Lessons from trees and babies and patients

Spiritual resource to share: fun

No one ever told me how much laughter happens when you are in the daily practice of Christian Science. There is much joy to be harvested here -and sometimes that joy comes out in full throated guffaws. You operate on honesty and earnestness and you expect and demand results. It has to be practical. It ends up being joy-full.

In one particular conversation with a patient, we were talking about moving forward and how this is natural for us to do. As natural as the seedling rises to its full purpose of a tree, it is part of our nature as children of an all-loving intelligent God, to rise to our full purpose.

A favorite quote comes to thought: "The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." (F. Buechner) It is not what we love that moves us forward , it is THAT we love that we cannot help but move, grow, and continue to bless others as well as ourselves. God calls us to fulfill Her holy purpose. We respond.

But what about dealing with obstacles or seeming setbacks? What would try to divert, hinder or stop us from moving forward. Perhaps it is nothing but our own fabrications.

So, our conversation continued, how would a child learning to walk deal with a stumble? We know that something in them moves them forward; some compelling and holy curiosity gets them to stand up and try again. This is not heroic or out of the ordinary. This is what babies do! (Can you even imagine a baby taking a tumble and then refusing to get up? "Oh yes, you see," this hypothetical baby might try to explain, "I just must be the falling down baby type. Perhaps I am really meant to be on the floor." Preposterous.)

Segue to the Bible's book on II Timothy, where it states:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.... Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus ....

And answering this calling, and practicing this Truth, and sharing/discovering it with others leads to a joy that just makes you want to look up, hold your arms out and laugh.


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.

laughing prayers

Spiritual resource to share:

36,792,551 - that's the number of people who have watched one of the laughing baby videos on youtube.com. These clips are incredibly popular!



This one has been viewed only 8,826,596 times. But I liked it best because of the interaction with the dad. View it and see how many times you laugh. How can you even have room for the slightest hint of sorrow when there are laughing babies in the room?!

This laughing clip reminds me of two things.

In a conversation with my prayer team (an ecumenical group of people who work in the chapel and with the hospital chaplains), we talked and laughed about prayer and laughter. In the Bible Jesus tells us how to pray "And when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen." How will you know when you are finished with prayer?" - was part of the discussion. We agreed that you will know when you are finished when you can come out laughing.

The second thing it reminds me of is a very loved Christian Science practitioner. Kind sparkly eyes, a little blue tint to her white hair - she was so kind, so approachable. She was the first practitioner I ever called on when I was a tween suffering from warts all over my feet. Her response to my call for help was "Oh, be joyful!" She was always joyful! "Oh, we can see more of God's majesty at work! Be joyful!" This made me chuckle. And throughout the day, I sang a song she gave me to sing. Sometimes it made me laugh. By the next day, the situation was totally cleared up.

How much we have to be grateful for! How attractive laughter is! Watching these little clips, you can sense the security and love these little ones are surrounded by. There is no striving to get to this great height of inspiration and love. It comes naturally. They know, wordlessly, that they are loved and trust that they are cared for. With that firm foundation, they totally delight in the beautiful and the goofy, the surprises and the anticipation of good coming their way.

Belly laughing, falling over with laughter, full throated guffaws - life doesn't get much better than this. It's a great way to look at prayer and an even better lesson in how we can end our prayers with total delight and an ongoing expectation of good!






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

whooping it up

Spiritual resource to share: laughter


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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