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.

totally, absolutely perfect - revisited

This blog was written close to a year ago. I have found myself going back to this blog many times - in fact, so many times, I thought it was worth a second viewing!

Spiritual resource to share: contemplation

I have been working this idea of what it means to be perfect over and over the last few weeks, so I thought I would share it here. Large as that idea is, I'll share just a few gleanings.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration." (From The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany p. 242:8 )

Accepting this and the principle that we are made in the image and likeness of God ( ie perfect), I reason that our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?
(This follows the format of "Perfect means….. So this means…. ")

Perfect means: Having all parts present………
So this means: YOU ARE WHOLE

Having everything that is required…………
YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Complete in moral excellencies…………….
YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect Love…………………………………
YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

Exactly fitting the need in every situation………….
YOU ARE IN YOUR RIGHT PLACE and SITUATION; YOU HAVE A MISSION AND PURPOSE IN LIFE

Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and WELL INFORMED

So when we work out a problem from the standard of perfection, we are not looking for perfect matter, but for that principle of harmony out of which all human activity is expressed. The starting point is not matter. The starting point is perfect God, perfect man.

For example - struggling to get to the right weight to look just perfect is very different from understanding that your very nature right now includes beauty, balance and radiance. Out of that understanding comes an expression that may come in any form, but beauty, balance and radiance will naturally be expressed.

The study and application of this idea goes on and on. (There simply is no end to understanding infinite God, infinite Truth, Life and Love!) I hope this gives you a thoughtful nudge to contemplate what is infinitely good and infinitely perfect in our lives today.







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, or email this article to a friend.