the light that keeps shining

Spiritual resource to share: comfort

Days after the thrill of a surprising victory at a recent competition my son was in, we heard the tragic news. One of his schoolmates passed on after a short illness. This had us all running for comfort, trying to find ways to make sense of this.

Comfort is a gift. And, like a gift, it has to be accepted. This may be hard after shocking news, but after the anger and questions calm down, we can reach out for and receive comfort.

There is a song about comfort:

Like as a mother, God comforteth Her children,

comfort is calm, that bids all tumult cease.

Comfort is hope and courage for endeavor,

comfort is love, whose home abides in peace.*

Comfort as calm, as hope, as courage, as love. This is a gift for each of us. This is a gift that helps to clear our head so we can see what is true and lasting about life.

Some say that time will heal the hard headache of grief. But perhaps that is only the time it takes

• to let go of the disorientation and welcome a new re-orientation to life.
• to stop looking at the lost opportunities and find the opportunities that exist right now to love each other, to help each other, to enjoy each other.
• to replace the shame of past unkindnesses with the affirmation of the life (the love, the goodness, the joy) that was shared
• to replace the guilt of forgetting with the balm of forgiveness. It is not too late.
• and finally, to exchange the fear of loss and change with an understanding of what is changeless.

Sooner or later, we recognize the integral part each friend, each family member and even each acquaintance has in the fabric of our lives. We weave into one another's lives like the threads that weave over and under and cross each other in a taut fabric ..... and there is no unraveling.

Love is spiritual and good - like light. We can no more lose what is good than we can lose light. Consider that the absence of a loved one brings their gifts into sharp focus and demands recognition!

My son and his classmates are celebrating their friend's life. They are preparing a memorial service with his pictures, his stories and all that he brought to this startlingly connected school community. This action - shared by the whole school - was quickly becoming an affirmation of life and the continuity of community. His friend's life's connections showed them what their life connections were.

"Mom, I want to stay here with my friends" my son explained to me when I asked if he wanted to come home for a while, "you can feel the healing going on."

It becomes more obvious than ever before that we are all important to one another. The light that we bring to others keeps shining. And the light of this friend goes on in all the lives of all the people he touched.

* Christian Science Hymnal Hymn #174


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.

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Lessons from the Dogslayer

Spiritual resource to share: eternal life

In thinking about life and death, I go back to a pretty simple explanation I gave my sons a number of years ago. This was written a while ago........

(Micah with his first hamster, Cinnamon)
Dogslayer was our last hamster, having been named for the curious effect he had from our Rottweiler - Mocha. At their first introduction, the hamster stretched forward to smell Mocha's nose, which sent Mocha cowering back. No amount of coaxing could get Mocha to at least touch the hamster. Hence the name, Dogslayer.

Both sons are teenagers now, so when when Dogslayer died, it was not a very big deal. We put his body in a nice padded gift box and lovingly placed it in the garbage. That was it.

The first time the boys experienced the death of their first hamster was when they were about 6 and 9. It was a big deal. My younger son cried, which made my older son upset because it was his pet, and both of them didn't understand why the pet died.

In praying about how to explain immortality, death, life, I came up with something that I think helped them both. We talked about what a loving home we gave to the hamster and this home probably made the hamster feel very loved and cared for. But the clincher was to understand that life goes on and all the spiritual qualities of this hamster - being adorable, satisfied, friendly, funny - go on as well.

Then, I asked my sons to think of a number. One gave me the number 8. I wrote "8" on our chalkboard. We could all see that written number. Then I erased the number "8" on the chalkboard. "Where did the 8 go?" I asked. "Is there no longer the number 8 because we can't see it anymore?" Well, of course, the answer is that the eight always exists because it is an idea.

From here, it was an easy analogy to help us see that the wonderful qualities of the hamster are still with us even if we can't see the hamster anymore. I think they got it. Enough so, that soon after, we got ourselves another hamster.

Mary Baker Eddy often refers to death as a transition or a phase:

In the illusion of death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that they have but passed the portals of a new belief.

Death is but another phase of the dream that existence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the harmony of being nor end the existence of man in Science. ... God, Life, Truth, and Love make man undying..

I have often looked back at that lesson with my sons, illustrating that life is eternal. When we understand who we are spiritually - as an idea or child of God - we can never lose one another. God, Life, Truth and Love make us undying, continuing on to grow, learn, progress. And understanding this, we can find peace in our own eternal and infinite nature.







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.

How rich is that life on the edge!

Spiritual resource to share: breaking limitations

One of J's outdoor programs:

spLORE/outdoor adventures

for people with disabilities

I woke this morning to get an email from a recently reunited friend to say her husband died last week in an accident. This was a shock. We had just talked two weeks ago. I called her today which inspired me to share this posting.

This is part of her husband's obituary:

....John was an excellent athlete, a member of the Colorado All State high school soccer team and an active mountaineer. In 1971 he was injured in a skiing accident, losing the use of his legs. This did not deter him from the active life he loved. John devoted much of his life to sharing his passion for nature with others as a gifted K-12 classroom teacher and in such organizations as POINT (Paraplegics on independent nature trips) in Texas, numerous Outward Bound Schools, the Vinland Center in Minneapolis, MN, Adventure Etc. in San Francisco, CA, Telluride Adaptive Sports Program, and other programs.

John represented the United States as the first US Nordic skier in the 1988 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. He loved to sail, play tennis and ski. He was an avid fly fisherman and loved anything to do with water and boats.....

Both my friend M and her husband J were masters at overcoming limitations: cultural barriers, physical barriers, political challenges and others. In some cases, they dutifully challenged the status quo in standing up for what they believed in, for themselves and for others. J 's testimony to the US House of Representatives on wilderness and sustainability issues is a good example of that, as was his involvement in programs mentioned above.

J lived a bit over the edge, as his wife attests. Certainly he lived it fully and left quite a legacy of inspiration complete with tons of river analogies about life.

So what lives on? Looking back at what he has done, it is obvious that everything he did for others will live on. He inspired so many to see beyond the material picture, to see beyond a comfortable life to a life that takes you a little over the edge.

I think that however simple and day to day our lives are, what makes life worth living is that we love one another - which motivates to do things for each other and to make sure that those experiences that have meant so much to us are available for the next generation. It is all about love.

In this way, it is easier for me to understand we are all spiritual. Loving is what we do. Challenging limitations is what we do. Breaking out of dead-end thinking to see more of God's love and God's loving provision is natural for us. Like J, we have a natural, holy curiosity to explore all of God's goodness and grandeur. We are all spiritual beings and understanding this helps to see that we can never really lose one another. All is well.

A couple friends have posted this poem. It is one that I recently read at another's memorial service last month. I love it.

Death is nothing at all
by Henry Scott Holland 1847-1918, cannon of St Paul’s Cathedral

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort,without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.

What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.

All is well.







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.

Comfort on every side

Spiritual resource to share: comfort


In this Valentine's Day, saturated with poems of love, I thought I would write about comfort.

Anyway, an old favorite German movie "Wings of Desire" by Wim Wenders depicts angels as men in trenchcoats giving comfort and companionship to the mortals they are assigned to. The moodiness and tender beauty of this movie left me with the tangible feeling of angels among us.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy defines angels as "God's thoughts passing to man." We can feel, right now, that we have angels - Love's messages - surrounding us as we go about our day. And these angels are never more close than when we are grieving.

I had an amazing weekend with an amazing friend. She had experienced three major losses in her life recently and was working through this. It was heartening to hear her speak of these "angels" that came to her in different ways: as a friend to spend time with, memories of wonderful times and the deep lessons learned from those who had gone on, poems, getting out in the fresh air, fun movies, etc.

Other angels included recognizing the wisdom of forgiveness and the strength of the spiritual growth she garnered from those she loves. In each moment, her needs were being met. When she needed quiet, it was there, or distraction, or release from sadness, there was complete love and complete comfort.

I was most touched by how gentle all of this was. This was in the middle of a busy weekend that included training for the Birkebeiner, attending a conference about the proposed Department of Peace, lunch at Sara's Table with its owner, a remarkeable former state senator and other earnest and articulate women, attending church and having a birthday celebration.

Life is always full, and the people we love (and the people we leave) are indelibly woven into the fabric of our lives, leaving their unique reflection of divine Love's goodness, grace and spontaneity.

We are left with angels of comfort, moving us from one stage of experience to the next, making sure that we see higher, deeper and wider views of the Life and Love that is given to us from God.


So, for this Valentine's Day, I wish you all love and the rich knowledge that we are never alone, but are comforted on every side as we live and grow.







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 death (and life) of Dogslayer

Spiritual resource to share: understanding eternal life

Dogslayer was our last hamster, having been named for the curious effect he had from our Rottweiler - Mocha. At their first introduction, the hamster stretched forward to smell Mocha's nose, which sent Mocha cowering back. No amount of coaxing could get Mocha to at least touch the hamster. Hence the name, Dogslayer.

Both sons are teenagers now, so when when Dogslayer died, it was not a very big deal. We put his body in a nice padded gift box and lovingly placed it in the garbage. That was it.

The first time the boys experienced the death of their first hamster was when they were about 6 and 9. It was a big deal. My younger son cried, which made my older son upset because it was his pet, and both of them didn't understand why the pet died.

In praying about how to explain immortality, death, life, I came up with something that I think helped them both. We talked about what a loving home we gave to the hamster and this home probably made the hamster feel very loved and cared for. But the clincher was to understand that life goes on and all the spiritual qualities of this hamster - being adorable, satisfied, friendly, funny - go on as well.

Then, I asked my sons to think of a number. One gave me the number 8. I wrote "8" on our chalkboard. We could all see that written number. Then I erased the number "8" on the chalkboard. "Where did the 8 go?" I asked. "Is there no longer the number 8 because we can't see it anymore?" Well, of course, the answer is that the eight always exists because it is an idea. From here, it was an easy analogy to help us see that the wonderful qualities of the hamster are still with us even if we can't see the hamster anymore. I think they got it. Enough so, that soon after, we got ourselves another hamster.

Mary Baker Eddy often refers to death as a transition or a phase:

In the illusion of death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that they have but passed the portals of a new belief.

Death is but another phase of the dream that existence can be material. Nothing can interfere with the harmony of being nor end the existence of man in Science. ... God, Life, Truth, and Love make man undying.

I have often looked back at that lesson with my sons, illustrating that life is eternal. When we understand who we are spiritually - as an idea or child of God - we can never lose one another. God, Life, Truth and Love make us undying, continuing on to grow, learn, progress. And understanding this, we can find peace in our own eternal and infinite nature.






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.

Always plugged in

My son came home with the news that there had been a car accident with some kids from school. He did not know the boy who had died, but he had friends that knew him. The following days, school officials called in counselors, ministers and priests to be there for the students at any time to help comfort and support.

Hard stuff at any age. This was big news and I had the opportunity to talk to my kids and Sunday School students about the major questions this always brings up: What is death? What is life? Why does this happen?

Death ends things. Life continues and creates. It is for this simple definition that Life wins. Always. If you were to take any person, strip them of all of their labels: son, wife, niece, godparent, employer, student, provider, etc. what you would have left is the emobidiment of their spiritual qualities. Spiritual qualities are from Spirit, who is God. This is what gives our lives meaning, purpose and gives us our legacy. A spiritual quality cannot be stopped, cannot die. It would be impossible to make this happen - as impossible, say, if one were to take the number eight and try to cause it to melt. A spiritual quality cannot take on a physical quality.

Why do things like this happen? I don't know. But I do feel strongly that it is NOT God's will that there be suffering and dying. It makes no sense to me that God ( synonymous with Life) would end life; or that God (synonymous with Love) would test His beloved children to see if they really, really believed in Him. It is my belief that this boy's life (who died in the accident) is embodying the same spiritual qualities he did when we saw him everyday, and that the embodiment of his special qualities are still moving forward, alive and active.

In explaining this to my Sunday School class, it made sense to liken life to a computer. There are different things that come on the screen, like our different experiences, but we are always plugged in. We are plugged in when there are many things on the computer and plugged in when there is nothing on the computer.

We, who are left behind, grieve when we feel that death has had the final answer. Grief is healed when we catch that glimpse that Life and the lives of those we love are continuing, always plugged in and moving forward. Love takes over and we are welcomed to feel the power and embrace of pure Love, the intimate and unbroken understanding of our relationship to Him and restored hope in everpresent Life.

For those who are grieving, it has always helped me to know that the Christ is right where you are, going deeper than pity and sorrow and able to lift you, love you and restore your hope. You are not alone, and those whom you love are not alone and can feel your love.


Peace,

Kim

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