"It's about hope"

Spiritual resource to share: hope = positive reassurance

I had one of the landmark experiences in my life when I was working internationally for a publisher. I was involved in a nation-wide effort to restore hope to a country whose economy bottomed out around the year 2000. I won't go into too many details here, but I helped to set up a nation-wide tour of public lectures and member workshops throughout this country. The whole process of identifying where and when to go, what messages to use, who would we be talking to, etc. involved deep prayer and listening.

The results were profound and inspiring. It certainly wasn't a one time fix, as all realized the need for consistent prayer to persistently break through the fear and uncertainty that threatened. But it was a way to firmly put our stake in the ground that said fear and uncertainity cannot reign over any of God's children. It was a way to share with the public ideas that strengthened the nobility of our neighbors and opened up possibilities for solutions. Soon after the second string of lectures, we got reports of hope restored, a higher sense of expectation for good results, and thrilling accounts of people finding their way to security for themselves , their families and their communities. I am still in awe of how powerful these ideas were and are.

We worked with many ideas, such as:

Under a paragraph heading of "Positive reassurance" Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope." Depression comes from a false belief that there is something more powerful than good. The opposite of depression is the expression of that good! Truth - that God is infinite and that good is infinite - reassures us with what our spiritual roots have always claimed.

She goes on to explain: "It (Truth) imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system." Infinite channels for good, for unity, for peace thrive and when we give our consent to this possibility, thought is drawn to its healthier expressions. Truth regulates our body, our community, our world. Truth systematizes action, governs with balance and grace.

Simply put, good is possible, NOW.

Our family had a precious relationship with an older woman who lived with us for well over a year. Her great-grandfather was a slave. I can only imagine her great wonder at this election and pride at the rapid strides that have been made in this country due to high expectations and giving our consent to progress.

But regardless of the outcome of this election (it is midmorning on Election Day), there has been a deep-seated hope stirred up. Why? because more people are giving their consent to the fact that all good is possible now and that we are capable of far more good than has ever been required of us. We have a choice to take that higher road that recognizes the highest good: that God (as Mind, intelligence) governs every system and governs every action. "The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind." We can expect progressive change that blesses us all.





For another inspiring account of hope from a "swing-voter", click here.



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.

prayer signposts among the financial crises

Spiritual resource to share: targeted prayer

we're all in this together

This just in -

News Alert 1:34 p.m. ET Friday, October 3, 2008 U.S. House Passes Financial Rescue Legislation

By a vote of 263 to 171, the House of Representatives has approved a $700 billion bailout plan in the hopes of propping up the nation's economy, which has been besieged by the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis.

Cruising the news on the financial situation, some words and phrases keep popping up -- standing out almost highlighted, saying - this is where you need to pray! Here are some of those highlighted words (and thanks to the friends who continue to circulate articles, posts and videos on these issues that give me these words!!):

Confidence
Connection
Exchange
Let love, not fear, rule

Thomas Friedman from NYTimes distilled the financial crisis problem down to two key areas that I have decided to take up in prayer: confidence and the need to realize that we are all connected. It is the distrust and fear that is stagnating and blocking the flow of the exchange of value. And, he pointed out, we cannot get away from the fact that we are all connected. So when we set up policies that hurt others, we are hurt; when we set policies to bless and help others, we are helped.

From the UK's Evening Standard came another helpful direction for prayer: Hank Paulson practices this precept from his religion – “… a religion in which you emphasize love rather than fear," he says.

Contrast that with a recent interview overheard on public radio with a psychiatrist. He suggested that people find great reward in revenge, and so, as a way to cure this crisis, economic policy should in some way cater to this need for revenge and find a way to craft in punishments that others can give. This was not a restorative justice approach to the problem, but more of “an eye for an eye” approach. I winced. Nothing like solving a problem at the same level at which it developed. I think we are capable of a far more noble approach. And that noble approach is love.

So what are we dealing with here? This all adds up to a demand to practice the Golden Rule; to let Love govern instead of fear; open thought to possibilities.

“It is well to be calm in sickness; to be hopeful is still better; “ writes Mary Baker Eddy in her classic book: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. “Knowledge that we can accomplish the good we hope for, stimulates the system to act in the direction which Mind points out.”

We can take the steps to remove the distrust and fear, envy, malice and greed from the problem and from the solution. We can step up to the demand to have confidence in Truth (all that is fair, just, reasonable, balanced) instead of chaos. We can emphasize love instead of fear, and make the Golden Rule* our basis for interactions.

We are all in this together. And today's step will continue to draw out of us all the intelligence, justice, honesty, compassion and nobility that God has given us.

(Recommended: Check out Karen Armstrong's talk on ted.com and her efforts to build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine. )


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.

To Asia with love and comfort

Spiritual resource to share: timeless truths

Reviewing some of my posts, I came across this one, written in response to the earthquake in Java, Indonesia two years ago. The timeless truths apply today to Myanmar, to China.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The comfort of God with us, with those in Indonesia, and with those everywhere

When I left home for college, my mother and I still maintained a very close relationship. When she would call me on the phone, I knew it was her before I answered. And many times when I would call her, she would answer the phone with "Hello Kim!"

I also noticed that when I was in trouble, my mom would later tell me that she felt I was in trouble of some kind and would either start praying or try to get in touch with me. This phenomenon became quite natural and it just was the way we operated.

I came to see how much of this was a direct reflection of our infinite Father-Mother God - God who is always knowing our needs, always there to comfort, guard and guide us.

God is constantly talking to each one of us. God is constantly sharing with us ideas that help protect us, provide for us and comfort us.

The recent earthquake in Indonesia threatened to tear open a wound just newly healing from the effects of the tsunami of 2004. In response, I was quick to counter that with a prayer that lifted me out of a feeling a sense of hopelessness and futility: God is omnipotent. That means that there is no power greater than God, and no power that can obscure God's tender ministrations to His/Her children.

God is not in the earthquake. His omnipresence can lift us out of any storm, any strife, into feeling peace. God's ideas nourish us, bless us, strengthen us and allow us to take care of one another. We can listen for His voice and respond in ways that are effective, practical and efficient.

Every single person has a direct connection with God. God is ever active and is constantly talking to each one of us. We all have this connection - before birth, during our lives here and after death, God is right here, comforting and providing for us.

There is great reason for hope. What I learned at an early age, with my mom, is that when there is love, there is always communication. This is a spiritual law. And there is always love.

The larger demonstration of this rests on our acknowledgement that God loves us. Tenderly, intimately, right-there-with-us kind of love. This love communicates to each of us all that we need to know and what we need to do.

For more articles about this, click here.





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.

Prayer for the Headlines

Spiritual resource to share: being a witness to God's protection

I just got the word about the earthquake in Rwanda with a request for prayer. This is what I shared:

I am instantly reminded of all that is unshakeable: God's care and protection in the most hidden places to the market place; Omnipresent Love removing fear.

I know that each individual involved has a direct connection to God who is guarding, guiding and speaking to each one; each one involved can feel God's gentle presence guiding them to safety, to help others, to find the right resources necessary to bless, heal and comfort others.

Divine Love shows the way and there are no obstacles - like chaos, personal politics or lack - that can obscure Love's direction or Love's provision. "Love never faileth."

I am reminded that these laws of Love are now governing all individuals, for all nations, under all circumstances, under all headlines. In fact, it occurred to me that every time we pray, we become a witness to God's omnipotence. This understanding puts direct light on what we are consiously praying about, and it also illumines God's spiritual laws that are operating under all conditions.

To add your thoughts and prayers, please visit tmcyouth.com.

where is God in a tragedy?

Spiritual resource to share: comfort

No doubt there is a wave of compassion and comfort being poured over the small town of Crandon, a town about an hour south of where we live. News reports have just come out about a shooting of six teenagers - allegedly victims of a rampage from a jealous boyfriend.

It is "a nightmare" said one of the family members, totally unbelievable. Questions come up like: where was God in this? How could God allow this to happen?

When tragedies like this occur it is amazing to see the humanitarian response rush in. This affirms for me that the baseline for mankind is love - it is not an aberration, a nightmare. The fundamental substance of all of us is goodness, tenderness, love.

I got a whole new perspective when I read this in the Bible

And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I could see that God is not the creator of death and destrution, but of life and all that sustains creation - order, nourishment, peace and plenty. God is not in the tragedy, but helps us overcome tragic situations. God is the source of compassion and creative solutions.

God is that still, small voice that assures us that life is eternal, that each of His children are eternally loved and cared for. And God is the source of the intelligence that fuels the justice and preventive measures that will no doubt come as a result of this event.

Where is God in a tragedy? God has never left us. Because we are made in His image and likeness, nightmares will never have the final say of who we are. God's love and always present comfort gives us what we need to be strengthened, guided and assured. God's love still defines us.







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in the hollow spaces, there is hallowed ground

Spiritual resource to share: comfort in a crisis


This was a comment made by one of the hospital prayer team members at a recent meeting. It resonated with me, particularly in light of those involved in searching for eight missing in the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge and those who are trapped in the Utah mines.

I grew up with the idea that "there is no spot where God is not." My mother always assured me that God is love and is everywhere. This comforting thought helped ease me through many new situations, and it comforts me now. There is no hollow area where God's presence, comfort and love cannot be felt.

A line from Science and Health takes on another dimension: "...the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love."

In forced isolation from others, divine Love is already there, making itself known.

In the emptiness of grief comes a promise that life is eternal.

In the anxiousness of waiting for word of loved ones comes the angel thought that no one is ever alone.

An old hymn shares these ideas:

Where'er they seek Thee, Thou art found,
And every place is hallowed ground.
For Thou, within no walls confined,
Dwellest with them of humble mind;
Such ever bring Thee where they come;
And where Thou art they find their home.

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.