Pages

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Divine Economy

Spiritual resource to share: church service

From time to time I volunteer to help with a conference call testimony meeting, in which people from all over the United States, and others from various parts of the world, can call up and have a virtual church experience! Here we have a brief sermon based on a topic chosen by the Reader. (In this case, I have chosen the topic of the divine economy, using the 23rd Psalm as the centerpiece of the readings from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.)

You can get more information by going to this site: http://www.csinteractivechurch.org/service-wed.html. You can also listen to the service on csdirectory's audio archive at http://www.csinteractivechurch.org/wed-audio-archive.html.

Here are the citations I used for the service:

Section 1 - no lack
Ps. 23:1
Phil. 4:19
John 6:5-14
SH 206:15
494: 10-15
SH 60:29

Section 2 - restoration
Ps 23: 2,3
Ps. 1:1-6
Job 33:4
Eph. 5:14
SH 593:9
518: 13
162: 4-28
423:8-26

Section 3: no evil
Ps 23: 4, 5 (to :)
Ps 139: 1-18
596: 20-27
151:18
228:20
SH 103:20-23 (to .)
327:17

Section 4: our permanent home
Ps 23: 5 , 6
Luke 12:32
Ps. 90:1
John 14:2, 12
Rom. 8:28
Acts 17:28
SH 254:31
SH 58:21
15: 25-30
3: 4-26
SH 261:4
578: 4-18










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.

Friday, May 15, 2009

The loveliness of "Let" - revisited

spiritual resource to share: yielding


I was reading Science and Health this morning and came across this quote,

"Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love - the kingdom of heaven - reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear."
It was the "Let" that got me.

"Let" is such a welcoming word. It can mean to actively cause to happen, consent to and leave unchanged. Pretty broad definition. Other favorite "lets":

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Let there be light.
Let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace.
Letting is a yielding to a fixed principle of Love - consenting to that which is unchanged.

Years ago, I had a major let experience that showed me how freeing it is to "let go and let God."

I had been traveling in Central America and was supposed to meet my boyfriend at the very beginning of my trip. So many goof-ups and missed communications happened that after almost a month, we still hadn't connected and I was getting anxious and frustrated.

Finally, I was settled in one location and planned to be there for a long time, living with a local family. Plans (again) were made to meet him at the bus station at a certain time. The bus came and he wasn't on it. That's when I lost it. Storming home in a cloud of anger and frustration, I couldn't even think clearly until I got into my room. There I pulled out my Bible, my Science and Health, my book of poems and starting diving into them as a way to calm down.

I don't quite remember what I read, but I do recall a strong thought coming to me saying "If it isn't God's will, you don't want it to happen." Well, of course! I reasoned, if it isn't God's plan that we are to meet, then there is nothing I can do to make it happen. And if it is God's will, then there is nothing I can do to prevent it from happening. I had to let go of all my plans and hopes and really put it in God's hands ( where it already was any how). I had given my consent to the fixed principle that God governs every aspect of my life. What a relief!

The next morning, I had no expectation other than God was directing me in the way most needed and I felt at such peace with that. I took my books to the central park of that city, and started to read my Bible lesson in the warm sun and bustling market. It was God's day and I was happy.

It wasn't long afterwards that I looked up and saw a bus. Strange, I thought, buses aren't supposed to be running at this time. But there, getting off the bus was my friend and his friend!

We were so happy to have finally connected. He and his friend got settled in a youth hostel, and we were able to have a wonderful time together.

But most wonderful was this important lesson about let. Our active yielding to God brings peace and we see how God's plan for us unfolds - in a much better way than we could ever plan. How lovely!







Please add your own comments or email this article to a friend.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Comment on posting of "Low, sad and sweet...."

Spiritual resource to share: others' comments

I so appreciated this comment on the posting earlier this week "Low, sad and sweet..." I wanted to share it with you all.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this Kim. Healings that need to come through tenderness are so profound and complete. Denying our emotions (or mixed emotions) and forcing change can be so jarring, but to let go of the sad feelings of saying goodbye, because we are ready to say goodbye, is so peaceful and affirms the value of that which we let go of!

There was an instrument especially popular with the American transcendentalists, I don't know what it was called, kind of a dulcimer, or box with strings across it. They would put it in the window and the wind blowing gently over it would produce a gentle sound, perhaps harmonics are in play - but the sounds were random and very bittersweet- like major and minor mixed together. I have heard one and it is intriguing. Perhaps this was the object that inspired MBEddy's use of metaphor here.







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.

Monday, May 11, 2009

"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.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

a story about a healing

Spiritual resource to share: humility

I had been struggling with an insistent back ache for three days which made driving, sleeping, walking all very difficult.

As I approached this situation prayerfully, I asked myself how much did I really know about God? I challenged myself to dig in deeper.

The more I understood God's supremacy, the more in awe I felt - similar to my time skiing on a mountain, when I took a tumble in the knee deep powder. The day was beautiful, my fall was cushioned ever so gently and the sky a wide expanse of blue. "We are loved more grandly than this." I thought.

The more I understood of God's authority, the more strength I felt - similar to the strength I feel when defending an injustice or the protection I see in the wild when mothers defend their young.

The more I understood about God's love, the more calm I felt - similar to the time I saw the Northern lights for the first time with my mom, dad and brothers. And the wonder and beauty of it seemed to include the whole earth.

As I was painfully driving up to meet with others for an all day meeting, I struggled with the idea that I might not make it through the day. At that point, I totally turned to God. "God, I cannot do this without you." It was a letting go, a total surrender. All of what I understand about God helped me to yield to a life force that is authoritatively loving and supremely good. I could not "make" this healing happen, but I could acknowledge that God and God's power is made known in our present experience, here and now.

When I got to the meeting place, my back was much improved. When the meeting started, I forgot about my back. By the time the shortened meeting was over three hours later, I was totally free.

One idea that has been so helpful over and over again is that prayer-based healing is not about human accomplishment, but about divine acknowledgement.







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.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Health now determined to be contagious - revisited

What would happen if you were to see this in your local paper's headlines? "Health now determined to be contagious."

Headlines are popping up about the swine flu. And there is a great fear of impending disaster. This has always been the case throughout history. It is easy to be manipulated when one is fearful about the unknown, about being separated from help and about being made vulnerable. It is enough to be scared out of knowing that we have what it takes to deal with these issues! So, how do we un-scare ourselves?

Most of us probably agree on the following:

  • Fear spreads disease and in many cases is the cause of disease. Even my one cousin (a medically trained doctor) said that about 90% of his cases come in because of stress, and another cousin (a hypnotherapist) said that most of her cases come in due to a fear of loneliness.
  • Loneliness, stress, fear, these are all mental causes to illness. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures over 125 years ago, “Sickness is a growth of error, springing from mortal ignorance or fear.” (p.188)
  • Health is natural. Even the body will fight disease in an effort to cure it.

But let’s take this a little farther. Mary Baker Eddy gives a brilliant look at contagion in an article aptly named Contagion. In it, she asks that “If only the people would believe that good is more contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how much more certain would be the doctor's success…”

Health is good. Health trumps illness. Health is from God and is powerful, self-creative and permanent. Health, like God, is eternal.

As children of God, we reflect the power of health, the ability to see and experience the fact that good overcomes illness. We can experience a release from fear and feel God's perfect love. “Perfect love casteth out fear" the Bible writes. God as Love tenderly cares for us. And the natural attraction of Love compels us all to share the truth that makes us free: Health is contagious.



For more discussion on the issue of ensuring healing and protection from swine flu and other contagious elements, please see spirituality.com.

Monday, April 27, 2009

nature's healing balm - revisited


Spiritual resource to share: stillness and awe


A friend and I were talking about a recent transition we had made. During that time, we both needed to find healing and a new direction. And we both took off to the outdoors to give ourselves a space to do so.

I have always found it nourishing and reaffirming to be out in the open prairie, or under a pitch black sky looking at the startling clarity of stars and planets. These are the things that prompt my thought to consider the largeness and tenderness of God.


But I also know that wherever I am, I have my thought. And thought can be aligned with God in any situation, under any condition, and in any place.

I love this prayer and promise from the Bible: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

The fortitude of mountains, the yielding and playful spontaneity of rivers, and the permanence of the very air we breathe teach us lessons about God. And the biggest lesson is that strength, spontaneity and permanence is everywhere God is, everywhere we are.

Click here for an incredible display of life on earth.

What prompts you to feel God's presence?



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!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

an honorable man is not so easily dismissed

Spiritual resource to share: integrity

Conserve School's values and operating principles

“The man of integrity is one who makes it his constant rule to follow the road of duty, according as Truth and the voice of his conscience point it out to him. He is not guided merely by affections which may some time give the color of virtue to a loose and unstable character.

”The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same, — at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.

“He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, — full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather fail of success than attain it by reproachable means. He never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another.”

From Miscellaneous Writings p. 147 by Mary Baker Eddy




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.

Monday, April 20, 2009

It's all about parenting......

Spiritual resource to share: the inspiration of friends





I loved this story that was embedded in a Christian Science practitioner's comments on a weekly Bible study. (Thank you, Janet Hegarty, C.S. of St. Louis, Missouri! To read her full comments, click here.)

One summer two robins built their nest on our back porch. It was fascinating to watch the nest come together and then, eventually, to see the baby birds appear. The tiny birds were well fed and carefully protected. They grew quickly and each day the nest became more crowded.

One morning we looked out the kitchen window and saw one of the young birds perched on the edge of the nest. As we watched, he eagerly flapped his wings and flew to a nearby branch and then he joyfully hopped about in the tree and continued to test out his flying skills. Soon, another young bird perched on the side of the nest and took flight, and then another.

The last bird, though, just couldn’t bring himself to take off. He perched on the side of the nest all right, but he just stayed there – for hours.

Out in the yard, the other young birds, under the watchful eyes of their parents, had made great progress with their flying skills.

About mid-afternoon, when the early flyers had gained their full independence, flying freely and finding their own food, the parents turned their attention to the little fellow still perched on the nest. The mother bird found a worm and sat on a branch in full view of the nest. Her message was clear, “This worm is for you, but only if you come and get it yourself.” Time passed, the mother bird didn’t give in, and at last the young bird gave his wings a try. The mother bird gave him his reward and then watched over him from a distance until he, too, had gained his full independence.

This scene illustrates the kind of loving persistence that our Father-Mother God showers on each of us as we work to discover who we really are. This is our probation, our time for trying our wings under the watchful eye of divine Love. And the good news is, this process continues to go on, even after what we call death, until each of us discovers and proves our true, perfect, spiritual selfhood.





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.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

more, more, more

Spiritual resource to share: being present




Have you ever thought that if you had more time, more faith, more money, then things would be better? This just might be a major distraction to what you already have!


More time
MBEddy defines time in part as a mortal measurement. So, do we need more mortal measurements? Hmmm.... probably not. Being present and being grateful for the moment, and improving this moment is all that is called for. You will find that right now, you have everything you need. And then you move from now, to now, to now. Moment by moment, you have the ideas you need and these give you the right supply.


More faith
Do you feel that if only you had more faith, then you would be healed, satisfied or guided rightly?
Ask yourself a different question: to what am I faithful?
In this moment, you are faithful to Truth, to Soul and to Mind. You are faithful to your understanding that God as Mind is always present, always moving intelligently and efficiently. You act according to your faith in God as Truth and rightfully reject any thought that obstructs healing. You move in relation to your faith in Soul, completely aware of the satisfying sense of beauty, balance and purity that permeate your life.

More money
The spiritual substance of money is value. And the recognition of value is tied to gratitude. A favorite hymn sings out "gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty." Gratitude for what we already have opens our eyes to see even more good and opens our thought to receive more.

MBEddy has this to say about more, more, more:


"Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have."*




*From the article on Angels in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 306





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.