God the only Substance

Let me end this month's blogging with gratitude for what Christian Science points out about God being the substance of all things. This came to my attention more clearly when I came across something Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" on page 508: "The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it." I applied this to the flowers I was planting, and it produced quite a spectacular display of blossoms. The neighbors would comment on it and ask what was my secret? I would say, it must be planting and watering, lest they think I was odd. But then, I began saying, I could see that God was their creator, their substance. Of course, not many understood this metaphysical truth, but I was acknowledging God's doing.

And since then, the subject has expanded in my thought to see much more vividly that God being All-in-all, as the Bible brings out over and over, and my religion teaches, He is indeed the substance of all things. Healing can, and does, result from understanding this vital point.

Making us fit to serve

When undergoing God's chastening,
often think of what a friend of my parents --
a Marine who served in the Pacific in WWII --
once told them about basic training:
"Nothing the enemy can do to us
is going to be worse than this!"
(Of course, little did these young men know.)
But Frank's words have been helpful to me
when I didn't know why the conditioning
at His hand had to be so tough.
Maturing in the Christian warfare
has helped me see the world doesn't
look to the weak, the untested, the uncommitted
when it needs encouragement to keep going.
Those who have it easy, who have never
developed their spiritual mettle do not inspire;
those who run away when the fighting's tough
are not those we turn to;
those who quit the field of battle,
saying "I've had enough!"
So, I am learning to welcome the
rigors of His basic training to be
a better soldier of Jesus Christ,
which I desire more than all the world.

God sometimes has to remind me,
"I have not brought you through
just so you can take up space,
but that you may help others face
whatever they may be encountering;
hold their hand till they're
confident freedom will come."

What a holy work is given
to us servants of the Lord!
So, herein my prayer for each day:
let not one opportunity get by me
to feel another's need,
but let me go out of my way
to show them Christ's power,
and help them on to victory --
not for anything I may gain,
but simply for dear Jesus' sake.
The indescribable joy that comes
from serving our Commander in Chief.
And yes, being found worthy
to be conditioned therefor.

Hungry to Hear Jesus' Words

I just recently read in something one of the early workers in the Christian Science movement said (Samuel Greenwood) that what the world is yearning for is to hear our great Master's words.

I do believe this, and just yesterday had another confirmation of this. Some days ago, happened to be at my favorite breakfast place when I noticed that the nice man behind the counter seemed to be down. Upon inquiring, he said: "With the degrees I have, look at the menial work I have to do!" It came to me to say, "But think of Christ Jesus who said, 'I am among you as he that serveth.'" He said nothing, but his face showed some light. Then just yesterday, he took me aside and said, "You will never know what mentioning Jesus' words did for me the other day. Thank you!" This man's feedback made my day.

So, we just never know how reiterating Jesus' sublime words may cause another's life to glow.

We belong to Him

We who are God's own,


Gladly bow the knee to Him


And to no one else.



(Exodus 20:3, 5 - "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"..."Thou shalt not bow down theyself to them, nor serve them."


"The First Commandment is my favorite text."
Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science

Getting High

Too many people

Need chemical substances

To face each day,

To feel any joy at all.



Not I.



Just let me feel that

Thou art nigh,

And I am high.

God the only cause

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes: "Physical causation was put aside from first to last by this original man, Jesus. He knew that the divine Principle, Love, creates and governs all this is real." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 286)

Many have been the times that this truth has come to my aid when faced with difficulties of one kind or the other. And recently, I noticed some physical condition that seemed like it might be poison ivy. Or something akin to it. But I hadn't been anywhere near the plant.

I quickly turned aside from trying to find a material cause for this problem. The quote I began this blog post with came to mind, and gave me a spiritual basis for my praying. I worked metaphysically along the lines that God, divine Love, wouldn't afflict His child, indeed, that He knows nothing of matter or material conditions at all. I kept realizing man's spiritual likeness to God as His image and likeness which the first chapter of the Bible brings out. It wasn't long at all until the bodily evidence was gone.

I was so grateful to be student of Christian Science which yet again, brought me healing.

The joy of serving

If giving from the heart
can bring us so much joy,
think how great God's bliss must be,
Who gave to us His Son beloved,
a Son who joy'd to serve His Father,
and gave His all to set men free.
Lived to serve?! The King of Kings? !
God's gift the highest?
Who, if we only had Him here
would gladly bow down to and serve,
and count ourselves blessed?
Yes, Christ lived to give -
"I am among you as he that serveth"
our blessed Master says in Luke.

O Giver of so much good to us,
we would show our thanks
by serving others, as Jesus did --
by offering ourselves to Thy holy work,
in any way that You may choose.

Thank God for God!

Just read one of the columnist's offerings in The New York Times this morning, Friedman, who has a sobering assessment of what we on this planet face. Not that he's by himself, by any means, in sounding the alarm. One can't look at the nightly news and miss the challenges calling for, in the case of those who are God-loving people, better praying.

The current situation calls to my thought something our great Master said. In telling his disciples about conditions that would come to pass, Jesus spoke of "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." (Luke 21:26)

Many people, observing present world conditions, may be ready to conclude that these days must surely be upon us. They feel overwhelmed. Many lose heart.

This, however, is the thing one should not do when faced with disheartening circumstances. When Jesus warned men of eventual upheaval, he also offered a way of escape. "When these things begin to come to pass," he counseled, "then look up, and lift up your heads;for your redemtpion draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

Our redemption or salvation from fear can come as soon as we progess in our understanding of God's government of man and the universe. I am thankful that my religion, Christian Science, encourages me to know God as an ever-present, redeeming help. Through many challenges, I've found that there is no problem too overwhelming for God to solve.

Life can seem hopeless at times only if one thinks of man as separated from God, left to fend for himself in a material, somewhat mysterious universe controlled by amoral forces. But Christian Science teaches that man is God's child, inseparable from God, loved by God, protected by God, secure in God. And the same spiritual laws that enabled Christ Jesus to heal and regenerate men are available to all mankind.

The basis of Jesus' unfailing ability to subdue difficulties of every description was his practical understanding of divine law, his consciousness of man's spiritual relationship to God. God, divine Love, governs all things harmoniously, and the divine government is reflected in our daily lives. When we realize that the divine Mind is continuously maintaining all in spiritual harmony and perfection, we can begin to see there is no hopeless condition, no insoluble problem.

I know, I know. Someone may be wanting to say to me, "How can you possibly believe God is in control with all that is happening right now?!" If the one reading this is in the US where I'm blogging from, he or she may be thinking of the BP mess in the Gulf. If there is a God, they may want to say to me, why doesn't He fix things?"

The way out of whatever confronts us is, in my experience, applying the knowledge of God's allness that Jesus had. Of course, better praying is required. And I know that I must be doing this--not just throwing up my hands as so many do with a what's the use attitude. The best minds among us, scientific and financial, may not know how to solve the giant problems facing the world. But our all-powerful, all-knowing, everpresent Father does.

As the Old Testament assures us: "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy gret poer and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:"

(Jeremiah 32:17)

God knows what to do

When life presents a problem,
And we don't know what to do,
Our wonderful, loving Father
Can shows us the way through.

Can anything that can (and does)
Come up in our day to day
Baffle the Creator of all?
No! He can clear the way.

God can bring to light solutions
That we, unaided, just cannot see.
Then let me, dear and loving Father,
Be turning ever more to Thee.

And while I'm sending this poem
Primarily to praise and honour You,
Recently in a serious glitch,
You showed us what we should do.

What can seem perplexing to us
Is never that way to You.
So dear,all-knowing Father,
Thank you for all the things You do.

"In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths."
(Proverbs 3:6)

The Golden Rule and Our Thoughts

Read recently something Mary Baker Eddy wrote in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" that caused me to think of Jesus' Golden Rule for living and its relationship to the thinking we do. "He" (speaking of Jesus in the sentence preceding) laid great stress on the action of the human mind, unseen to the senses." This is found on page 234. And it is causing me to examine my thinking of others more closely, to be sure I'm not sending out thoughts that I would not want to receive.

Is this demanding, this divine demand as I see it, to not only live in accord with what our Master has given us as guidelines for daily living, but to think in accord therewith? Extremely demanding. But as I've learned in my study of Christian Science, our experience and our health are tremendously affected by the habitual thoughts we entertain. And it behooves us to have as loving and Christlike a consciousness as we can have at this stage, to be sure we're not thinking the very opposite of what Jesus would countenance in a follower.

For God's creation, perfect and complete, includes us all, includes us every one. And as our heavenly Father has made and sees His man is the way I need to regard all others. Thus will I be keeping in daily living and thinking the spirit of our Master's words in Matthew 7:12 -- "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

Mind's Artistry

Walking just now under

Overspreading Mimosa tree,

It's fragile beauty

A delight to me.

The most delicate scent

Wafts down to me,

From blossoms so pale

In pink and yellow,

They almost aren't there.

Who but God, Mind could form

Something so exquisite

In beauty of design,

In sweetness of perfume?

Who's behind your wheel?

Having just had a longer than usual trip to Asheville, NC and having to watch out for directions (and not being terrific with following same while trying to drive) wanted to share something which was a great help.

Martha Wilcox, who served in the home of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, once wrote this truth that I held to: God is actually doing the driving, as He is the only Doer in fact, and He never makes mistakes. When I first read this, what a light dawned in thought. I had never thought of this while out driving, and since then, it has been a great help. I have shared it with many, who likewise found it quite a boon when taking car trips. Knowing man is the reflection of God, Mind takes the burden off our shoulders, gives us peace of mind whatever we happen to be doing, I have found.

Hope this little blog post adds spiritual light to someone else's day out there.

Christ's power sustains us

With all the problems in this world of ours that need prayer, one may sometimes feel, "this is going to wear me out." But thank God for what we've been given in the Bible. So many comforting truths are there to give us all the help we need in not only praying about our own challenges, but being a blessing to mankind. And being a follower of Christ Jesus, we cannot afford to not do all the good we can.

One day while reading the New Testament, this verse from II Corinthians stood out to me. It's where Paul says, "And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee." This lifted my thought from the suggestion that it was too much my shoulders upon which the work rested to a recognition of Who it is that does the work. I felt so inspired and energized in my praying. If anyone could have felt worn down by work in Christ's vineyard, it was Paul.

And this same truth that it is Christ's power that changes things, that heals, is reiterated in the teachings of Christian Science. I have learned to look on God as an everpresent, all-powerful help in any difficulty we come up against in daily life. For this I can never be grateful enough. I recall one incident years ago when I was very new in the public practice of my religion and a mother-to-be called for prayerful help. I agreed to take the case and began my prayerful work for her and the baby.

Things were not going well. The birth appeared to be quite difficult. The husband kept calling me with updates. I was doing the best I knew how to do, but was beginning to feel a bit worn out. Finally, I called my teacher in Christian Science, a wonderful healer, who listened to my plea, then said calmly, "My dear, let Christ do the work." Light dawned. I felt the burden of too much human--albeit sincere--effort lift. Very quickly, the husband called to report that whatever the impediment appeared to be earlier it was gone. The baby had been born and all was as it should be.

His grace, His healing power, is sufficient for you and me indeed!

The solution to the world's problems

Just thinking this morning about something that may seem a sweeping statement to those who are not followers of our great Master, but is true nonetheless. And this is that the teachings of Christ Jesus are the solution to every difficulty mankind faces. "Not so", would say the unbelieving, the worldly, those who put their trust in politicians or corporations or intelligent scientists to come up with the answer.

Take the BP situation in the Gulf: I've read they have the best minds in the world on this case and look at where we are. This is not to disparage the human efforts being made, which have to be made. And man, under the inspiration and guidance of the One Mind, God can do what needs to be done. But Jesus we are told by Mary Baker Eddy claimed no intelligence apart from God. And we will have to learn to do likewise if we are to cope with problems in this life. God gave His Son the words that we are to live by. And if we're to avert unnecessary suffering, and find solutions when things go awry, then the only way out in through these sublime teachings which turn us to God as the infinite power that He is.

Pleasant Places Indeed

Was feeling a lot of gratitude to our heavenly Father yesterday, when a

verse from the Old Testament came to thought: it's from Psalms (16:6) --

"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly

heritage."

In the place of "I", one could put anyone who has God in their lives,

who believes in His promises throughout the Holy Bible, who has signed

on to the teachings of our great Master, Christ Jesus, who is fortunate

enough to be a student of Christian Science. The blessings/the

healings/the help

I have had in my own life through these eternal and priceless gifts from

His hand, well I could never be thankful enough for. What a heritage!