saving Rocket J. Squirrel

Spiritual resource to share: choosing life

I saved a life last week. And it felt so good. The whole incident was a reminder of another one of life's lessons to choose life.

I was taking a little hike when I saw a little life form on the ground. Black, with a long tail and large disproportionate feet, this little guy must have fallen about 2-1/2 stories from above and landed in the gravelly path. He was struggling to take a breath every 5 seconds or so.

As I ran back to my car, the thought came that this little animal was not going to make it. Even when I got back to him, he seemed to have stopped breathing. Right then, I knew I had a choice --- and I chose to see life. Regardless of what the physical picture looked like, I decided that I was going to help.

I scooped him up and placed him in the warm folds of my towel. He wasn't larger than my hand. I decided to take him to our local wildlife hospital where he would be appropriately cared for. During the trip I sang songs about life, old tried and true hymns that have been sung for generations, like "Oh Life that maketh all things new...." and "I know no life divided ....from Thee..."

When I got to the wildlife hospital, the little guy looked the same. The staff took him and immediately identified him as a 2 week old baby black squirrel. They poked him and he reacted. They poked again. Another reaction. They looked for injury and finding none, put him in an incubator. They felt he would come around. They assured me that they would simply keep him warm, clean and hydrated. A few days later, I called back and learned that he was doing great and would be weaned and running in the wild in about 5 weeks.

What strikes me about this incident is that even though I didn't know that recuperation from a major fall was likely, I did know that I had a choice in how I could view the matter. I did know that life is indestructible. MBEddy's comment was particularly helpful:

All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible.

For another sweet story on the healing of a hummingbird, visit buddy blogger Kate's site.














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 God at hand

Spiritual resource to share: God's ever-presence

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord.

Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. - Jeremiah

I have been thinking about this blog ever since I read about Mother Teresa's "crisis in faith" that chronicles her most intimate fear and despair, feeling that God did not show Himself to her once she took up the work with the poor. Now there is much to be said about this, and many questions I have about the ethics of publishing some of what Mother Teresa had to say. But the idea that has continued to egg me on to write this blog is the one that suggests that it is possible for anyone or everyone to feel a great gulf between God -the source of all good - and oneself.

I can't think of any single experience more difficult to deal with than this thought of separation. After a drawn out and difficult situation I was in, I felt this disconnect and it took me a long time to crawl out of it to the place where I am now - understanding that we can never be separated from God.

I'll share a couple of things I learned from this experience:

• I am worthy of love.
• God is always present; that means that a connection with God is always present.
• It is only fear or pride that would try to tempt us that we have lost our connection to God.

God cannot be outlined; when I pray, it is helpful for me not to outline how I want God to speak to me! Instead, I listen. God's presence can be felt in a memory that comes to me, a friend's communication, time spent outdoors appreciating nature, a thought that comes while I'm walking the dog, writing, driving, etc.

God can speak to each of us audibly as well. At different times in my life, I have heard, in answer to my prayer, the words, "Go this way" (when I was lost and alone in Central America); "Shutup!" (in answer to a rather self-centered and whiny prayer) and "You are dearly loved" (in response to a prayer where I was struggling with overload and anxiety and needing direction). For me, this audible response doesn't always happen, and I have learned to not limit God's voice to only one way.

There are times when I feel I am not getting any response. In those moments, I have found it helpful to know that those desires have been posted and trust the all-knowing Mind to already be operating on my behalf. Right now (because God is always loving and caring for His creation) progress is continuing, divine Love is supplying and Principle's laws are in operation. With this, I can take whatever steps I feel are a result of my highest sense of right and trust any necessary adjustments to God.

We are never alone. Jesus' promise "The kingdom of God is within you" is not a pantheistic claim, but a present fact that God is as close to us as our breath. Because God is, we are and because we are, God is. To Mother Teresa, whose work inspired a world to be more selfless and to love and serve one another, I hope that she will feel that love and closeness to God is still there.

See also Laura's blog about this same issue.







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.

delete - permanent trash - spam guard

Spiritual resource to share: removing obstacles and affirming what is true






A couple of quotes from my favorite author, MBEddy:

"But the pursuit of modern material inventions?"
"Oh, we cannot oppose them. They all tend to newer, finer, more etherealized ways of living. They seek the finer essences. ..... We use them, we make them our figures of speech. They are preparing the way for us." (from Miscellany, p. 35)

AND juxtaposing that with this one:

"Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously."

So now, we have a new way of looking at ways we can "stand porter."



When a thought comes, tempting us to doubt, be dishonest, think less than well of others, etc. we can choose to thoroughly eradicate it by

• deleting it: no need to go into the details of how it has been programmed, how long or short it has been, where it has originated -- just press "delete"
• permanent trash: confirm file delete - go after it and confirm that it has been deleted; empty out all the trash permanently. Trust that this is the end of that thought.
• Spam Guard: be alert to other similar thoughts that try to sneak into consciousness. Trust the protection that God has given us to "rise in the strength of spirit to overome all that is unlike God."
  

Now the fun and wonderful part - admitting only those thoughts that are good, enduring, spontaneous and brilliant. Nothing can stand in the way of a thought filled with these truths!

(yes, I know. The picture is so clichẻ.)



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.

two years of blogging!

Spiritual resource to share: exchanging ideas

This just in from a friend:

Hi Kim,Well, I feel like we've had a good chat -- listening to your thoughts and counsel and delights tonight has been a real treat!

Well, now it has been TWO YEARS of blogging!! I love this activity. I have gotten to know so many people through blogging - and it is like having a good chat when I read others' blogs, comments on my blogs - and most wonderful of all - get to talk with those who have been introduced to me through my blog.

So, in celebration, here is one of my very first blogs entitled: Playing

I tell this story so much that my sons roll their eyes when I tell it to someone in their presence. Although they have heard it a gazillion times, it still holds fresh lessons for me.

This is the story. Gabe (at 4 years old) had a bad earache/infection. I was praying for healing, praying and affirming God's allness and the powerlessness of illness to harm Gabe, when Micah (at 6 years old) came to the door. I asked him to help me pray. He waited about two seconds, said okay and then said 'Gabe, let's go play!!'

Gabe immediately woke, his ear totally cleared up. Both boys then ran into the next room where they proceeded to jump up and down on our guest bed.

After a while I joined them. I asked Gabe how his right ear was and he said fine. I asked him how his left ear was and he said fine, then went back to the business of jumping.

When I asked Micah how he prayed he told me that "God gave me His playing thoughts."

Micah knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God made us to play. Nothing could convince him otherwise. Nothing could stand in the way of that clear truth. Although my sons are much older now, I continue to draw lessons from this wonderful healing.

We are made to play. Our Father/Mother God did not make us to suffer, God made us to jump up and down. God made us in His image and likeness, perfect, whole and entire.

Play (in a very unplayful analysis) is about engagement, presentness and adventure. I once attended an educational conference on play. The speaker, Herb Brokering, started off with an umbrella, a brick and a plastic flower or some other obscure thing on the stage. It was a widely disjointed talk, at times even silly and I found myself getting irritated. But as his presentation went on, there was also something magic in what he was saying. He kept talking, weaving stories and anecdotes along the way. Toward the end, he got us all to sing a beautiful lilting tune.

He had invited us all to come to a place of playing. Here was this huge auditorium of students and professionals all singing. It was almost hushed and reverent tone. And we were quietly happy. We were remembering what it was like to play. We were all made vulnerable a bit, being caught with one another playing. It was delightful!

Those experts of play - children - are showing us the way back to play. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, - this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony.

In the book of Matthew of the New Testament, Christ Jesus says,

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

So I think that playing is about dropping pretension. Play is selfless and is about the serious business of discovery. It's about being open to new possibilities, about connecting to very different things and laughing that things do connect in surprising ways. Play brings us home to who we really are. And in healing, who we really are is God's perfect and play-full child.







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.

Seeing as God sees

Spiritual resource to share: loving each other

There is a discipline I am always working on: to be able to see others as God sees them. There seems to be no higher way of loving one another than to practice this over and over until it is comes easily and effortlessly. It comes out of an explanation given in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.

Imagine with me, the ability to truly see others in this way. And to realize the healing power this carries! Of course, this is easy to do with friends who are wonderful, children who are brilliant and colleagues who are witty and kind (all of whom I have blogged about at one time or another). But when the other person is less than enamored with you, well, that's another story.

The scenario was that I was to be married. One of the family members (his side) was not happy at all. However, the wedding took place and so did the patient and persistant effort to see this person as God did.

In this space I had to see that my self-justification had to be ruled out, as did trying to withhold affection. It was impossible to ignore this person although I did try avoidance, arguments, and stony silence. Of course, none of these things helped one bit.

What did help was to keep finding those things that were Christlike in this person. I would do this even though I was tempted to indulge in some of those things mentioned above. Soon, it got easier and easier to sees this person as Christlike. Soon, I was defending this person when I heard an unkind comment. It was getting easier to see in this person the qualities of dedication, loyalty, fairness and commitment. I was also sharpening my ability to separate the wheat from the tares, and not get caught up in arguments.

Years later, we got an unexpected check from this person with a note that this gift was given to all the children when they got married, and in a gracious way, we were to get this check now.

This relationship continues to get better. And so does my quest to continue to see others as God sees them. To me, it is the key to loving one another - whatever the circumstances may be.

There is a beautiful song by Mindy Jostyn, In His Eyes, that inspires me each time I hear it. Click here to hear a clip.

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.

wherever you go, there you are

Spiritual resource to share: sense of self

As some of you may recall, about 2-3 years ago, a number of my colleagues, myself included, were laid off. We scattered far and wide - throughout the rural, suburban and urban areas of the US, Europe and Canada and Mexico. As many of us are still in touch, it is fascinating to see where we have all landed. People have started businesses or new jobs, gotten into the Christian Science practice, have become parents, and have started blogging....and more!

So after a period of transition, we are all in a very new place. So what is the lesson here? For me, it was to find that - like the title - wherever I go, there I am. And because I am there, God is there. We are inseparable.

Stripping away one's sense of identity from a specific job, a lifestyle, a geographical location, a family arrangement - can be a terribly de-nuding experience! It demands the question be asked - who are you and what defines you?

Here are some fav quotes from MBEddy that help to answer that question:

Goodness never fails to receive its reward, for goodness makes life a blessing. As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each ....rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing. -Miscellaneous Writings, p. 165

Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.

Principle is not to be found in fragmentary ideas. The material body and mind are temporal, but the real man is spiritual and eternal. The identity of the real man is not lost, but found through this explanation; for the conscious infinitude of existence and of all identity is thereby discerned and remains unchanged. It is impossible that man should lose aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his.

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.

Tribute

Spiritual resource to share: loving each other

Just today, I got a call from my cousin letting me know that her father-in-law passed on earlier that night. To me, he was Pop - a mentor, friend and one who got me started in making Christian Science my own.

A few months ago, he and his wife and I took a trip and I blogged it. It was delightful. Here is the blog - revisited.

I love Pop. A born salesman and natural healer, he has been healing through Christian Science prayer way before I was born. He just shines on everyone he meets. He loves everyone - with a little laughter, good natured joking and a wiser-beyond-years knowing that we are all children of God. You feel good just being in his presence.

I had occassion to be with him and his new wife of two years, and, as a gift to them and to chip away at an indebtedness to Pop for helping me get my footing in Christian Science decades ago, I drove him and his new wife through three states, as they went visiting friends and family.

Most delightful was when Pop would read from the Bible and Science and Health during our long drives from one stop to another. He would read with such passion, such commitment, that at times, he would get teary, and I would get teary, as he hurrahed at what Zechariah had accomplished, or how MBEddy would develop her reasoning on God's omnipotence, or how it was explained that the whole reason for living was for God's glory. Ahhh!! This is the type of reading that heals.

This is the way Pop read, how he greeted people, and how he told stories. Over the top, maybe. But how alive!

A visit from Pop has filled me up, made me smile (and all its derivatives - giggle, guffaw, laugh, chuckle, etc) and given me some good inspiration to last a lifetime.

For another tribute, see Sandi's blog.

transitions

Spiritual resource to share: gratitude

Tom's Burned Out Cafe on Madeline Island

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle." James Keller

"The law of gravity cannot be held accountable for people falling in love." A. Einstein

"Your silence will not protect you." Audre Lorde

"If you harbour bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere."

And on and on and on. My family and I spent our last summer weekend biking and camping at Madeline Island and stopped at Tom's Burned Down Cafe before taking the ferry back to the mainland, and then back home. Tom's Burned Down Cafe is a piece of work - a northwoods tavern littered with the wisdom, satire and bloopers of the ages written all over its walls, bars, chairs and tables (see samples above). It was a fitting end to a full weekend and to a summer full of its own wisdom, satire and bloopers!

Really, it was a great summer. We all stretched - traveled farther than we have ever traveled, challenged ourselves beyond limits, stretched our budget, and stretched our ideas of what is possible in our lives. Mmmm....Wonderful.

So now, we are faced with moving forward to school, work schedules and a more regular rhythm of life.

In this transition time, I am so grateful for the summer. The good experienced and the spiritual growth gained will only continue. That is simply the nature of good and spiritual growth. Gratitude is so good for transition times.

I remember another major transition I went through a couple of years ago. For over a year, people at my work were being laid off, and it looked likely that my job would be cut as well. For more than a year, I started the practice of going to bed listing everything I was grateful for.

These gratitude sessions would be specific, and I would count the spiritual impulse behind each one of them. For instance, I was grateful for a specific project that I was on, because it taught me more about trust and patience than I had ever experienced. I was grateful that both our sons had made good friends, so they knew how to adjust to new situations and find that fun and loving companionship is everywhere. I was grateful for meeting so many people earnestly seeking out spiritual answers in their lives. I learned more about humility and universal brotherly love.

In practicing this gratitude, I was literally lifted above any kind of anxiety. I was so clear about God's progressive goodness, that there was no doubt that this progressive goodness would continue.

It turned out that I was laid off. But within about two weeks, my family and I found another home across the country, were able to sell our home and set ourselves up with new work.

How have you prayed during transitions in your life? This is a question being posed on spirituality.com's weekly question. Check out other's responses or add your own!




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 contagious nature of unselfishness

Spiritual resource to share: letting go




This little story has been making the rounds on the 'net. It's a tearjerker. But one that inspires me to go a little farther with others in being kind and doing good things. It demonstrates these ideas of MBEddy when she writes:

If only the people would believe that good is more contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence .... (then) would faith in the power of God to heal and to save mankind increase, until the whole human race would become healthier, holier, happier, and longer lived. (Miscellaneous Writings p. 229)

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"


The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physi cally and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."


Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.


Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."


Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.


In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.


In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?


Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.


However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.


The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.


Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.


Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.


Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay" Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"


As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.


"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world." Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!







Thanks to the lovely LL for sharing this story!
Bottom drawing "Baseball Love" from breathingplanet.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.

when the desire to have a baby hits....

Spiritual resource to share: trust

I have had this conversation with mothers countless times. It goes like this: The woman wants to have a baby and tries everything she and her husband know to make this come about. When it doesn't happen, efforts are redoubled, new processes are introduced, and a period of grieving follows when the pregnancy doesn't come about. Then there is some letting go of this effort, adoption is considered or the idea is abandoned. Then, the woman gets pregnant.

A friend and I were laughing about this over the weekend. Both of us had this experience before getting pregnant with our firstborns. And we asked ourselves - what is it about letting go that seemed so powerful?

When I think of this, I'm reminded about a quote from Science and Health:

Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.

Now the interesting thing is that some of the women went on from this experience to be mothers. Others went on to "mother" inspiring projects or careers. In each case, the desire was met in a most fitting and totally satisfying way for each particular person.

Being clear about what was being cherished becomes a prayer - and in these cases, it's an earnest plea to see the mothering qualities of comforting, creating, defending, loving and nourishing to take a front seat in our lives. As this desire loses its human trappings ( like - I want a baby at this time, to have my physical characteristics, etc.) it rises up to a level more unselfish, more receptive, and more at peace. We add to that a new level of trust in God. It becomes clear that God is good and has only good in store for us.

With this state of thought, one is more open to the infinite ideas of mothering available to all. And being unconditionally open to the idea of mothering, we receive according to our asking.

It is a wonderful lesson for all those moments when we are in such earnest about a desire.








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.