The loveliness of "Let" - revisited

spiritual resource to share: yielding

I was reading Science and Health this morning and came across this quote,

"Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love - the kingdom of heaven - reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear."

It was the "Let" that got me.

"Let" is such a welcoming word. It can mean to actively cause to happen, consent to and leave unchanged. Pretty broad definition. Other favorite "lets":

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Let there be light.
Let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace.

Letting is a yielding to a fixed principle of Love - consenting to that which is unchanged.

Years ago, I had a major let experience that showed me how freeing it is to "let go and let God."

I had been traveling in Central America and was supposed to meet my boyfriend at the very beginning of my trip. So many goof-ups and missed communications happened that after almost a month, we still hadn't connected and I was getting anxious and frustrated.

Finally, I was settled in one location and planned to be there for a long time, living with a local family. Plans (again) were made to meet him at the bus station at a certain time. The bus came and he wasn't on it. That's when I lost it. Storming home in a cloud of anger and frustration, I couldn't even think clearly until I got into my room. There I pulled out my Bible, my Science and Health, my book of poems and starting diving into them as a way to calm down.

I don't quite remember what I read, but I do recall a strong thought coming to me saying "If it isn't God's will, you don't want it to happen." Well, of course! I reasoned, if it isn't God's plan that we are to meet, then there is nothing I can do to make it happen. And if it is God's will, then there is nothing I can do to prevent it from happening. I had to let go of all my plans and hopes and really put it in God's hands ( where it already was any how). I had given my consent to the fixed principle that God governs every aspect of my life. What a relief!

The next morning, I had no expectation other than God was directing me in the way most needed and I felt at such peace with that. I took my books to the central park of that city, and started to read my Bible lesson in the warm sun and bustling market. It was God's day and I was happy.

It wasn't long afterwards that I looked up and saw a bus. Strange, I thought, buses aren't supposed to be running at this time. But there, getting off the bus was my friend and his friend!

We were so happy to have finally connected. He and his friend got settled in a youth hostel, and we were able to have a wonderful time together.

But most wonderful was this important lesson about let. Our active yielding to God brings peace and we see how God's plan for us unfolds - in a much better way than we could ever plan. How lovely!







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"Contagion" by Mary Baker Eddy

Spiritual resource to share: our consent to robust health

Fueled by recent news stories of studies of anti-depressants and our ongoing reading of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, our other Science and Health discussion group talked about the mental nature of disease and how we give our consent for its cure. Mary Baker Eddy deals with that theme thoroughly in her article on "Contagion."

I have copied half of the article here, and at the end you can click onto the full article - as well as several translations of the article - from spirituality.com.

Contagion
by Mary Baker Eddy
from Miscellaneous Writings

Whatever man sees, feels, or in any way takes cognizance of, must be caught through mind; inasmuch as perception, sensation, and consciousness belong to mind and not to matter. Floating with the popular current of mortal thought without questioning the reliability of its conclusions, we do what others do, believe what others believe, and say what others say. Common consent is contagious, and it makes disease catching.

People believe in infectious and contagious diseases, and that any one is liable to have them under certain predisposing or exciting causes. This mental state prepares one to have any disease whenever there appear the circumstances which he believes produce it. If he believed as sincerely that health is catching when exposed to contact with healthy people, he would catch their state of feeling quite as surely and with better effect than he does the sick man's.

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Click here to read the full article.





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Expectancy and Consent

I think that I have gathered sufficient evidence in my life to be able to claim I have a truism. And this is it: There are two elements of a successful venture:

• One – you expect that good will happen and
• Two - you give your consent.
  

Expect good.

Some time ago, a friend invited me to hear a popular evangelical minister. Out of curiosity I went. The place was packed with at least a couple of thousand people and the minister had the stage with a band. What I remembered most from that evening was that at one point, everyone was standing up, swaying and saying or shouting “Jesus, Jesus!”

I looked behind me at this wave of arms. What struck me was this beautiful, openness to the One who was worshipped. I looked ahead and to the sides of me. More swaying arms. There was such clarity and purity of desire. People’s guards were down. There was no agenda, but just straightforward worship and immense expectancy to feel a holy presence. Some people were crying, others were laughing, many just quietly swaying and praying. Yes, I know, some may say that people were just getting caught up in a type of mob mentality. But you could not deny the motive and the depth and the hope that was at the epicenter of that movement of thought.

It is an understatement to say that they expected to feel God’s presence.

Give your consent.

There is a oft-told story of the time that the extension of The Mother Church in Boston was being built. Deadlines were tight and not adjustable. The person in charge of overseeing the construction, James Rome, prayed throughout its building. After it was built, he wrote a letter to Mary Baker Eddy which said, in part,

At first I thought that…it (meeting the construction deadlines) seemed impossible… (but then) I saw at once that somebody had to wake up. I raised my eyes, and the conviction that the work would be accomplished came to me so clearly…. One feature about the work interested me. I noticed that as soon as the workmen began to admit that the work could be done, everything seemed to move as by magic; the human mind was giving its consent. This taught me that I should be willing to let God work. I have often stood under the great dome, in the dark stillness of the night, and thought, "What cannot God do?" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Miscellany, p.60)

I have heard quotes from other notable thinkers that echo this idea. Expecting that you can accomplish the good you hope for and then, admitting that it can be done. Expectation and consent. Winners every time. (See also Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p.394)

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