Thursday, April 2, 2009

Keeping the Connection

Last month as some of you know, a friend of ours in Arizona put on my blog a guest column. It gave some helpful information about a computer program available from Ark Publications through Longyear in Boston, which contains the Bible Lessons as well as articles from the Sentinel and Journal from 1908 to 1922.

Anyway, one of the commenters on this blog post referred specifically to one of those early, powerhouse writers, Samuel Greenwood, that she discovered in a reading room while living in Hawaii. I, too, have found a goldmine of wonderful metaphysics from this man's writings. And one of the gems I've been recalling this morning revolves around the need to be wired to Love.

In one of his pieces, he talks about his many years in the public practice as a Christian Science practitioner and something most interesting he had found: what was it? that almost every problem someone brought to him for divine healing pointed to a lack of love! Either love expereinced or especially, love expressed. I found this most arresting and revealing at the time, and actually penned some lines on the topic last year. It was shared over the Internet and many of the fellow poets commenting on my poem from various parts of the globe found it helpful. Although not one of these friends is a student of Christian Science, they agreed that disease can be caused by insufficient love. This was encouraging to me. And with the thought that other people not acquainted with our religion may come across the following lines and be enlightened, I offer it. (And it just might be helpful to Christian Scientists, too!)


"Keeping the Connection"

(c) By: Sharon Slaton Howell


We who follow Christ,
who reverence the Name,
can't allow the shame
of feeling indifferent
to our fellow man.
I hope this fellow traveler
is learning when loving
others starts to slip,
it's more than a blip
on the heavenly screen:
it's deadly serious,
and needs to be gotten at
as quickly as possible.
The worst thing about
such blatant disobedience
is estrangement from Him,
not that He ever stops
caring about us, but
our Father Who is all love,
is not going to indulge us
while we indulge in a little hate!
Do we want to lose the
look of approval on His face?
If nothing else, a concern
for our own well-being
should impel a return to
Him before it's too late.
(How many diseases can
be traced to lack of love.)
With the armor of the Word,
and no-fooling praying,
this need not be the case.
First John puts it clearly:
"God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God, and God in him."
Just think of the healing
power inherent in this!