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

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

Egypt’s victory is our victory

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

Christmas in the trenches

Spiritual resource to share: acts of peace

My grandparents

We have a family story that strikes me deeply. And rightly so. My mom’s father, Walter (or Butchie as he was known to us), was with the Scottish troops on December 24, 1914, and was a part of that most wonderful Christmas Eve truce. My mom remembers him talking about it and sharing the news of playing football with others.  Butchie survived this war, married and had five children.  He also introduced three generations to Christian Science after having been healed through Christian Science of severe head injuries.  (But that's another story for another time!)

While browsing the internet about the famous truce, I found a letter that a soldier wrote during that time. It's become famous as you will read. (I've copied it as it appeared on interfaithforums.com.)


It is an amazing story, remarkable situation. It is a tribute to all soldiers everywhere and a reminder that "on each end of the rifle, we're the same."

The Christmas Truce Letter

On November 7, 2006, singer Chris de Burgh paid £14,400 at Bonhams auction house for an original 10 page letter from an unknown British soldier that records events and incidents with the Germans on that night (during World War I) describing "the most memorable Christmas I've ever spent".

The letter begins:

This will be the most memorable Christmas I've ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don't think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs.

The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us — wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think theyve all come back bar one from 'E' Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir.

In spite of our fires etc. it was terribly cold and a job to sleep between look out duties, which are two hours in every six.

First thing this morning it was very foggy. So we stood to arms a little longer than usual. A few of us that were lucky could go to Holy Communion early this morning. It was celebrated in a ruined farm about 500 yds behind us. I unfortunately couldn't go. There must be something in the spirit of Christmas as to day we are all on top of our trenches running about. Whereas other days we have to keep our heads well down.

We had breakfast about 8.0 which went down alright especially some cocoa we made. We also had some of the post this morning. I had a parcel from B. G's Lace
Dept containing a sweater, smokes, under clothes etc. We also had a card from the Queen, which I am sending back to you to look after please. After breakfast we had a game of football at the back of our trenches!

We've had a few Germans over to see us this morning. They also sent a party over to bury a sniper we shot in the week. He was about a 100 yds from our trench. A few of our fellows went out and helped to bury him.About 10.30 we had a short church parade the morning service etc. held in the trench.

How we did sing. 'O come all ye faithful. And While shepherds watched their flocks by night' were the hymns we had. At present we are cooking our Christmas Dinner! so will finish this letter later.Dinner is over! and well we enjoyed it. Our dinner party started off with fried bacon and dip-bread: followed by hot Xmas Pudding. I had a mascot in my piece.

Next item on the menu was muscatels and almonds, oranges, bananas, chocolate etc followed by cocoa and smokes. You can guess we thought of the dinners at home. Just before dinner I had the pleasure of shaking hands with several Germans: a party of them came 1/2 way over to us so several of us went out to them. I exchanged one of my balaclavas for a hat. I've also got a button off one of their tunics. We also exchanged smokes etc. and had a decent chat. They say they won't fire tomorrow if we don't so I suppose we shall get a bit of a holiday — perhaps.

After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner.We can hardly believe that we've been firing at them for the last week or two — it all seems so strange. At present its freezing hard and everything is covered with ice…

The letter ends:

There are plenty of huge shell holes in front of our trenches, also pieces of shrapnel to be found. I never expected to shake hands with Germans between the firing lines on Christmas Day and I don't suppose you thought of us doing so. So after a fashion we've enjoyed? our Christmas. Hoping you spend a happy time also George Boy as well. How we thought of England during the day. Kind regards to all the neighbours.

With much love from Boy.

For more information and background, see and read more about a movie, Joyeux Noël, made about this event.

This song has helped bring this event to the forefront:



Note: The photo is a family photo and is not for circulation. (c)

an insistent peace

Spiritual resource to share:  paz = peace

photo by Domingos Peixoto for Brazilian newspaper O Globo/Rio

Recently, my friend Amy posted on facebook the story of the drug wars going on in Rio and this picture. It brought me back to my short stay in Rio, where I was working with a team of others to distribute Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures more broadly in that area. One special late afternoon, a colleague and I walked Rio’s beaches, with the twinkliing lights of the favelas on one end and the luxury hotels on the other.  We were wrapped up talking about healing and peace in the Middle East. Now I find all those ideas for peace and healing equally relevant for Rio now.

Newspapers were all over this story. It was humbling and frightening to read of it. I felt small.  What can I possibly say to such a massive display of aggression, violence, danger and conflict?  How can I pray?

Then, quite simply, I was reminded and humbled that God is greater than all these things. 

People have responded to this chaotic mayhem with a simple word: Peace. The photo above reminded me of the childlike purity and permance of peace.

Peace is what will prevail. It always has and always will.
Life is insistent and will prevail.
Love is the cornerstone of all spiritual building and will prevail.
And in the midst of the deepest disorder, order will stand its ground and spread.

I am so grateful to Amy for bringing this to my attention, for those journalists letting the world know, for those whose vision for justice and peace emboldened and trumped parasitic greed and fear.  And I am grateful for all of us prayer warriors, who get to work affirming what is permanent, good and true in the glaring face of chaos. Effective prayer has as its foundation the law of God --the law of the Creator as defined in Science and Health:

CREATOR. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating divine Principle of all that is real and good; self-existent Life, Truth, and Love; that which is perfect and eternal; the opposite of matter and evil, which have no Principle; God, who made all that was made and could not create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself.

Although there is great relief that this recent – and some say the worst  - battle has been won ( click here for today's news) the mission to break the grip of the drug gangs continues. So does our prayer.

La Silla de Familia --- The Family Chair

Recurso espiritual de compartir: el consuelo y paz de Dios

Tengo un recordatorio dulce de ternura de Dios y todo-presencia que me gustaría compartir con ustedes.

Cuando mi más joven (Gabe) era un niño y bebía su leche, mi más viejo (Micah) tenía tres años. Cuando esto vino el tiempo para una alimentación, Micah y yo nos sentaríamos en una silla de gran tamaño cuando sostuve a Gabe. Mi hijo mayor se sentó silenciosamente y sostuvo los pies de su hermano y hablaríamos. A veces éramos tranquilos. La silla consiguió ser conocida como la Silla de Familia..

La tranquilidad y la satisfacción entonces me recuerdan de las mismas calidades espirituales que están disponibles a cada uno de nosotros cuando rezamos.

Cuando rezamos, nos sentamos en un espacio con el cuarto en el pensamiento para cada uno amamos. Estamos en las armas de Amor. Somos seguros. Escuchamos y aprendemos de paz de Dios, gracia y permanencia. Aprendemos que Dios es Todo. Confiadamente recibimos aquel alimento de Dios que nos refuerza y hace que nosotros crezcamos. A veces nos hablamos a Dios. A veces somos tranquilos y sólo escuchamos. Somos colocados y en nuestro lugar derecho.

'Tome de nosotros ahora la tensión y la tensión, y deje a nuestras vidas pedidas admitir la belleza de Su paz.' - John Greenleaf Whittier

English version.........................................................................................

Spiritual resource to share: God's comfort

I have a sweet reminder of God's tenderness and ever-presence that I would like to share with you.

When my youngest (Gabe) was an infant and still nursing, my oldest (Micah) was three. When it came time for a feeding, Micah and I would sit on an oversized chair as I held Gabe. My older son would sit quietly and hold his brother's feet and we would talk. Sometimes we would just be quiet. The chair got to be known as the Family Chair.

The quietness and nourishment being given at that time stays with me. I see in it the same spiritual qualities that are available to each of us when we pray.


When we pray, we sit in a space with room in thought for everyone we love. We are in the arms of Love. We are safe. We listen and learn of God's peace, grace and permanence. We learn that God is All. We trustingly receive that nourishment from God that strengthens us and causes us to grow. Sometimes we talk to God. Sometimes we are quiet and just listen. We are settled and in our right place.  God is holding our feet.




"Take from us now the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace." - John Greenleaf Whittier




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.

what can 50 people do?

Spiritual resource to share: spiritual response to aggression

The numerous media reports on the small church of 50 people who proposed burning the Koran and the groundswell of the reaction against this protest have made me ask the question - what better thing could 50 people do?

Today's report says that the Koran burning protest is now called off. But to me, it is a call to affirm what is powerful and what is good.

Much has been written in the above mentioned reports about this small group of 50 people. This reminded me of something Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer and founder of Christian Science, said to her class of 65 students of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in 1889:

"We, today, in this class room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind, for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared." (Miscellaneous Writings p. 279)

Now to those of you who are new to this blog, I'll have to say that when Mary Baker Eddy talks about converting the world, she is not talking in terms of getting all people to change their denomination and become card carrying members of the Christian Science church. She speaks in far greater terms than those. She is speaking about converting the world from a material basis to a spiritual basis in which all can experience harmony, health and well-being - the influence of Mind.

One Mind is a concept Mary Baker Eddy describes often in her writings. She explains the power behind this idea:

"When we realize there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbors as ourselves is unfolded..." (Science and Health p 205)
"Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick..... " (Science and Health p 276)
"It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease, and the true brotherhood of man will be established." (Science and Health p 467)

Because we are of one Mind, we are brothers and sisters, we can heal, and we can end conflict.

In the US, tomorrow, September 11th, has been declared a day of service and remembrance. It is a helpful act that affirms what 50 people, and 500,000 people and even one person can do to demonstrate peace, harmony and well-being when we do it for one another.

Aggressive reactions and thoughtless acts stand to be corrected. They will either be forgettable or regrettable. They will have their flare of attention and then disappear. But those actions based on one God, one Mind, are what moves us all forward toward sustainable peace.












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.

"Low, sad and sweet....."

Spiritual resource to share: quietness and peace

Friends and family have a a lot happening this month: Graduations, summer plans being made, school ending, houses being sold, moves being planned, new adventures ahead -- the month of May can be a lot about endings and beginnings.

In most major events, we say good bye and say hello almost in the same breath. Parting may be such sweet sorrow, but in that parting, there is a ripening of the human spirit.

When facing a major change in my life or my family's life, I have learned the wisdom of giving myself some quiet space to say goodbye. It gives me time to reflect and consider lessons learned. It gives me time to feel the gratitude for the experiences and people that make up my life experience.

"Low, sad and sweet" sums up the tone of these quiet times. It helps to recognize and reaffirm the ongoing nature of Love. This helps ease and then remove any sense of pain or separation. It awakens new gratitude for Life and reminds that however deep the struggle, however glorious the victory, God's "angel-throng of thoughts" are always present to comfort, guard and guide.

Mary Baker Eddy's poem "Christ, My Refuge" is like a blueprint for a soulful prayer of peace, satisfaction and progress.


O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind there sweeps a strain, low, sad, and sweet,
whose measures
bind the power of pain,
and wake a white-winged angel throng of thoughts, illumed by faith, and breathed in raptured song, with love perfumed.

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show Life's burdens light. I kiss the cross, and wake to know a world more bright.

And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea I see Christ walk, and come to me, and tenderly, divinely talk.

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, upon Life's shore, 'gainst which the winds and waves can shock, oh, nevermore!

From tired joy and grief afar, and nearer Thee, — Father, where Thine own children are, I love to be.

My prayer, some daily good to do to Thine, for Thee; an offering pure of Love, whereto God leadeth me.







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.

Be still

Spiritual resource to share: quietness and peace

It's no mistake that when Mary Baker Eddy talks about prayer in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, that she repeatedly urges us to vigorously shut out the clamor of daily life and concerns.

"To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed."
"Lips must be mute and materialism silent."
"The closet (of prayer) ...shuts out sinful sense, but lets in Truth, Life and Love."
"....we must enter the closet and shut the door."
"We must close the lips and silence the material senses."

Maybe it speaks to the discipline needed to actually get to the point of stillness and openness in our thought where we can feel God's peace and warmth. This type of prayer affirms the fundamental, primitive nature of God's goodness, aligns consciousness with all that is pure and true and makes us aware of God's full approval and delight in His creation, that is, in us.

A well-loved poem reflects this expectant prayer:

Doves*
William B. Lynch

I want
the words to flutter
around you and land softly
on your shoulders in peace.
I want you to hear them
tell you of heaven.

Stand still
and they will gather.








*From the book Ideas on Wings - a collection of poems from the Christian Science periodicals, The Christian Science Publishing Society, Boston, MA 1978
photo © Igor Nikolayev - Fotolia.com

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.

you don't know what you don't know

Spiritual resource to share: humility

You don't know what you don't know....and knowing that you don't know what you don't know is key to taking some positive steps forward. It is really all about humility. Let me explain......

This was the main lesson I walked away with after hearing a community talk about white privilege recently. This talk was sponsored by many individuals and groups who are actively working to heal racism in our community. It was a special tribute on Martin Luther King Day. It was a night of compassionate listening and gave us a firm foothold in our community's attempt to alleviate racism.

There were two speakers who presented. The two speakers had markedly different messages which blended wonderfully under the heading of: "White Privilege: and how it affects the relationship between Indian and non-Indian communities." The first part of the talk was given by Dr. Peggy McIntosh of Wellesley College. She highlighted patterns of assumptions that are made that favor the white race over other races. The other part of the talk was given by the Honorable Ernie St. Germaine of Lac du Flambeau (our local reservation) and highlighted the fullness and completeness of life as taught by the Annishinabeg (aka Ojibwe).

In two different ways the talk showed the universal humanity of us all and the rich diversity of all that we are. It didn't absorb us all into one united blob, but heightened what is different and awakened thought to accept differences, not from a sense of moral superiority or inferiority, but from the basis of the completeness of each culture, of each person.

It led me to think of the differences of culture in two distinct ways: 1) culture as personality - stemming from the psychological and historical man - thus limited and 2) culture as individuality - stemming from a collective expresssion of Godlike qualities of abundance, care, love, protection, provision.

When we see culture as a set of mortal opinions, limited power, etc., there is conflict.
When we see culture in a spiritual view, we see a collective expression of the Christlike attributes of love, protection, harmony and progress, there is harmony and improvement.

I am in awe of this process of healing in a community. As a group, we are taking deliberate steps out of a limited view of race relations where there has been conflict and anger, to a compassionate opening to understand and embrace the different facets of our community. It is all heading toward healing, speeding along by our collective desire for peace and respect for one another.

Healing happens. Humility is the genius of healing in Christian Science*. We don't always know what we don't know, but we can continue to look to God - the omnipotent, the omnipresent, and all-loving - and we can expect to be shown the way to healing for ourselves and for health and well-being for our communities.

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.

*See Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 356

good never dies

Spiritual resource to share: peace, equality and justice

photo from 1963 March on Washington where MLKing gave his speech "I have a dream"


Thinking about Martin Luther King today brings up all kinds of inspiration and feelings. He, too, is in that league of men and women who put aside all personal comfort to bring out an ideal for all mankind. And in the popular words attributed to Benazir Bhutto and of another civil rights activist, Medgar Evers, "you can kill a man, but not an idea."

So Martin Luther King's idea lives and thrives. To celebrate his idea, one of our local area churches has been bold enough to deal with an undercurrent of racism that the community has been actively working to heal. They are sponsoring a talk tonight on "White Privilege and how it affects the relations between Indian and non-Indian Communities" being given by a woman from Wellesley and one of our own judges from the Ojibway Nation.

In MLKing's 1964 Nobel lecture, he says regard accepting the Nobel Prize:

I experience this high and joyous moment not for myself alone but for those devotees of nonviolence who have moved so courageously against the ramparts of racial injustice and who in the process have acquired a new estimate of their own human worth.

And that is the legacy I hope to preserve here in our Northwoods. A continuing effort to love beyond any boundaries and to acquire, for all of us, "a new estimate of (our) own human worth." Our dignity is their dignity; their freedom is our freedom; we are forever bound together.

I'll write more later about tonight's event.

To hear and see Martin Luther King Jr.'s talk "I have a Dream" click below:

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.

re-thinking Christmas

Spiritual resource to share: a pause and a reflection

Even though Christmas is over, it feels that the need for true Christmas has never been greater. I'd like to share a poem that helps me to take another look at the meaning of Christmas. The abrupt assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the growing extremism and intolerance in the headlines these last few days demand the peace and hope that Christmas stands for. It is a stand I hope to nurture the whole year through:

Blest Christmas Morn
by Mary Baker Eddy


Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds
Pursue thy way,
Thy light was born where storm enshrouds
Nor dawn nor day!

Dear Christ, forever here and near,
No cradle song,
No natal hour and mother's tear,
To thee belong.

Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned,
The Bethlehem babe —
Beloved, replete, by flesh embound —
Was but thy shade!

Thou gentle beam of living Love,
And deathless Life!
Truth infinite, — so far above
All mortal strife,

Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint:
Fill us today
With all thou art — be thou our saint,
Our stay, alway.

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.

what is peace?

Spiritual resource to share: equanimity, serenity

It has been quite a peaceful day: Prayer, new inspiration mixed with cool breezes throughout the day and a family meal with two new people at our table for dinner. Now that the meal is over, the table cleared and everyone into their evening, I have some time to myself and to reflect 'What exactly is peace?' and wanted to share some thoughts with you.

More than the absence of violence – I think that peace is the atmosphere where healing happens, creativity is unleashed and laughter is second nature.

The Hebrew word for peace, "shalom," means "whole" and points to contentedness, gratitude and unselfishness within oneself and between people.

So why is this important? It's because the inner thought is expressed in the outer action.

I ask myself:

How is peace a part of my life?
I can control my anger.
I can refuse to participate in violence, by increasing my confidence in the power of good - the omnipotence of Truth. Truth is natural, primitive.

Is my family practicing peace?
Are my sons being taught how to respond, and not to react to anger?
Are we ( my husband and I ) modeling good conflict resolution, respect for one another and the ability to listen – truly listen – with our hearts?

How am I practicing peace?
Am I contributing to peace in my community?
Am I supporting those activites that channel energies into productive and helpful channels?
Am I investing in my community by acknowledging what is good and multiplying that good?
Am I being a productive citizen? Caring for the earth, for my neighbors
Am I publishing peace – making peaceful and grateful gestures to the grocery clerk, the telemarketer? Spending time to magnify peace in all areas of my life?

MBEddy's comments have a special resonance when it comes to disciplining one's life with peace:

We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless action and reaction upon each other of these different atoms.

Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world's evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, — determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God. (from Miscellaneous Writings, p. 224)

What is peace to you?

Please add your own comments or email this article to a friend.
For more information, visit kimckorinek.com or contact Kim directly via skype!

traveling down a forest road

Spiritual resource to share: the fullness of life wherever we are

It was inky dark when I returned home from dropping my son off at school a few days ago. I decided to take the forested roads home, even though it was more isolated. I could only see what was directly in front of me and above me. The stars were brilliant against such a black sky.

At one point, I stopped the car and rolled down the windows to hear a full chorus of tree frogs and crickets. However dark and isolated the roads were that night, there was that full force of life going on all around.

The poem "O Gentle Presence" by Mary Baker Eddy came to thought. It was so appropriate. I hope you enjoy its quietness, restfulness and assurance:

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
"Lo, I am with you alway," — watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heav'nly rest.





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.

peace and joy and power

Spiritual resource to share: Christmas



Happy Christmas everyone!

It is 2am and I just got back from a large family gathering, where we all welcomed in the newest member of the family at 2-1/2 weeks old. In the bustle and happy noise, I held her as she slept and thought that even now, "Unto us a child is born." Have you ever felt this when looking into a newborn's eyes - such a deep and untamed calm?

Christmas is about holding that perfect child of hope and healing in our hearts, and nurturing it and watching it grow throughout the year. I wish for you all times for stillness, activity, spontaneous joy and laughter, lots and lots of laughter.

Just wanted to share a loved few thoughts from Mary Baker Eddy about Christmas:

I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth's appearing. The splendor of this nativity of Christ reveals infinite meanings and gives manifold blessings.

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.

Important weekend of prayer report on Darfur

Spiritual resource to share: prayer



Spirituality.com has posted an important article on the situation in Darfur.

A prayer for the innocent—meaning everyone—in Darfur
by Jeremy Carper

More than a thousand individuals, houses of worship, and faith-based organizations throughout the United States are expected to participate in a “Weekend of Prayer for Darfur” from December 8 to 10, 2006.

This initiative, led by the Save Darfur Coalition, is part of a continuing response
to the horrific situation in this area of the Sudan, where millions of people are displaced or have been affected by mass genocide.

Worthy efforts like the weekend of faith-based action show that prayer is as much a component of solving world problems as raising money for the victims or arousing public outcry. In my own life, I've found that prayer is not an empty response to a
challenge, but one that aligns my thought to God.

Read more by clicking here......

Learn more about the Save Darfur effort here.

Click on the Save Darfur - Weekend of Prayer home page here.

(Photo from the Save Darfur website)



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.

A "jihad" of prayer for peace

Spiritual resource to share: an earnest and tenacious peace

Jihad – literally means “exerted effort” or "to strive, to make a great and tenacious effort "

In October of 2001 in Germany, I was manning our publisher’s booth at the world’s largest publishing event. One of my first encounters was with a Muslim publisher who was quickly selling out of his copies of the Qur'an. We had an earnest, cordial and impassioned talk, agreeing together about the great need to understand one another and for peace. I made a gift of a copy of Science and Health to him which he gratefully accepted and he made a gift to me of the Qur'an, which I took with a grateful heart.

So began my journey to humbly understand more about Islam with the goal of more effectively praying about peace.

So, can a Christian effectively pray for peace for those of other faiths? Yes. Christ Jesus starts out his most significant prayer, called the Lord's Prayer with "Our Father, which art in heaven...." It starts with that all-inclusive word "Our".

Jesus' radical approach to love God and one another crossed limitations and prejudices against the disabled and disadvantaged, as well as religious, racial, gender and age boundaries. Unity, peace, healing, resurrection characterized Jesus' life which continues to bring us salvation today.

In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy goes deep into Christ Jesus' work and pulls out the divine principles of his teaching, showing the underlying universal spiritual laws of his works, which she calls Christian Science. The works that Jesus did - to heal, reform and uplift thought - are possible today.

I was deeply moved when, at another publishing event, a Muslim came forward who had read Science and Health and said "This book could help unify nations in turmoil." (Yes, I said to him.)

So how have I been praying?
To target my prayer, I needed to go deeper to understand what war tries to do, and understand with more conviction the active transformative nature of peace.

War is hell. And hell is defined, in part as ".... remorse; hatred; revenge; sin; sickness; death; suffering and self-destruction; self-imposed agony….” What else would war do?

• It would limit intelligence, resources, compassion
• It would divide nations, make divisions within nations, within communities, families and within the self.
• It brings death, destruction, despair, and is fueled by power mongering.
  

So where is God in all of this? I had to ask myself, how big is my concept of God?
Is it big enough to cover the strife, the bloodshed, and the chaos? Is Love big enough to neutralize the hate? However overwhelming this all may seem, in Science and Health it says: “The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right.”

If we are overwhelmed, remember that there is a bigger power (actually an absolute Power) that can overwhelm even this – with love, purity, and peace.

Remember, God is All. Not mostly all, not sharing its allness with another power (then it wouldn’t be All, would it?). But God is it. Love is it. To the chaos of strife, we have a way out. And it is all powerful.

If war is about limitation, then our remedy is to be open and expectant of breakthrough, of infinite possibilities, giving our consent to see new solutions. Even now, our recognition of the power of good and creative solutions can help silence despair, apathy or the thought of escalating and inevitable conflict.

If war is about divisions between nations, within nations, within communities, families and within the self ( soldiers with mental illnesses, etc.), our antidote is to strive for unity and peace within our own communities and families, and then pray with that same ideal for our nation, all nations; understand that the potential for peace is inherent in each of us. The Bible states: “The kingdom of God is within you.” The loudest chaos starts to lose its influence with our own prayer of "Peace, be still."

If war brings about depravity, death, destruction, despair, we counter that nightmare by waking up to the reality of Truth. Mary Baker Eddy writes,

Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals, and truth will become still clearer as error is self-estroyed.

To be expectant for the stirrings of peace to breakthrough the hypnotism of war, I found these ideas helpful:

• Be open to possibilities for breakthrough.
• Set your heart higher than the outcome of the war.
• There is no terror, no darkness that cannot be removed by the light.

So long as the arguments of war rest on human power and control, resources and entitlement, war will continue. We need a radically spiritual view – something above the physical – a metaphysical perspective. We start with God, our Father-Mother God – and we understand that we are made in His image and likeness.

The way to win a war is to go to the source of all harmony and love, that is God. Lean on God, yield to God’s power, surrender to God’s will - not on a sense of personal power, either good OR evil– only the power of God, the power of good.

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations.” It isn’t that we need others to believe in the way we believe, but that we need to understand God as infinite - -- bigger than any culture or denomination and the source of intelligent strength and care.

Only when we get a glimpse of this infinite source of tenderness and might, can we begin to sort out the issues of war.

When we pray for the end of war, we are praying to see the world as governed by God. To be able to see others as God sees them. Aligning our thought with the law of God, we take that one step that claims peace is possible, right here and right now.

Other helpful resources:

• Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler
• Christian Science Journal, November 2006 issue on Religious Warfare - what's the answer? (Available at your local Christian Science Reading Room)

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 son, Gabe)