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.

A new way of seeing

Spiritual resource to share: new ways of seeing

Annie Dillard writes in her chapter on "Seeing" in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek about a little girl who visits a garden for the first time since regaining her sight. "She is greatly astonished, and can scarcely be persuaded to answer, stands speechless in front of the tree, which she only names on taking hold of it, and then as 'the tree with the lights in it.'"

Changing her standpoint from being blind to being able to see, she experiences things in a fresh new way. All of a sudden, life gets bigger, broader, more beautiful. I see a parallel here! I think that this is what happens when we pray.

For instance, I went to pick up my mother for an evening event. She had been waiting half the day to tell me about her latest "Aha!" Finally, we had a moment and she shared an inspiring moment of understanding more about God. This opened up for her a whole new and helpful way of seeing things. "Enlightening, isn't it?" she winked.

Mary Baker Eddy explains this in Science and Health:

When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle. SH 322:4

For me, each healing I have had and each healing I work through with a patient, involves some type of shift in thought, "from the material to a spiritual basis." Each healing involves dropping a limited view of things for a clearer sense of what is real, substantial and lasting. The things that were limiting drop away, which is always a relief and expected, but this is really secondary.




The real story, the primary story, is that we get a better understanding of how God really operates. We get it. We understand more of the principles behind Christianity, behind Truth itself. And that is when life gets bigger, broader and more inclusive. And that illuminates our whole world.












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.