What is your name? - revisited

Spiritual resource to share: your nature


What is in a name? I remember choosing the names of my kids before they were born. We carefully considered every nuance of the possible names and their meanings, linked them to some family history, some inspired moments, weighed their sound and so on. I yelled them out to hear how it would sound when we would call them, whispered the names to hear how it would sound when we would talk softly. We put a lot into their names.

At a recent community meeting, a number of us have been gathering to heal a racial rift in the community that has been going on for decades. One Anishinabe who was at the meeting shared something very helpful - about where he came from, and about how his nation is named - and how this name brings honor and dignity.

He also asked us why we thought Indians were called Indians? We answered that the common thought is that when Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, that he thought that he had landed in India or the West Indies (we were mixed on that account), and so the indigenous population were called Indians.

He was raised with the explanation his grandmother gave him. That Colombus was enchanted with the richness and spirtuality of the native population and brought some of the people back with him. When he presented the people to the Queen, she asked who they were. His answer gave the name commonly used today. He said "Una gente en Dios." This means "A people in God." The "en Dios" stuck and the name Indians is derived from that. (Academics confirm this.)

What is in a name? It is a way of identifying who we are and what we are made of. So the basis of a name, in its spiritual sense, is how we are known spiritually.

I have felt such inspiration from knowing that we are made in the image and likeness of God. So, it follows that God knows Her own creation. God knows our nature, maintains our identity and we reflect in infinite ways, the infinite range of Love, Truth and goodness.


God knows us and calls us by our names, our spiritual nature. Even if we feel that we have been misunderstood, ignored, targeted or mistaken for someone else, it is a comfort to know that we are known, deeply, spiritually and eternally for who we are.


The Bible sings this out beautifully:

Isa 43:1 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

Ps 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

those things that never change

Spiritual resource to share: constancy





I have just read a thoughtful article “Oldest Holocaust survivor tells a story of faith and courage that's out of the ordinary.” It’s about Leopold Engleitner, considered the oldest Holocaust survivor today. His recent appearance at the Frankfurt International Book Fair brought further attention to the life of an ordinary man made extraordinary under extreme conditions.

The one constant throughout his life, whether it was making skiis, being a farmer, or living in a concentration camp, was his love for God and his love for honesty and goodness.

“Darkness cannot put out the Light. It can only make God brighter” wrote an unknown author. And this was the case for Leopold. Many of us will never experience the extreme conditions that he did. But his experience showed me how important it is to nurture those elements of love that he did throughout his life: to love one’s work, to care for the details, to stand up for honesty, to have integrity, to do good things.

Each of life’s experiences will draw out from us our reservoir of spiritual qualities whose source is God. Those spiritual qualities make up who we are. They are changeless. And whether we have a high profile life whose actions will impact many or have a quiet life with more modest aims, we can always base our actions on this reservoir of spiritual qualities. And it is our practice of these spiritual qualities that makes us ready and able to meet any of life’s challenges, however big or small.







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 are here

Spiritual resource to share: your place in the world

A little boy was once asked: "How do you know that God is here?" And he answered, "Well, because I 'm here!" I love that confidence in the inseparability of God and us!

MBEddy writes "As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being."

So where does this idea leave us? That we are in our right place. Why? Beause the omnipresent God is in Her right place and we are never separated from God.

We are always in our right place. That means that we have all we need where we are. So every opportunity for growth and every need for living is present right where we are. And, if these things don't appear, we will be removed from that situation and placed in a situation where growth and supply are available.

So not only are we assured we are never separated from God, but that it is confirmed that we have a purpose as well. Just as the number "42" always is in its right place in the numeric system, so does it also serve its purpose in keeping the whole numeric system working. Likewise, we are distinct and in our right place. Our purpose is to glorify God, in Her full expression. Each of us is needed to express the complete spectrum of God's goodness, intelligence and grace.

Our purpose is maintained by God and we are able to answer the question, "What am I?" with this response: "I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing." (from The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany p. 165.) And another fav from the Bible:

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

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.

first snowfall

Spiritual resource to share: redemption



Last night it fell -- all over our yard, driveway, rooftops, everywhere. I woke up to see this perfect blanket of snow. "The first snowfall always makes me feel as if we are all redeemed," said a friend once, and I am reminded of it every first snowfall of the season.

I am reminded of God's love for each of us. "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." I am reminded that there is a tender loving kindness that is all powerful - God. God draws us to Him.

In the Lord's Prayer there is a section that says:

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;

Mary Baker Eddy gives its spiritual sense and writes:

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

God has created us in Love. God would no more lead us into temptation as Love would lead us to death. God's love for us continually guides us. And we are all redeemed: forgiven, loved, cleansed -- white as snow.



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.

Our life as art

Spiritual resource to share: our calling

Cori (CB) and Regula and friend making books

We just had our second Science and Health discussion group meeting tonight. A question popped up about the necessity of problems - how they provide a necessary incentive to understand God more. One thought is that without problems, we would not want to take the time to explore what it means to be spiritual.

Although I wholeheartedly agree that problems have often catapulted me into understanding more about God, there was something about dignifying problems in this way that didn't sit right with me.

I think that there is something spiritually innate in us all, and that we are called to bring that forth in our lives. Ultimately, our purpose is not to overcome problems, but to glorify God. When problems show up, we get rid of them. The problem itself doesn't come because: we are not spiritual enough, we are being punished for bad thinking, or we need a boost to get us moving in the direction of God. A problem is a distraction from our calling and the whole purpose of the problem is to be corrected. It doesn't define us or confine us!

It is as if we have been given the full spectrum of colors on a palette and a blank canvas. We are free to create. If a bee comes by (aka the problem), we need to get rid of it, so that we can do what we were made to do.

I talked to my husband (an artist blacksmith) and a friend (a bookmaker) and saw how clear it was to them that they were called to do their work. They deal with whatever distractions may arise, but they have a clear focus on their calling and what their work is all about. They play with spiritual ideas and give them a tangible form. And there is great joy in this!

My husband shared: "Sometime in my late thirties, I did a little blacksmithing and the whole world opened up. It felt like I was coming home to something that just made sense. It is hard not to follow a path when it calls to you so strongly ---- and it is fun."

My friend Cori has been an artist of various mediums forever. She always stretches my ideas of things, like what it means to read a book. In her bookmaking work, she finds poems and prose and works with other artists to bring out the meaning of the words in a visual way and then makes the book become an interactive experience. Who would have thought that a book can be the vehicle - the context - for a poem?


It's easy to see that we are all called to be artists of sorts: of healing, of parenting, of planning, as well as of metal, of books and of color. I can see more clearly what Mary Baker Eddy says when she writes:
"Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply, — to manifest His power. Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection."

In answer to the question "What am I?" comes a response that could be true of all who are folowing their calling: "I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing."*

*First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, p. 165
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.

God sees us as the complete package

Spiritual resource to share: our purpose

scene from the Keweenaw Peninsula

When I get involved in another's life, even for a short time, I get inspired for all the good God has for us to do - and the infinite ways in which each of our life's purposes play out.

My family and I traveled to the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan to help my cousin prepare for her gallery/Open house this last weekend. In thinking about those two days, I am happy and in awe of how complete a picture her life is. And in thinking about this, it reminds me of how God must see all of us - complete, whole and entire - wanting for nothing, and capable of expressing the full spectrum of what is wonderful and good.

J's life is expansive and cutting edge: she has authored a few books on technology and culture, given talks in different parts of the world, and is a university professor and an artist.

Her husband, K, is an amazing craftsman and natural builder - having built the family house from a plan he drew on a piece of board. The entire house is beautiful, makes efficient use of space, light and energy, was made by friends from local materials. K can tell you the history and qualities of the ceiling's beams, how he found the knotted woods on the stairs.

The home is full of K's furniture, J's artwork and books, piles and shelves of books, everywhere. And then there's the herb garden, the draft horses, the chickens, the acreage...... a complete package of sustainability, balance and fun. These two have committed their lives to have a balance of high tech and no tech/ to be sustainable/to celebrate what is beautiful and functional in life/to celebrate community. It is so very cool!!

When we got to their house, we were immediately woven into their preparations for the big event. I got scooped up to help prepare the yard and some of the food. The boys were called on to help bale hay with the promise of a short swim in the river afterwards. We all worked hard, ate well and had a very successful Open house.

I'm inspired again to see how complete each of us are. I believe in God that is universal. I don't try to fit what little I understand into a definition of God that I can carry around with me and drop into terse little conversations. I believe in God who is Love and is all-powerful and includes all. So my understanding of God is constantly growing. And as God is eternal, I expect my understanding will just keep growing - forever.

Because I believe we are made in the image and likeness of God - my understanding of myself and others will keep pace with what I understand about God, and so it will keep growing. And I suppose I will continue to be in awe of other's lives who play out their theme - their complete package - of what the infinite God has created us all to be infinitely.

In a letter to a student, MBEddy wrote

We must rejoice that our God is good, universal and eternal. This God can sustain you, qualify you and direct you in this great undertaking.

We are all made for great "undertakings." And it just makes me want to dance when I can see that in myself and see it in others.

picture taken from Michigan Tech 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.

for the love of good, hard work

Spiritual resource to share: diligence

My years of studying dance instilled in me a love of hard work. The hard work of dance starts small. Attention to detail is realized in the working, stretching and toning every muscle. Then the next step is to bring it into the discipline of the choreagrapher's creative phrases of movement. And finally, blending that together with the movements of other dancers and music, and voila! you end up with a performance!

So this cold and sunny morning, looking out my window at the melting snow and barely visible buds on my trees, I am reminded that in my morning prayer, I start small with a humble heart. Prayer (that open, receptive connection to all that is Good) leads me upward and onward through the day. Throughout the day I am weighing my thoughts, discarding what is not progressive, taking in what is good. My whole day is an active expression of forward movement, revealing more about God and myself each step. I am mindful to do God's will, follow Her choreagraphy, blend it with others. Soon the day is full of opportunities.

Here are some morning thoughts:

In the figurative transmission from the divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand hills." They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and keep pace with highest purpose.

...prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth.

Be of good cheer; the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you, — and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory. -Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy 118:24

...but to begin aright and to continue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of being, is doing much.

Have a good week!


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.

we are the ones

spiritual resource to share: your "deep gladness"



I saw this quote on the banner of Spirit on the Job's website recently: "The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." (F. Buechner)

God is calling us all to act. In fact, I believe that we are each born with a mission, we are each born with a role to play in loving God (magnifying good, beauty, and intelligence) and loving one another.

But how do we approach our life's mission? How do we even get the courage and confidence to deal with our own dilemmas, let alone global issues? You may think you have nothing to give. Mary Baker Eddy answers this very question in her book Pulpit and Press (p.4).

Perchance some one of you may say, "The evidence of spiritual verity in me is so small that I am afraid....Because of my own unfitness for such a spiritual animus my strength is naught and my faith fails." O thou "weak and infirm of purpose." Jesus said, "Be not afraid"!

"What if the little rain should say, 'So small a drop as I can ne'er refresh a drooping earth, I'll tarry in the sky.'"

Is not a man metaphysically and mathematically number one, a unit, and therefore a whole number, governed and protected by his divine Principle, God? You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this. Then you will find that one is as important a factor as duodecillions in being and doing right, and thus demonstrating deific Principle.

Last year we saw almost unprecedented giving by the world's wealthiest and famous towards the elimation of national and global concerns. This is giving big time - making a huge impact - the "duodecillions."

But what do we do -- those of us with far less material wealth?

"Ye are the light of the world." Christ Jesus assures us.

Remember the story in 2004 about the school girl in Indonesia during the tsunami? She saw the water recede very quickly from the beach resort in Indonesia where her family was vacationing. She remembered from her schooling that these were the signs of an impending tsunami. She quickly told her parents, who warned the authorities and they cleared the beach in time to save hundreds of people.

The backstory is that she was taught by teachers. Her community felt it was important that girls have access to schools. Something in her upbringing gave her the confidence to share this news. Her parents knew that something could be done. There were authorities who trusted their citizens and would listen to them and then, they took action and evacuated the area.

So -- it was the enlightened community that produced schools, the dedicated teachers who taught, the authorities who listened, the parents who raised a confident child, and the little girl who had the courage to speak up - each one had a role in doing something that was life-saving.

Noble efforts have humble beginnings.

What can one person do? Apply what you know. Love others.


The brother of a very dear friend of mine did just this. Rippan Kapur started an organization to help underprivileged children in India with 50 rupees, and 5 other friends sitting around his mother's kitchen table. Soon, Child Rights and You (CRY) was born. And it grew. And not surprising. Godlike qualities of unselfishness, compassion and intelligent care have the natural capacity to multiply.

His example, and thousands others like it humbly get us to ask ourselves if there is more we can do. Sometimes this comes as gentle nudging. Other times it comes to us like a preacher on fire.

A couple of years ago Jim Wallis gave a talk on "Building Global Justice: We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For" at Stanford. Here is an excerpt:

Now at the beginning of a new century and millennium, I see a new generation of young activists coming of age and committing themselves to build global justice. A rock star, a Chancellor, and young people across the world are all talking about globalization, HIV/AIDS, and reducing global poverty - and all in the prophetic voice of Micah.

I am convinced that global poverty reduction will not be accomplished without a spiritual engine, and that history is changed by social movements with a spiritual foundation. That's what's always made the difference - abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, civil rights - they were social movements, but they had a spiritual foundation.

This will be no different.

We are spiritual. The work that we do comes from the spiritual qualities we express. Out of this spiritual mix of compassion, genius, love, and responsibility, we get innovative groups from the likes of KIVA - a microfinancing internet opportunity which allows people to get involved in supporting small businesses in developing countries for as little as $25 to the mega-group like Clinton Global Initiative dealing with many global concerns to which millions of dollars have been donated.

Each unselfish act - as gentle as the encouragement given to a friend - moves us all forward. It builds a spiritual foundation where more and more good works thrive. We are the ones who can share our deep gladness with others -- and everyone is blessed!

Photos by cry.org; Child's art by Radhika Mehra-11yrs

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

50 is now the new 30

Spiritual resource to share: agelessness

(Please note: both of the people in this picture are 30 years old.*)

Perceptions on aging are in a state of flux right now.

You have probably heard that, today, someone 50 years old is now similar in many ways to what a 30 year old used to be. So, if 50 is the new 30, what does 30 mean? The new ten? What about about ten year olds? Isn't the thought that kids are growing up too fast? Does this mean that everyone reaches 30 years old faster than usual, and then stays there for about 20 - 25 years?

And as populations the world over deepen their spiritual quest, a firmer belief in eternal life takes hold. But is life is eternal, where does that put middle age?

Okay, this may all sound like something from Jerry Seinfeld reruns, but it does kick off some wonderful thinking on aging. We readily acknowledge the wisdom of children and people rocking at 80, so old perceptions on aging are due for an extreme makeover.

Mary Baker Eddy shares these inspiring thoughts about aging:

The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.

Never record ages. Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.

(*Not really. Photo from 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.