246: 11-16

57: 4-11, 15

239: 5-10

63: 5-27

514: 10-19

28: 32

534:18-1

268: 6

533: 21-8

248: 26

200: 16

"I believe...."

2011-03-07T06:21:00.000-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: morning reflection

Waking up before the sun this morning, I had time reflect on all of what nature has taught me about God. I have played on some of earth's most glorious playgrounds: whitewater rivers, 14,000 foot peaks, wide expanses of snow covered fields, and mountains and hills. Rainforests and pine forests; lakes and oceans. Awesome.

And nothing can speak of God's infinite love and care like an ink black sky covering the earth with bright dots of light. And nothing can speak of God's beauty like the northern lights. And to think we have been given all of this.

I believe this, I know this, I understand this: Everything has its own beauty and purpose and its own season of blessing.

filling up the empty nest

2011-03-02T14:16:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: permanent relationships

Micah and Gabe and I coming home from our time in Costa Rica

It's been the year of the empty nest for my husband and me. Both of my sons are off to college and a high school study abroad program and make casual references to "visiting" home from time to time. Although their grandpa (my dad) shares our household, there are still two empty bedrooms in our house.

For a while, I was fine. I totally understood and was happy to see my sons take off, show some creativity in securing work and educational programs on their own. "What cool kids," I said to myself, proud of them for their initiative, and happy to see their confidence and compassion in their choices.

But there was also this niggling thought that I lost something... that I should have done more of this, that or another thing to make sure that they were fully equipped for life. Thoughts kept recurring like "Did I teach them enough about money management, laundry...did we share too much/too little about politics....did I teach them enough about God...???" No area of concern was left untouched. But this left me feeling adrift. I mean, how do you answer those questions?

Studying Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures one morning, I came across this idea:

The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.

This was my answer! I know my relationship with God is intact, and the same is true with my sons' relationship to God. I know that they have a direct line to God as Love, to God as Truth. Because of that, my relationship with my sons is indestructible, unchanged and eternal. It follows a principle in mathematics*: if a=b and c=b, then a=c. If my relation to God is indestructible, and their relation to God is indestructible, then my relation to them is indestructible.

The impact of this truth was immediate. I stopped worrying whether or not I should call or intervene in a certain issue, unsure if I may step on their growing independence. I stopped overly checking up on them via facebook. (Yes - I was bad here.) I trusted God to direct them and guide them and I trusted their ability to discern their paths themselves.

I am still very much available to them to help out in any way that is needed and am their biggest fan, as is their dad. But this inspiration and the ability to move forward was a big step for me, and a big relief.

My role as a mother has changed. All things grow. And now I am looking forward to the next chapter in life with the same enthusiasm and awe at the infinite possibilities ahead for me and my husband, that I have for my sons.

*one of my newest areas of independent study is to understand the scientific concepts behind Christian Science which has led me to understand more mathematical concepts like the transitive equivalence relation. It's been enlightening!

Prayer: speaking Truth to power*

2011-03-01T10:25:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: trust in one power, God

I woke up this morning thinking of the Lord's Prayer and how important it is to the healing of all oppression and conflict, whether we are talking about Libya, the protests in my home state of Wisconsin, or personal struggles.

Oppression seems to be about fear of limited power. Its extreme forms must come from an extreme fear that power is limited to only a select number of people. Fear of losing power is one side of the coin and feeling powerless is the other side. The whole coin needs to be tossed aside. When we pray, we recognize only one power, infinite God, and that prayer can unify men and nations.

I took the Lord’s Prayer and its spiritual interpretation as found in Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and used that as my guide. The Lord’s Prayer is considered the most succinct prayer that Christ Jesus gave us, and covers all human needs. Mary Baker Eddy also said of this prayer “Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.”

Here are my thoughts that ran parallel to the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father-Mother God, whose nature is all good, the source of Truth, the place of Love and the origin of all Life.

All that is sacred and all that animates life is found in You.

The blueprint for justice comes out of Your design for all of Your creation. The signs and the seeds of justice, mercy, honor, dignity and peace are everywhere.

We can trust Your supremacy to guide all our actions, all our thoughts in times of joy and in times of strife. Truth is inevitable and has the only power there is. Your law of order and calm is pervasive and supreme.

Your grace feeds our hungering hearts. We are fed with the assurance of seeing Your design of Love demonstrated in our present day experiences.

Our forgiveness melts and gives way to blessing. We drop the burden of anger and offensiveness and Love is revealed. Your love for Your creation blossoms into brotherly love. We forgive and are forgiven and harmony prevails.

We are no longer tempted to indulge in appetites of revenge, disorder, fear and hatred but are naturally compelled to the freedom of finding and the hope of discovering infinite ways to bless mankind. Love leads us to solutions.

In the final analysis, Truth is always the victor and Love never fails. God’s justice and mercy trump all. God’s justice, mercy, Truth and Love are everything.

Note: Here is the full Lord's Prayer and its spiritual interpretation (in italics) given by Mary Baker Eddy:

Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.

Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.

Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.

*speaking Truth to power is a phrase attributed to the American Friends Service Committee in Speak Truth to Power : A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence (1955)

Prayer as protest

2011-02-23T00:27:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: power of good

From the civil rights movement in the 60’s to the falling of the Berlin wall to recent events in Egypt and the Middle East, prayer is oftentimes the muscle behind the movements that have blessed mankind. However, sometimes prayer is portrayed as a tool for dominating others or even just simply wishful thinking.

But Mary Baker Eddy wrote that “Desire is prayer… ” Our deepest desire is prayer that goes beyond material comforts and personal recognition to the spiritual – our desire to realize our innate freedom, joy, intelligence, love and productivity. For that reason, prayer is a protest against anything that would undermine the expression of those spiritual ideals.

Christ Jesus’s healing works were based on his "...humble prayers (that) were deep and conscientious protests of Truth,--of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love. ”

This conversation (below) played out on my facebook wall talking about the situation in Madison where tens of thousands of protesters are fighting against a controversial bill regarding collective bargaining rights and unions. It speaks of the fears and hopes of many:

W: As the subtitle of the Christian Science Monitor article explains, the union protesters are "defending their most cherished ideals. " As history shows us, that takes more than prayer. Jesus himself did far more than praying. Oh, but I wish mere praying would solve the problem. I am quite frankly, scared. Perhaps I'm scared because I know too much (Ph.D. in political science, J.D. in law). Very scared

P: As far as protest and prayer, I think that true protest IS a prayer and is really nothing without it; anger has absolutely nothing to do with it. Clearly there is great need for reform in many areas and these are all opportunities to come together in the spirit of Love and unity to work these things out... that's the spirit I'll be going to the protests in tomorrow :)

K: W, I'm so glad to be connecting with you again! You got me thinking about prayer. To me, there is no such thing as mere prayer. Prayer (going beyond denomination) is aligning thought with the power of Love, of Truth and of Principle. Thought imbued with this prayer is the basis for all actions that have brought peaceful, productive and progressive results.

Fear, blame, power struggles, frustration and posturing will not accomplish anything of substance. (Have they ever?)

Our deep and conscientious protests of Truth can affirm the power of good and affirm every person’s ability to reflect integrity, humility and love for our fellowman. That is power. And that is the foundation for a solution that will be a blessing.

prayer for Wisconsin - breaking through the quagmire

2011-02-19T14:24:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: prayer - a steadying influence and a door to solutions

This just came in today and the following post is the reply for all of us in Wisconsin and beyond:

...It seems that God isn't shining through nearly enough in our Wisconsin state government's leaders lately....

I'm wondering if you're planning to offer any healing thoughts on your blog soon about the current Wisconsin government impasse. It seems that a lot of right thinking is needed to bring resolution to this situation! ...

Any thoughts you can offer to help me and everyone else help to heal this situation would be much appreciated. .... By the way, I am a fellow Wisconsinite and love this state, and dearly want to see peace and prosperity restored.

Many of us in Wisconsin have been stirred deeply by the current government impasse.

It is in our face - we need to cut through the quagmire of emotionally held political stances and lift thought above the flurry of anger and accusation. We are all looking for a steadying influence to sweep away the drama and reveal practical steps toward a resolution.

This post will not be talking about the right or wrong of political actions, but will talk about the power of prayer to be that steadying influence that helps to reveal the just and right solution.

In our prayer, we recognize one infinite God. What does this do and why is this relevant?

"One" – recognizes that we are all under the government of a unifying power of One: one Love, one Truth; we have no enemies, no strangers, no outsiders as the children of one God

"Infinite" – God is infinite and is reflected in an infinite number of ways. Our patience, compassion, ability to love is broad and deep. We accept the diversity of God’s creation under the one government of Love and Truth. We accept that there are infinite possible solutions.

"God" – who is Love itself: the source of all that is substantial in our lives; the source of all meaning. We each have a direct connection to Love and every one is constantly connected to and moving in harmony with Love.

Evil is not a person, place or thing. Intelligent dialogue and care is obstructed when emotions run high. When evil is given a name, a place or a thing, it would seem to give it more power. But God, supreme over all its creation, did not make one person evil and another good; God did not make Wisconsin a chaotic out-of-control place, God did not make a legislative bill capable of splitting and dividing His people into two opposing camps. One infinite God counters the falsehood that evil can be a person, place or thing.

Listening to the still, small voice of God. Freedom and justice are not won by warfare, but by lifting ourselves above the turmoil to see the supremacy of justice and Truth. Truth is not helpless and justice is not a variable human condition. Freedom to a full and abundant life is everyone’s right. Taking time to pray, to ground oneself in the presence of God will do much to help pour oil on the waters of distress.

Our trust in Truth to assert itself helps calm the thought and enables us to see possibilities and solutions where an impasse seemed to be the only possibility.

What can you do now?

Pray – practice the stillness that lets in Love and affirm God’s intelligent care, constant communication and ever-present Truth.

Refuse to believe that chaos has control. Refuse to add to the turmoil.

Heal the slightest irritation you have now. This dominion over hatred, however small, helps you experience the Principle of Love that ends all hatred and fear. The love expressed here and now adds to the atmosphere of peace that is contagious.

This situation is not bigger than God and God is able to calm the stormy sea and to bring blessings and righteousness to all.

God is All-in-all and why this matters

2011-02-15T06:47:00.002-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: unity in diversity

I was thinking over the idea that is shared over a dozen times in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. "God is All-in-all." So I did what every good 21st century thinker would do. I googled it.

"All in all" is used to express when we take everything into account, once we have considered all sides of an issue, or wrap things up with a final analysis.

But it goes much deeper than that. I came across several essays searching for truth in Milton's Paradise Lost and his other writings.

Milton's quote was the only other quote on my search that even came close to "All-in-all." Milton wrote "God shall be All in All." This means that God is the omnipotent, omnipresent Oneness. Unity, the essayist explained, need not involve a loss of uniqueness, but embraces individuality and diversity in an ultimate Oneness.

Here are some of Eddy's ideas with God as All-in-all:

The maximum of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all.

The starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind,--that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle.

The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas .

Most notable is the use of All-in-all in the "Scientific Statement of Being," from Science and Health which reads in part: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all."

All right then. This all jives. So why is it important that we know this?

It takes some thought at times for me to consider just how large the idea of God is. That God is All, yes. But to understand that this Allness encompasses the most infinitesimal and intimate details as well as the grandest, most expansive and infinite ideas, is to understand God's supremacy.

It follows then because God is infinite - the ultimate Oneness - God is the umbrella that maintains and sustains all individualities, and embraces all diversities of gifts.

Does that mean that you and I are all the same? No - we are proof of infinite God. Like individual numbers proving the existence of a higher mathematics, we are God's reflection shown in infinite diversity.

Once I can wrap my thoughts around this, I find it easier to heal. Why? Because it's been proved and reasoned out that the one Mind governs all. No one is left out of health, wholeness and abundance.

It gives me a foundation for church - that I can expect and see unity amongst differing ideas and practices.

It gives me hope. I can understand how God loves all the wide diversity called mankind. The tenderness with which I know God, is the same tenderness God pours out to all Her children.

God is All-in-all.

a love song for the day

2011-02-14T01:28:00.003-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: favorite love songs

Just wanted to share this gorgeous song with you all. Click here to get there. Enjoy - and don't forget to share your favorite love song at the end!

K.d. Lang - "Simple" Lyrics (K.D. Lang/David Pitch)

Flawless light in a darkening air
Alone...and shining there

Love
will not elude you
Love is simple

I worship this tenacity
And the
beautiful struggle we're in

Love will not elude us
Love is simple

Be
sure to know that
All in love
Is ours

And love, as a philosophy
Is
simple

I am calm in oblivion
Calm, as I ever have been
Love will not
elude me
Love is simple

Be sure to know that
All in love
Is
ours...
Is ours...
That all in love
Is ours

And love, as
philosophy
Is simple...
And ours...

Egypt’s victory is our victory

2011-02-12T15:55:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: spiritual breakthrough

For days now, the calls for prayers in the Tahrir Square have been joined by thousands of prayers throughout the world. I’ve been loving, praying and thinking through the events of the last few days of Egypt’s historic breakthrough toward freedom and democracy and its impact on the world community. And now, such a release of hope and possibilities, such celebration!

I realized the very principles that were behind this demonstration are principles that happen whenever there is a breakthrough towards greater good. There is much to be grateful in Egypt’s persistent and courageous and effective demand for freedom. Why do we celebrate with Egypt? Because it affirms the declaration of independence from all oppression. And this is something we can all prove in different degrees.

We can claim our own breakthroughs to freedom, whether we are struggling with a sense of depression within ourselves, at work or in the larger arenas of life. Here’s a few ideas about the thought forces that are at work in any breakthrough.

Freedom – what it is
The removal of anything that would try to divide, restrict or limit a right idea.
The right to a full uninterrupted expression of our grandest hopes, our unlimited creativity, our deepest compassion, our keen intelligence and our broadest aspirations.

Protest – what it does

Identifies and calls out from hiding that which restricts, limits or divides
Brings into sharp focus whatever would obstruct justice

Depression/Oppression – what it tries to do

Claims that there is a power outside of omnipotent God, good
Claims the other so-called power is imbalanced, deteriorating or otherwise limiting power to only one person or thing, leaving others with little or no power
Perpetuates the victim/perpetrator dynamic
Progress – where we are going

We go forward; there are no retrograde steps. The new direction does not include the past.
We recognize that what has been conquered no longer exists.
We protect our progress by refusing to go back to positions outgrown and we refuse to go back to the victim/perpetrator model by flipping our roles

Continuing prayer for Egypt and for mankind

Hatred, envy, revenge, love of personal power cannot overwhelm the growing understanding we have of our God-given freedom.

Hatred, envy, etc., have no power of their own, but relies on the power we give it. So we don’t give it power: we don’t animate hatred; we don’t give voice to envy; and we don’t occupy our thought with ruminating scenarios of revenge.

We recognize what true power is- the energy and force of omnipotent God. God’s synonyms are Love, Truth and Life. These ideas are self-assertive and transforming. Love harmonizes, Truth purifies and establishes, and Life is constantly, persistently growing. Goodness is inevitable.

Eqypt’s breakthrough is our breakthrough, helping us move forward confidently into a new day, a new government, a more inclusive and life-affirming journey that embraces all mankind.

To read about more anti-regime movements in the Middle East, start here: As Mubarak resigns, Yemenis call for a revolution of their own Thousands of secessionists protested in Yemen today in an example of how disparate movements across the Middle East are tapping the anti-regime fervor for their own disparate aims.
Also read Egypt's revolution redefines what is possible in the Middle East.
For a spiritual perspective, read A spiritual view of Egypt in transition

Not fitting in? Not true.

2011-02-08T20:40:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: companionship

Let’s just get right to it. If you are dealing with the anxiety of not fitting in (or feeling lonely, displaced, or alienated), there is a remedy at hand.

Counter the reasons for feeling isolated with the infinite reasons for joy
Perhaps you have been labeled as having some medical condition or disability; or an unwanted divorce or death has forced or you to go from married to single; you feel no one likes you or understands you; or your race, sex, orientation, culture, religion, education, family history, politics or values put you at odds with a majority of people in a certain group.

There are lots of seemingly good reasons to feel isolated. But there are infinite ways to counter and finally dismiss the feeling of not fitting in, replacing it with a peace and satisfaction that is natural and normal that leads to satisfying companionship.

Breaking up the destructive patterns of thought with light
Loneliness and isolation can go deep into thought, creating patterns of thinking that need to be rooted out and replaced with the natural force of God’s all-inclusive Love. God, Love’s characteristic is omni-present, so Love is right here, right now. Loneliness and isolation are unknown to God, just as darkness is unknown to light.

Note that ruminating thoughts are like a broken record, suggesting over and over again the same thing. This is key to identifying a self-destructive thought – it is not creative, it is not progressive, it is not comforting. And because of this, we know that it is not of God. The thoughts of God come naturally to us.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. James 3: 17

The self-corrective and self-assertive nature of Life and Love
Christian Science teaches that God is Life, and Life asserts itself. Thoughts of Life (or God) are identified by movement, progress, freshness and originality.

God is Truth. Thoughts of Truth establish themselves and are identified by peace, permanence, purity.

God is Love. Thoughts of Love are identified by the harmonizing influence felt in relationships, in our bodies and in our actions. When we accept and yield to God’s government, (or being governed by the laws of God, Love) we can see the likeness of progress, peace, and companionship, etc. everywhere.

Heredity is no basis for feeling isolated
When a destructive pattern of thought enters consciousness, it fights for expression. Self-doubt or disease may try to justify itself by human history. The feeling that your parents/family/ancestors struggled with destructive pattern of thought can be countered by rightly identifying yourself AND others, not as products of ruminating fears, but as solid, progressive and loving reflections of an infinite God.

Never separated from Love
The belief that you can be separated from Life, from Truth or from Love is – at its basis a limited and divisive belief – characteristic of matter. It takes some pretty sneaky and subtle suggestions to believe that a person can operate outside of Life, when a person IS life. The very fact that that person is living is a direct expression of Life! All is Life and Love. The very nature of Love is inclusive.

Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.

The recurring thought that you are vulnerable or easily influenced (or easily hurt by other’s actions or reactions) can be countered by understanding that there are not many little minds vying for position, but one Mind, governing all Christian Science explains the provable or scientific nature of Love. And it goes further…

A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.

Infinite possibilities exist now
We can overcome this belief of “not fitting in” which is a cover for the subtle suggestion that life is a series of mishaps, conflicts and dis-ease. God has given us the authority and the intelligence to discern our rightful role in Life.

God has given us not the spirit of fear, but of power and of a sound mind.

Overcome any sense of inferiority or isolation by knowing and being alert to any claims of limitation and division AND by knowing the superiority of Life, of Truth and of Love.

Remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.

Infinite ways to experience companionship now
We are never alone. Always companioned by good, constructive, and satisfying ideas, we can move forward confidently, expecting to see the reflection of good in every thing we think and do. Go ahead. Express Love. Be kind to the next person you meet. Write that letter of gratitude to an old friend or mentor. Offer to help out your neighbor. Love, companionship, and satisfaction are right where you are.

For more background on Christian Science, read the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy online or purchase here.

protection of prayer in Egypt

2011-02-04T23:57:00.000-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: living your truth

These pictures were taken off of a site showing Christians guarding Muslims in prayer. (Egypt's Coptic Christians use the tattoed cross on their inner wrist to identify themselves as Christians. Read here for more info.)

There is not much to add to a picture like this. Thousands are praying for a peaceful restoration of order and right government. This picture of unselfish courageand the desire to protect others inspires me to step out and add my prayer.

The prayer that I want to share is one that has been prayed for millenia. It is a song of hope and safety: Psalm 91

Background on the 91st Psalm from Resources for your Ministry:

"Luther said of Psalm 91, “This is the most distinguished jewel among all the psalms of consolation.” It is not certain who authored its words (David, Moses?), but we do know that this is a psalm for times of danger. Still, it is cheerful and full of comfort, unlike Psalm 90 which is somber and full of concern. The psalmist is encouraging both himself and his audience of the wisdom of trusting the Most High God, for He is able to protect us from any danger.... It all results in a statement of strong confidence in the care of the Lord—in all the circumstances of life— and calls us to rest in Him."

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you

from the fowler’s snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”

and you make the Most High your dwelling,

no harm will overtake you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

"the calm, strong currents of true spirituality"

2011-02-04T23:02:00.001-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: putting trends into perspective

I am a self-proclaimed trendoid. I am fascinated with new developments in thought, innovation, and the way social mores are formed. I like to track what I consider to be the spiritual evolution of mankind, and in so doing, I read, collect and research what is meaningful in popular thought.

There is an important distinction, however. Trends are an effect, not the cause of any spiritually significant progress. Similar to the way I don't look at a healthy body to determine my spiritual health, but seek to understand the supremacy of God, Spirit, and that understanding results in a harmonious body.

So trends can be a sign, sometimes elusive, sometimes quite telling, that the spiritualization of thought is progressing.

Mary Baker Eddy writes a bold, scientific statement of being which says in part "...man is not material, he is spiritual." And consciousness is slowly moving from a material basis to a spiritual basis.

Opinions, emotions, denominationalism drop away as we see the rational, logical and harmonizing influence of true spirituality. It is our spirituality that propels us forward. And progress requires us to continue to nurture our spirituality. Mary Baker Eddy writes "the calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect man."

Albert Einstein, in an address at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 19, 1939, and in an address presented at The Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in 1940 said, “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”

And that's what I look for when researching trends: the rational knowledge and practices that point to the spiritual evolution of mankind.

Another wonderfully good read:
Mark Swinney's The Next 90 Years from spirituality.com

"One thing I know...."

2011-01-31T14:02:00.002-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: miracles

The quote from the title is from an incident recorded in the Bible (in John 9: 25) which continues: "...that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

A man had been born blind and Jesus totally restored his sight. When the man was pressed with questions about this incident, he held his ground on what he knew to be true and said "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

Today, people are still being healed by the same Principle that Christ Jesus proved so many years ago. And they are giving different versions of that same story: whereas before I was blind, in pain, disfigured, grieved, sick, etc, now I am free.

Today, there are thousands of accounts of healings that came about by praying with the principles Christ Jesus taught: healings in which eyesight was restored ( click here to read), healings of abdominal pains (click here to read), of severe facial burns (click here to read ) and other healings of physical, financial, and relationship discords (click here to read more stories).

Through the study of Christian Science, I have found that what are normally called miracles aren't a one-of-a-kind phenomenom, but actually repeatable and provable today. The textbook that explains Christ's healing work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, gives this definition of miracles:

MIRACLE: That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.

Yes! This makes sense. God, who is all good and all powerful, would naturally be expressed in our bodies and our lives as wholeness and as harmonious. It is natural that health trumps illness and love dissolves hate and intelligent care defeat ignorance. That is what is normal.

I thought how decades ago, it would have been thought miraculous to be walkng on the moon, to talk to friends in real time on the other side of the world. But today, these things are not seen as miraculous, but simply as an outgrowth of our understanding of the unlimited possibilities we all have.

Likewise, we are closing in on that day where we see the miracles that were written in the Bible have a certain and provable basis that we can work with on an everyday basis. This is natural and possible. More and more, healings like these will simply be a result of our understanding of the unlimited possibilities we all have now.

breathing deeply

2011-01-24T10:38:00.000-06:00

Spiritual resource to share: prayer

It’s been a heat wave. It was +20º F ( -7 º C) yesterday, a welcome break from our -20ºF ( -29 º C) we’ve had recently. I went cross county skiing. It was gorgeous: wide blue sky and sunny above with just a little wind waving through the trees. After a mile or two, I stopped. I listened.

There is something tangible about silence in the wilderness. Wordlessly, nature communicates its grandeur, order and beauty. I took a deep breath. I could feel the pure cold air going down, replacing what was there with freshness and life. I breathed deeply again. Same exhilarating freshness. It was right there for me to take in. I acknowledged it all and realized my part in nature’s playgrounds.

I’ve been told that Christian Science healing is not about human accomplishment, but about divine acknowledgement. I don’t personally make God more grand, more omnipotent, more loving that She already is. It doesn't matter how many hours of study I have, or how many degrees I’ve mastered. God is the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, omnipotent Truth.

I can acknowledge and grow to understand God more and more. Study and prayer time help me to acknowledge and recognize God’s handiwork. Wordlessly, God communicates tender loving care, opportunities for growth and a tangible calm.

Prayer is a deep breath, replacing tiredness with joy and restlessness with purpose. God’s love and order and grace are right there for us to take in. We can acknowledge this and take part in God’s holy purpose for us right now.