Complete. Perfect.

Spiritual resource to share: new-old inspiration
Well, this is my last in the series of "Complete" posts.  So to sum it all up, what does it mean to be complete? It has a lot to do with understanding that we are the expression of God, aka the children of God.

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), our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?

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

Perfect means: Having everything that is required…………
So this means: YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Perfect means: Complete in moral excellencies…………….
So this means: YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect means: Perfect Love…………………………………
So this means: YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

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

Perfect means: Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
So this means: YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and PURE

From this basis of wholeness, we can meet any challenge with increased confidence.  We have all we need to meet any discord, disease, or lack.  And that is something for which we can be completely grateful!

Bird. A prayer.

Spiritual resource to share:  everyday gratitude

The nieces come for a visit

We have a family prayer before dinner that we have been saying....well ever since we've become a family, so that's over 21 years ago.  It starts out by addressing our Father-Mother God, thanks the people who prepared the meal, thanks the land that produced the meal and in its grand finale, blesses everyone.

Now that our two sons are in college, we thought this might be a good time to update our prayer.  Enter my nieces: The eight year old twins and the four year old.  They spent a day and a night with us, full of exploring the marshy areas and the beach in our neighborhood.  They got their fill of frogs, toads, ducks, deer, fox, and all kinds of birds - which especially caught the attention of Sophie - the youngest.

That night we ate pizza and a salad (that the girls helped make with the brocoli and tomatoes they picked from our garden).  We ate outside on the deck, waiting for the hummingbirds and chickadees that regularly show up at this time.  I shared our family prayer, saying it slowly so that they would catch how full of gratitude and how inclusive it was, and how simple and direct it was. Then I asked them if they could update our family prayer.

Sophie said she had a prayer she wanted to share.  "All right Sophie, let's hear it."  I said.

"Bird."

"Is that it?"

"Yes.  Bird."

"I see."

There is a song I rarely sing from the Christian Science Hymnal.  It's Hymn 284 with words written by James Montgomery.  It seems to set up the criteria pretty well for what a prayer should be.

Prayer is the heart's sincere desire, 

Uttered or unexpressed;

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

And prayer's sublimest strain doth reach

The Majesty on high.

Sophie's prayer was all that.  It was eloquent, simple, and included what she was most passionate about that day, and it was a recognition of some of God's most gloriest stuff.

Bird.  Our new family dinner prayer. 

One of the many sources of inspiration for Sophie's prayer.

Complete. We have infinite value.

Spiritual resource to share: our own worthiness

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer the question:

Is there a belief that we are blameworthy or unworthy?

Feeling unworthy is a definite distraction to experiencing life fully.  So how does the idea that we are blameworthy or unworthy get traction in our thought?

Of course if you have committed a wrong, there is a need to correct that - and that is a big topic, worthy of its own blog posting - not to say its own sermon, book or seminar.  But I want to look at those times where there is a nagging doubt about one's own self-worth.

Much of Christendom relies on the Adam and Eve story in the book of Genesis to be the basis for their theology.  Modern day Eves operate on this paradigm that they did something wrong and deserve to be blamed, that they have set up the archetype of woman as temptress, and that they came to life only because their husbands sacrificed a rib for them.  Modern day Adams operate on a paradigm in which they have to admit that they were duped, that they have to till the soil (and not like it) and that their primal origin was actually dirt.  This story is similar to other creation stories and may be an easy way to answer the difficult questions about the origins of evil and erratic behaviour of both men and women, but it does not allow for healing or a satisfying or sustainable sense of self.

However, looking at the first chapter of Genesis, there is a whole new way of seeing ourselves:  made in the image and likeness of an all-powerful and all-loving God.  Male and female are created at the same time.  This highest creation is pronounced good.  (See the end of Genesis chapter 1).  This ultimate goodness, this pure concept of living Love is our origin. 

If this is our framework for finding meaning and well-being in our lives, what can we find? 
With our standpoint of purity goodness and love, we find we can heal, in a degree, just as Jesus healed.

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.

There is much in the Bible that helps us affirm this perfect and loved view of ourselves. Psalm 139 is one of my favorites and includes this line:

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.

The bigger question is: can we accept that we are loved, cherished, considered precious? Or that we have infinite value because we are the beloved children of Love itself! Answering "Yes!" to this question will deliver an emphatic "NO!" to the question: is there a belief that you are blameworthy or unworthy?

Accepting that you have no inherent lack, and that you are created wholy good and complete,  puts you on the right track for claiming the peace and confidence and poise you were always meant to have.

Complete. We are not in process.

Spiritual resource to share:  the right starting point 

As the third part in this Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there a mistaken assumption that we need to go through something ( like a process, a period of suffering, a certified procedure) in order to be complete?

Do any of these comments sound familiar?

• Once I get my degree, then I will be able to do more.
• If only I had more background on the Bible, then I would be able to contribute more.
• Once I get over this cold, then I can get my work done.
• Of course I am suffering now, I had to stay up all night to get the project done.

What is similar in all these comments is a sense that one lacks something now, and has to go outside of self in order to gain something.  This lack - of time, of health, of intelligence, of skill - is a shaky place to try to build on.

Mary Baker Eddy writes:

Man is God's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.

The starting point here is that we are already complete.  Then it follows that our lives are the revealing of that completeness.  This eliminates the stress of believing we have to move ourselves from a position of a "have-not" to a "have." And this replaces it with a sense of exploring what God has already given us.

When facing a challenge, we can approach it with eyes open to what we already do have.

More education is definitely helpful, but now you can claim the intelligent ideas that God is constantly giving to you as ample to meet the need at hand.

Health is more contagious than disease, and disease is cured in proportion as our understanding of Life, God's supremacy increases.

Ideas from God are constant, and we kind find that accomplishing our tasks require less time when we are more open to the ideas that are already present.

Our primal origin to intelligent good and robust Life is our starting point and these lead to good and timely solutions.  We find that we are complete, having all we need at all times, when we start out by seeing ourselves as the reflection of God, of infinite Love, Truth and Life. 

Complete. We are not vulnerable.

Spiritual resource to share:  life answers to difficult questions

Being complete and at peace is
our natural state of being

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there the thought that life includes vulnerability? a subtle argument that we are flawed? an unconscious acceptance that we are at fault and we should expect bad things to happen to us as if this type of punishment was justified?

After I had gone through a difficult time in my life, I called a Christian Science practitioner (a healer) and asked her point blank:  "Is there something wrong with me?  If you could just tell me what is wrong wth me, then I will gladly fix it, and I could get on with my life."

She paused and said slowly, "There is nothing wrong with you."

This shocked me.  It also made me realize how deeply imbedded was the idea that there was some hidden subtlety that had caused the one difficulty that I just emerged from.

But even deeper still, was her conviction that I was not inherently flawed.  She saw - what I was learning to accept -  "the perfect man."  Mary Baker Eddy explains this in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (See S&H 476:28 ) 

"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."

As I grew to understand God as invariable Love,  and as a purifying and transformative Truth about my life,  I grew to accept that I was a direct result of Life, of God.  And as I grew to accept that the very nature of my being is a reflection of God, I could affirm with authority my own goodness and virtue.  I grew to see that I was created in the image and likeness of God - pure and free - and that was my natural state!

However, just as an engine that is miscalibrated cannot function, neither could God's creation function if it were flawed.  But God's creation does function, so it follows that it cannot be flawed.

Yes!  This all made sense!  I saw myself more clearly as a child of God.  Whatever was discordant or irritating or painful was not in the original plan, and needed to be rooted out.  Actually, I saw that whatever was unGodlike could not attach itself to me.  So the self-doubt or the belief that I could be vulnerable or lacking in anyway was flushed away in light of the freeing Truth that I was created complete.  I realize that I have the strength, confidence and authority to heal, to live life fully and to be  joyful! 

And if this is true for me, it is true for everyone.  Wonderful!
  

Complete.

Spiritual resource to share:  perfection

One statement says everything. It creates the most sustainable, viable and purposeful framework in which to understand who we are in the largest possible context.

We are complete, made in the image and likeness of God (pure Love, Life, Spirit).  Or as it says in Genesis :

Gen 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

Gen 1:31

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. 

 

If this were understood in its entirety, we would see more stability, development and joy in our lives. In fact, you can read story after story of healing in all aspects of life from people who have experienced life more fully because of their understanding of this very idea.  (See any of the posts on www.spirituality.com)

So, if this is indeed so wonderful and true, then what would try to keep us from really embracing this key sustaining principle of Life itself!

It is good to note that whatever would try to keep us from understanding our completeness can be corrected.

• Is there the thought that life includes vulnerability? a subtle argument that we are flawed? an unconscious acceptance that we are at fault and punishment is justified?
• Is there a mistaken assumption that we need to go through something in order to reach harmony ( a process, a period of suffering, a certified procedure)?
• Is there a belief that we are blameworthy or unworthy?

I'll be exploring the answers to those questions in a series of posts.  Please add your comments below and I'll keep posting during the next two weeks!

the everyday infinite

Spiritual resource to share: awe

A few months ago, I went to a little mountain town in the cloud forests of Costa Rica to see my son graduate from high school and to visit his host family.  One night, I was walking with a friend under a rare and almost clear night.  Some thin wisps of clouds were brushed across the sky and I commented on it.

My friend loves stars so much that she can name them all, and there is even a star with her name on it.  She later wrote me:  "The universe ... is almost certainly infinite and expanding in all directions so no matter where you are in the universe (or whichever galaxy you are in) it appears that you are at the center and the universe is expanding around you.  What we were seeing that clear night in Costa Rica was the Galactic Center, the center of our own galaxy which is called the Milky Way. "

What appeared as a simple, wispy cloud was actually an innumerable amount of stars swirling, twirling in their own orbits.  My thought was letting in the infinite and started expanding itself. 

 

Inspired that night? Yes.  And reminded of the everyday infinite that we can brush right by if we're not alert.  Things have more complexity and order than it may first appear.  People have more compassion and capacity for good than it first may appear.  Everyday we can experience what is infinite:  It's in the pure darkness and breadth of the sky as readily as it is in the intimate tenderness and depth in the eyes of the person right next to you.

This everyday infinite is the stuff we are made of.  There is no end to the infinite possibilities and love we each carry within ourselves.

There is beauty and revelation everywhere.

Be still and know that I am God

Spiritual resource to share: fulfillment



Be still and know that I am God.Quiet the noisy rush of daily duties, arguments and demands, and remember God.

Be still and know that I am.In this stillness, contemplate the very nature of the I AM - "the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence."

Be still and know.Soak up the confident knowing of God's gentle presence and peaceful power.

Be still.Affirm, again, that all is well and under God's government. Out of the quiet peaceful space of God's love comes the form of all of our human activities.

Be.
You are because God is the I AM. You are because I AM.











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.
photo by Gabe Korinek
© text by Kim Korinek, CS

Persistence wins the prize

Spiritual resource to share:  persistence

Hammering the spike in volleyball, getting the dance sequence spot on, hitting your stride while cross-country skiing, learning to ride a bike for the first time -- all of these accomplishments are exhilarating.  You have overcome fear and self-doubt to realize a sense of grace and dominion that you didn't realize was there!

You can do it!  Just watch this video of a little boy who persisted and practiced until he could ride his bike on his own. http://youtu.be/eaIvk1cSyG8

Mary Baker Eddy gives us some of that same encouragement in practicing Christian Science.

Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every statement, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every department of life.

Each step we take in understanding God's supremacy, leads us to have more and more dominion over fear and self-doubt, to a realization of our own grace and power to do good. You, too, will feel "happy of yourself" with a joy that overflows! 

                                 

Lay your burdens down -revisited

Spiritual resource to share: freedom from resentment

I felt I had a perfectly justifiable reason to feel this disgust. I had been a part of a noble effort to uphold a cause that was near and precious to me. Others I would have normally depended to help uphold this issue  were distracted into ignoring this effort and some even maligned it. I buried my anger and took up the fight without them. We gained some ground, lost some ground, and life went on.


A couple of decades later this anger surfaced in a very subtle way. I found myself becoming dismissive to anyone who even slightly resembled this type of distracted and reluctant thought. This grew to feeling contempt  towards others. Every time I recognized these thoughts, however, I would replace them, and gain some ground on the front of loving my neighbors as myself.


As I continued to grow in my healing practice, I realized that I needed to root out these feelings of contempt, once and for all.  There is simply no room for anything in a healing thought, but love.


A good friend once defined sin as a boulder. One voluntarily picks up the boulder, carries it around for however long they want and then decides when they want to lay it down. The sin is never a part of them.


I also realized that if I was seeing others as misguided (or in any way sinful), that I have planted in my thought the possibility that others could be misguided.  I too could be misguided. So, in essence, if I am seeing another as sinful, I have picked up my own boulder! No wonder I feel burdened!


In my prayer, I realized that God knows nothing about the human drama. It is so irrelevant to life, that God does not even acknowledge it. Whereas I don't ignore what others are saying or doing, I realized that the human drama of apathy, resentment, distraction only has the power we give it -- it simply has no reality or power of its own. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.


When we pray, we let in the light. We accept that there is another way to see things. We follow the Christ, who multiplies our efforts to see and to do good things. Thought totally shifts from a material basis to a spiritual.


Then, if God doesn't know it, why should I? Why should I experience any type of discord?


And why did Christ Jesus say that we could cast all our cares on him?  He said that  "my yoke is easy, my burden in light." What did he know? Perhaps he knew that the only real thing going on is God's activity.
Christ Jesus could take on our burdens because he knew their weight - nothing. And he knew the allness, the thoroughness of God's pure and perfect control of each of Her ideas.


Each idea of God (this includes each person, each activity, each group) is coordinate, harmonious, self-less and helpful. I realized that I cannot lose anything good. And if this is true for me, it is true for others. No one can lose anything good.


I can lay my burdens down. The battle is not mine, but God's and Truth is always the victor. With this, I felt God’s power and love. I felt power in my ability to replace apathy and contempt with compassion for others, who may be feeling that they are fighting an uphill battle. I felt power in my ability to reflect God's love. And I felt more freedom and joy in my days.