Saturday, December 24, 2016

The Lovely Light of Christmas

        Light at this special time of year is seen in so many lovely ways.  Of course, crowning them all is Jesus -- Light's advent in the flesh (as my husband's previous poem has it.) 


        But I can't help noticing the way God's love expressed in everyday life gives a special glow to things. When someone who is not expecting a gift receives one, face all lit up with joy. When a neighbor who has been cross brings a home-baked treat to our door, hoping we'll be pleased, seeking to make amends and express Jesus' peace and good will to all.  A child's sparkling eyes when they see the dazzling light display at our local library. Our mail carrier who is doing an extra route so a fellow worker can go home for Christmas, the look on  his face when hearing, "God bless you for your good deed."


        May that special light that is seen during Christmas, the light of God's love for the whole world, illumine all we do this coming year. 

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

God's Greatest Gift

                                                         




                                                         John Robert Howell












The muezzin of the infinite and light-emblazoned firmament
Marked the nightly vigils' silent and meditative hours
Of those wakeful, watchful sheperds, Scientic avatars,
Who pondered not dusty constellations of earth's deceptions,
But the higher lessons witnessed in God's refulgence,
Thus to behold the glow of that eldritch eastern star,
Herald of Jesus' nativity, Light's advent in the flesh.
That event was once and not to  be repeated,
Yet for those who receptive hearts wander wearily
Among the darkly lighted trails and travails of mortality
The promise of that holy dawn blesses all eternally.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Our Father's Chastening

                                    "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten"
                                                     (Revelation 3:19)






After God's chastening is over


What then for one is left?


Many things, worth more than gold.


And crowning them all must be


The dawning, "He did what He did


Out of love for me."


Removing those things that


Stand between us and Him


Can leave one feeling punished, bereft;


But when process divine has run its course,


Is perfected, and at last is through,


What thoughts of praise and awe there are.


And a person may even wonder,


Is this the way angels feel about You?









Thursday, December 1, 2016

The Right Viewpoint

                                                           John Robert Howell






Either God is the absolute All or He is not.
That He is is a starting point, one without fault.
Any middle muddle is another wife of Lot,
Hesitant, unsure--and then a pillar of salt.


That error out there is but an error within.
Faults found in others start out from our home.
God, pure and everywhere, knows only what is akin
And makes us insensible to mortal mind's drone.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Thanks Be to God...

...for the truths one learns in Christian Science.  About 2 hours ago I found a little chipmunk on our driveway that one of our cats had apparently chased till lit was barely alive. The little creature was still breathing, so I picked it up, brought it in the house, put it in a blanket-filled basket cats like, put it on our porch so no one could get at it.  Then I worked with this thought from one of Mary Baker Eddy's hymns, this phrase, "Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight."  I prayed to see this little thing surrounded by God's dear love, keeping him alive. 


Well, about 1/2 hour later, I checked on the chipmunk and it was up and running around on our porch, completely recovered!  I put it outside and it went on its happy way.


Isn't God wonderful though.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Honor For His Highest

                                                          (Matthew 17:5)






Adoring Jesus as I do


Can't help wanting for Him


What His Father wants --


Honor, obedience, love.






Do you want this


For Jesus, too?

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Another Reason Why I Blog

        Happened to read this morning something from the New Testament that lit up for me, and it's where Jesus prays to God, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."  (John 17:5)


        It dawned on me that this is a purpose worth pursuing, to work to see that our Master gets the glory which He had very little of here.  And which He deserves forevermore.


        Of course, I blog to help readers know Jesus' Father and yours and mine as an everpresent  help in all kinds of trouble, to tell those who may be suffering needlessly that the teachings of my religion offer a way out of their troubles.


        But Jesus' words in John 17 words are something I'm going to think about a lot.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Putting God First

Not enough time in the day
To do the things you need to do?
Your priorities are out of whack.
Consider placing God's demands
Before other people's and your own.
Think of Christ Jesus, someone
Who was never flurried or hurried,
Who was always on time for healing.
Why was this, do you think?
Could one reason have been,
"I do always those things
     that please him."?
        (John 8:29)
A holy example, this,
But something all can shoot for.
Even the willingness to pray,
May this day be lived the way,
You dear Father, know is best
Will begin adjusting circumstances
As only He can do.
There will then be enough time
For Him -- first don't forget --
And time enough for you.

Beauty Surrounds Us

        On a crisp autumn evening recently, we were leaving a scenic national park near sunset after a lovely day of sight-seeing.  As our car wound through the darkening mountains, I reflected on the brilliant, flaming foliage we had seen on every side now obscured by nightfall.


        "If someone drove through these mountains now, he would be completely unaware of the beauties surrounding him," I thought.  Then it occurred to me how often because of darkened, material views of creation we are unaware of the limitless, spiritual good at hand.


        Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 304), "It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things which hide spiritual beauty and goodness." Through the study of Christian Science many are gaining spiritual enlightenment that not only dispels darkness and fear but reveals the abundance of joy, peace, and dominion that are man's by reflection.


        Man is the creation, the very expression, of God, Soul.  And this is the being you and I are. Thus, we fully reflect the divine attributes of loveliness, wholeness, and satisfaction.  In the realm of Soul, where man really dwells, there is no disease, dissention, or disunity.  All is continuously controlled by God's law of harmony and beauty.


        Christ Jesus looked upon each individual as a child of God.  He beheld each one in his true spiritual light and loveliness,  Despite the mortal pictures of sin, sickness, and disfigurement often presented to him, our Master was able to differentiate between the erroneous, mortal concept of man and the genuine child of God.


        Only his divinely derived ability to see the beautiful, unblemished image as real enabled Jesus to heal.  Where unenlightened, mortal eyes could see only distortion and ugliness, he beheld the spiritual perfection of the real man.  This Christly perception restored the sick and the repentant sinner to their original wholeness and beauty.  This same spiritual perception, or understanding, is today available to any humble seeker for Truth, as many students of Christian Science are proving.


        "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," prayed the Psalmist  (Psalms 119:18)  As we pray for increased spiritual discernment, desiring to see only God's perfect creation, we will find the heavenly light of spiritual understanding dispelling the darkness of material thinking.  Discord, disease, and unloveliness cannot long abide in the experience of one whose thought has been illumined by the light of such understanding.


        There are no human circumstances so hopelessly dark that the omnipotent glow of spiritual perception cannot penetrate.  Even as the first rays of morning sunlight reveal the loveliness of the material universe, so a glimpse of infinite Truth pierces inharmony, strife, and disorder, bringing clearly into focus the glorious handiwork of Soul, God.


  

Monday, October 10, 2016

Words To Live By

Christ Jesus' words,
I'm referring to,
Words as life-changing now
As when first spoken.
How could they not be,
Backed up as they are
By heavenly fire,
Given to us from God above
Through His beloved Son,
Words that open doors to us
Otherwise forever closed,
Words that entering our heart
Lifts us ever higher,
Words that make our life
Simpler, healthy, free --
Just the way out Father
Wants it to be.


So, if new to the Name,
Take His words as
Priceless treasure,
Love them, live them,
Keep them in first place
Where they deserve to be,
And you will see
Neither you nor your life
Will stay the same.


The Bible says:
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: 
                   old things are passed way; behold
                                         all things are become new."




         






Wednesday, October 5, 2016

God-sent Helpers

        In thinking about helpers our heavenly Father sends to us, two statements come to thought.  The first is from the Old Testament where Psalms says speaking of God:  "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." (9l:11)




        And the second from Mary Baker Eddy's writings where she writes:  Heaven right here, where angels are as men, clothed more lightly, and men as angels..."  (Miscellaneous Writings, page 251.)
Something that happened several years ago could well illustrate this. I can't say for sure.




        I believe we encountered one of God's helpers when we were in a quandary about a kitten we had just rescued.  Mischa came to us one day, hungry, homeless, obviously wild.  With two dogs, we initially shooed him away.  But he kept coming back around, helping  himself to food left out for woodland creatures.




        This was in the summer months, and by the time winter approached, it seemed we had no choice but to give him away. He couldn't be in the house, and he wouldn't survive outdoors.  Or so we thought.  Having grown quite attached to this little fellow -- a beautiful Tuxedo cat, black and white with huge green eyes -- it was a wrench to think of not keeping him.


       Then one day my husband and I had gotten out of our car at a store when there before us was a woman with a cat on a leash, of all sights. We struck up a conversation and found out she was on a car trip.  We mentioned that we had a cat but probably wouldn't get to keep him, what with winter coming on.


        What she said was surprising, but so comforting.  She said being from Maine, she knew cats that could survive all winter outdoors.  "Not to worry", she told us.  "Just put your cat in the garage on fluffy blankets, if you wish, and he'll be fine." And with that, put her cat back in the car and they were gone.


        We thanked her with such a feeling of relief.  Why, we can keep Mischa we said!  I have since felt that this woman was an angel helper God caused to appear to us in a form that would meet our immediate need.  And so it did. 

Unfettered

Christian Science shows us
what Christ Jesus's healings proved:


We weren't born into matter


We don't live in matter


We're not controlled by matter.




Its Truth does what Jesus said it would --


      makes us from matter's bondage and


          oppression oh so free.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Creativity - Part 2

        The reason all of us can express our God-given dominion over frustration and lack of achievement is precisely because we are His offspring.  When we think our aspirations to bless the world in some way are blocked, we're looking at the creature rather than our Creator.


        Christian Science explains that man, whom Spirit, God made in His image, is the expression of God's nature. Therefore spiritual man, you and I are Godlike -- in full possession of every quality essential to joy, purpose, achievement.  These qualities are not gifts occasionally bestowed on a few rare individuals by a heavenly Father who loves some of His children more than others. They are the reflection of God, impartial divine Love, and therefore the birthright of all His sons and daughters.


        There's no need for anyone to think of himself as dependent on what others feel is his talent.  For Christ Jesus revealed the precise whereabouts of all good -- "The kingdom of God is within you."  (Luke 17:21)  And Christian Science explains exactly how to find this kingdom and put off such false reasoning.  It brings to light God's man and his God-given dominion, completeness, and freedom -- the spiritual basis of well-being. 


        Mary Baker Eddy writes of this man that you and I actually are:  "His birthright is dominion, not subjection.  He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven, -- himself subordinate along to his Maker." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 518.)


        Some people, convinced they just don't have what it takes, look to others to supply the opportunity for usefulness they think is missing in their lives.  But when God made each one of us as His spiritual idea, He left nothing out--not one iota of ability, intelligence, talent.  Whatever we need to bear Him witness and make a worthwhile contribution in the world is ours right now as His reflection.  Mind's unlimited, complete, individual idea is never limited, incomplete, or dependent on other spiritual identities for its well-being.  This is fact.


        It is the divine right of everyone to prove this truth--to soar out of limitations God never made, to be right now all he actually is.  Divine Science helps one realize his innate, dignity, joy, and completeness.


        Jesus' parables and marvelous demonstrations of man's perfection are pertinent to every problem we face today.  And especially pertinent to delayed good is the healing of the cripple at the pool of Bethesda.  Jesus asked the man if he would be whole and refused to accept as valid the man's excuse that he had no one to put him into the pool after the waters had been stirred.  Instead, the Master commanded him to get up, pick up his bed, and walk--right then.  (See John 5:2-9) 


        That same liberating Christ, is the idea of Truth, is present with you and me, delivering essentially the same message:  "No matter how long you've suffered the delusions of mediocrity, deferred hope, frustration, nothing can really deprive you of your God-granted dominion as God's idea.  There is no need to wait for it.  You actually have it now, so you can confidently claim and exercise it now."



Saturday, October 1, 2016

Creativity

        Pardon the personal nature of what I'm about to post, but it's by way of providing encouragement to my readers.  Encouragement to express one's abilities and not let other people shut them down.


        Some years ago someone I worked with and whose opinion I respected said to me one day, "I don't think I'd ever try writing poetry if I were you.  You're just not gifted that way."  This at a time when I was yearning to express myself in poems and felt I had something worthwhile to give.


        Well, it shouldn't have, but this assessment of what I had to offer through poetry caused me to stifle inspiration.  Regretfully, for too many years. 


        Then one wonderful day, poems began to flow, poems that have warmed people, made them laugh and cry.  And in some instances, made them want to amend their lives.  Truly.  And ended up in poetry books in permanent collections of public and university libraries all over the globe.  Just some of the foreign places are as follows, in no particular order.


Helsinki, Finland
Hannover, Germany
Liverpool, England
Paris, France
Bejiing, China
Riga, Latvia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Macao, China
Port Adelaide, South Australia
Katowice, Poland
Ottawa, Canada
Noumea, New Caledonia
Nicosia, Cypress
Guadalajara, Mexico
Coatbridge, Scotland
Manchester, England
Ontario, Canada
Alexandria, Egypt
Lampeter, Wales
Stirling, Scotland
Dublin, Ireland
Inverclyde, Scotland
Bucharest, Romania
Paisley, Scotland
Budapest, Hungary
Valleta, Malta
Blackburn, Scotland
Panji, Goa
Thessaloniki, Greece
Glasgow, Scotland
Yerevan, Armenia
Dunedin, New Zealand
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Wellington, New Zealand
Reims, France
Luton, England
Hamilton, Scotland
Hiroshima, Japan
Regina, Canada
Thimpu, Bhutan
Hamilton, New Zealand
Ballerup, Denmark
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Tallin, Estonia
Colombia, Sri Lanka
Grenada, West Indies
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Geelong, Australia
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Aiktenvale, Queensland, Australia
Wenjian, China
Melbourne, Australia
Singapore
Vienna, Austria
Livingston, Scotland
Swansea, Wales
Chennai, India
Selkirk, Scottish Borders
Galway, Ireland
Hangzhou, China
Kiev, Ukraine
Limassol, Cypress
Malmo, Sweden
Llandysul, Wales
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nara, Japan
Okinawa, Japan
Tauranga, New Zealand
Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Brasov, Romania
Vilnius, Lithuania
Glasgow, Scotland
Hastings, New Zealand
Kobenhaven, Denmark
Minsk, Belarus
Moscow, Russia
Trieste, Italy
Swaziland, Africa
Prague, Czech Republic
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Malawi, Africa
Victoria, the Seychelles
Tirana, Albania
Aberdeen, Scotland
Floriana, Malta
London, England
Leicestershire, England
Bangor, Northern Ireland
Manilla, the Philippines
Lisbon, Portugal
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Edinburgh, Scotland
Newcastle, Australia
Fort Saskatchewan, Canada
Zurich, Switzerland
Isle of Man
Lyon, France
Ceredigion, Wales
Hagatna, Guam
Nanjiing, China
Hong Kong, China
Osaka, Japan
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tokyo, Japan
Seoul, Korea
Rekyavik, Iceland
Cardiff, Wales
Devon, England
Luxembourgh
Bogota, Colombia
Raraatonga, Cook Islands
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
Windhoek, Namibia, Africa
Limerick, Ireland
Dundee, Scotland
Bridgetown, Barbados
Suva, Fiji Islands
Milan, Italy
Naples, Italy
Shanghai, China
Santiago, Chile
Copenhagen, Denmark
Canberra, Australia
Warsaw, Poland
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cymru, Wales
Nagasaki, Japan
Dorado, Puerto Rico
Faduz, Liechtenstein
Baracelona, Spain
Birmingham, England
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Verona, Italy
Chisinau, Moldova
Medellin, Colombia
San Jose, Costa Rico
Lautoka, Fiji Islands
The Hague, the Netherlands
Brno, Czech Republic


        To what do I contribute the breakthrough on creativity for me?  To God, absolutely and indebtedly.  As with some of the talented people down here in Tennessee who credit their accomplishments with faith in God.  When we moved from New England, we were amazed at what these folks could do. It seemed that behind every rock and tree there was an artist of some kind -- sculptor, photographer, writer, poet, painter, musician, craftsman. They got an idea, a desire to create, and they just went out and did it.  As someone said to us, "No one ever told them they couldn't." Or if they did, these doers didn't listen.


        What God did for these, for me, He can do for you.  After all, if you feel God has given you something to share that will enrich the world. wouldn't you think it was sad to not act on it?  You are God's beloved child, complete and free to express all He has given  you.  And whatever the medium in which you wish to express yourself, our heavenly Father has the power and resources to make things happen.


        In my next blog, I'll go into more detail about how specifically the teachings of Christian Science helps us look to God for our abilities and their expression.


























Angels On a Clock

Two atop
gilded antique clock -
Standing by the door
for all to see.
Do hotel guests
look that way?
One angel with
artist's brush in hand,
The other with a pen...
smiling, ageless, immortal,
happy in what they do.
Does this speak
to me and you?
Is this what we aspire to?
What we really are?
What we've always been?
The way He sees us now?
Whether artwork, manuscript,
or something else,
bestow what comes
from Him above
is what these beings do.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Prayer That Heals

        An acquaintance once told me that she often wondered when she was growing up and plagued with so many physical ailments, "Why doesn't God hear my prayers?"  She was very religious and would plead for deliverance from her suffering.  But healing still seemed elusive.


        God does answer prayer.  But perhaps one's prayers need to embody less fearful pleading and more understanding trust in His care for man.  I Corinthians states:  "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also."  (14:15)


        Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:  "The prayer of faith shall save the sick', says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer?  A mere request that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand."  And she continues further along, referring to God as divine Truth and Love, "It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, -- of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love."  (p. 12)


        Christ Jesus' assurance "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" takes on new meaning for the person who begins the study of Christian Science.  He begins to see that an understanding of God makes free because the fact is that everyone's real selfhood is God's likeness, therefore eternally free, spiritually whole and safe at this moment.  The spiritual laws underlying the Master's words and deeds, their changeless Principle, become clearer to the individual who gains some practical understanding of the Christ-power that Jesus expressed so fully.  And this imbues his prayers for himself and others with power and efficacy.


        The law of God is available for everyone to learn and benefit from.  When the spiritual truth of God and man is specifically brought to bear on a particular trouble through prayer and purified living, healing takes place.  And it doesn't matter whether the difficulty is of long duration or is acute.


        The spiritual concept of man is basic to the teachings of Christian Science, and this is why adherents of this Science find it essential to pray from the Biblical standpoint that man is made in God's own image. (See Genesis 1:27)  Accepting the premise that God is perfect Spirit, as the Bible teaches, they realize that the creations of Spirit can only be spiritual, perfect.  And this is the reality of man's being, despite appearances to the contrary.  It must be, because God couldn't have created man subject to discord and destruction.


        In the measure that we express out true nature as this spiritual likeness, we are following the example of Jesus, who healed sin, disease, and all discord through spiritual means alone.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness give place to light, and sin to reformation.  Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural." (Science and Health, p. xi)


        The last one hundred pages of Science and Health are devoted to healings that resulted from studying this book.  Among those wonderful experiences are healings of cataract, rheumatism, cancer, deafness, kidney disease, stomach trouble, and many other conditions.  Christian Science has lifted countless thousands out of painful and physical problems.


        Jesus promised us, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."  (John 14:12)  Humbly striving to follow our Master's teachings through an absolute faith in God and a growing discernment of our true nature as His perfect likeness, you and I can begin to fulfill that promise and find healing.



Monday, September 12, 2016

Early Morning Walk

(While out with our Australian Shepherd earlier today, this poem came to thought)








                                                            Cathedral of the Trees






                                                             I've had my share


                                                             Of inspired, holy moments


                                                             Worshiping in a church


                                                              Made of wood and stone.






                                                               But I do believe,


                                                               On a bench on the edge


                                                               Of a still and lovely forest


                                                               I am quite near the divine,


                                                               I sit here uplifted, all alone --


                                                               Except for our dog,


                                                               (And for the One


                                                               Who made all this,


                                                                      Of course.)






                                           "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;
                                                      the world, and they that
                                                            dwell therein."


                                                              Psalms 24:l
  




  













Saturday, September 3, 2016

Watch That Disturbed Thinking!

        Last month I quoted something from Psalms to the effect of keeping our thoughts in God.  "God is not in all his thoughts", to be precise.  (Psalms 10:4) 


        Expanding on this, it is clear to me that God being Love, and love all the time without exception, if we're to have our thoughts in God, they have to be loving also, have to be what Jesus lived and commanded his followers to embody above all else. 


        Having allowed myself to get disturbed over this or that mundane glitch more times than I care to admit ,and paying for it (naturally), I can see that our thinking has to pattern that of Christ, that Christlike love, no matter how trying day-to-day situations may sometimes seem, is paramount.


        Jesus said, "The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me", that is, nothing of its own unloving, disturbed, resentful, etc. nature.  Opening the door to un-Christlikeness will cause us to undergo experiences we do not have to have.  And hopefully, you and I are learning through hard experience, if need be, to not play host to the prince of this world through disturbed thinking..

Thursday, September 1, 2016

A Joy and Privilege

        This is what it is to be blogging for Christ Jesus and Christian Science.  To think that people in parts of the world I may never see are reading and being helped by what I hold dear, well, does it get any better than this?  Not to me, it doesn't.


        And beginning my 9th year blogging, having this way to spread God's Word is a continuing pleasure for me.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

VIctory to Christ, Always

        Why do people who should know better disbelieve Christ Jesus' teachings, this among them, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom", and accept the very opposite information the devil puts out?


        For professing Christians to do this seems inexplicable given all the Holy Bible reveals.


        How to account for this?  It can only be that one is allowing himself to be deceived by what Jesus, never one to waste words, disposed of this way:  "he is a liar and the father of it."  This evil is a marauder on your well-being, a beast of prey that wants to kill off the infinite good God has for you, to keep you down and miserable.  It is all lies that have been deceiving you.  And you can stop this detrimental practice right now.  There's nothing to stop anyone from doing this. As the New Testament states:  "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  And he does.


        Understand that you may feel you're in a battle at times.  And so you will be, in a sense.  But you're not alone in this.  Most, if not all, the shining lights that have gone before you who named the Name of Christ, went through the same thing.  But they stayed in the fight, and came out on top.  So will you, if you accept what your Saviour says, and stop believing what the father of lies is telling you is you.


        We set ourselves up for problems, you and I, when worldly considerations are crowding God out of daily life.  As Psalms puts it, "God is not in all his thoughts.  (Ps. 10:4)  Too much attention is being given to the former and not enough to the latter.  But this can be remedied.  All it takes is the desire to do right by God's Word.  Then doing it.  If we do our part, God will do the rest.


        Say to God, I will trust the words You gave your dear Son to give the world.  I will not doubt that what Jesus said is true.  Stay with this until the resistance ceases.  As it always does, and always will. The blessings this brings are beyond most of us to imagine.


        Then we will find ourselves saying, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."


        


       

Friday, August 26, 2016

Take Jesus At His Word

Christ Jesus was not a man
Who went around saying things
Because He had nothing better to do!
This being so, we need to
Take Him at His every word --
Not do like some people do
Who pick and choose
Among His teachings,
People who only use
What they consider
Easier things to do,
Ignoring all the rest.
Let us believe that all
Our Master said is true.
Are we not admonished
To go forth, teaching others
"To observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you."*
All things.
Let one then acquaint himself
With all our Saviour said,
(If he hasn't already)
Love these sublime sayings,
Trust them, live them.
The heavenly fallout
Will be forever lasting.


*Matthew 28:20)

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Ohio Man: Lifted Up From Invalidism

        As a young man in Ohio, this man was seriously ill, too weak to even get out of bed and take a ride in his parents' car.  For many months, he was completely bedridden.


        Then something wonderful happened, he told us, when we met him after we had both moved to New England, and become good friends for many years.  A neighbor mentioned a book to him he might find of interest and help.  This was Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This book was obtained for him and he began reading and thinking about what it pointed out.  This man's healing was not quick, he told us.  But little by little, his physical symptoms disappeared, and his strength came back. Complete freedom came eventually.  He decided to give the rest of his life to the public practice of Christian Science to help others find the freedom he had found.


        So marked was this man's full recovery from ill  health, his energy and full life was an inspiration to all who knew him.  He later learned to fly, got a small plane, flew all over Massachusetts and even to Ohio to visit to visit relatives.  He learned to ski, got a book from the local library, studied carpentry and added an addition to their house. He hiked miles each day, when he could take time from his healing work.  And one Sunday while at the church we all attended, we were in the parking lot after the service when someone we were talking to said, "Who is that college kid?  Is he a new member?"  Our friend's posture, his springy step, his expression of agelessness and energy was remarkable.  We didn't know his age, and this didn't matter at all. He seemed to transcend aging more than anyone I knew.  His shining example of relying on God for everything he did will continue to uplift all those who knew and loved him.


     All this from Mary Baker Eddy's great discovery of the divine truths that underlay the words and works of Christ Jesus.






       





Saturday, August 13, 2016

A Fuller, More Useful Life

        It was an unhappy friend who sat across from me the other day at lunch.  This lady was feeling frustrated with her job, wishing she had more opportunities to make use of her extensive education.


        Many people have a desire to express their particular abilities in a satisfying, purposeful way.  We each can lead a life that counts, whatever our interests may be, no matter what challenges we may be facing.


        Instead of wasting time waiting for opportunity to knock at the door of their lives, people can wake up to the fact that bountiful good lies within their grasp now.  Christ Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you."  (Luke 17:21)  And this is just where opportunity is, too.


        This kingdom of good, this absolute reign of God, divine Principle, is not dependent on people, places, or events.  It is intact--within the true consciousness of each of us, which is a reflection of God Himself, of the one perfect Mind.  We can begin to discern this reality through prayer and through a spiritual understanding of God and man.


        As we can learn from the Bible, man is actually the spiritual image of God.  He is the loved likeness of divine Love.  This realization helps us to turn radically away from the discouraging view of inactivity or frustration.  It encourages us to accept the spiritual fact that because God is infinite, ever-active good, man, His image, must be continuously expressing that good in satisfying activity.




        In assuring mankind of God's tender relationship to each of His offspring, and of man's spiritual value, Jesus said:  "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?  and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your read are all numbered.  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."  (Matthew 10:29-31)  Each and every one of us important, useful, individual, because we are all God's beloved offspring, made in His image.


        Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:  "If God, who is Life, were parted for a moment from His reflection, man, during that moment there would be no divinity reflected.  The Ego would be unexpressed, and the Father would be childless,--no Father."  (p. 306)


        As the individual grows in the understanding of man's unity with his Maker, he comes to realize that he can't be forgotten, lost in the crowd; he can't be deprived of God-given avenues for self-expression.


        Nothing brings opportunity to our door quicker than the desire to honour God in what we're doing, to be useful to Him and our fellow beings. With this holy aspiration even the most under-utilized person will find his life blossoming into activity that blesses more widely than he imagined.  No matter how desolate one's circumstances may sometimes seem, they can be turned completely around as he begins to understand his actual, spiritual nature and strives wholeheartedly to reflect the divine will.


        Finding out who we really are, and accepting that wonderful fact, enables us to express more of good, more of God, more of His love in everything we do.  This is the way of our salvation, and is therefore, inescapably where success lies.  As the Bible assures us, "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."  (II Corinthians 9:8)


        You and I exist to bear witness to God, to reflect Him, in every way.  Our purpose or activity, then, is not actually at the disposal of individuals, places, or times.  As we know ourselves to be God's perfect child, we see that the opportunity to lead a fuller, more useful life can never really be absent.  And this is why we're all here.


       




       
       









Friday, August 5, 2016

The Only Way to Avoid Destruction

To avoid destruction worthy of the name,
Embrace the narrow path Jesus taught
His followers to take in life.
Why did our Master say this to us?
To take all the joy out of living?
Ridiculous thought.
It was to save us from the sorrow,
The disillusionment and lack
Of all things worth having,
That inevitably comes from
Taking the broad way --
Fun at first perhaps,
Which has a way of
Ending up not so funny.
The prince of this world
Ultimately presents his bill.
And the worst thing about
Disregarding Jesus' words?
It causes estrangement from God,
Not that He ever leaves us,
Any sense of apartness
Is all on our side, not His.
Why do we want to miss out
On all the good things?
Our heavenly Father yearns to give.


No matter how far down the broad way
You may have gone -- if even to the end --
Turn around right now and adopt
The one, the only way, to live.


Our loving God demands this of us all.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Cause and Healing

                                                        John Robert Howell




When your body's crying out in pain,
What makes you think the Bible's Word is vain?
If sickness propagates from thought, what aid
Can come from medical opinion staid?
What fact of use can heart or lung relay,
Since thinking draws the outlines ills obey?
To rout disease, on God alone repose
Divine anatomy will causes hid expose.
If tempted, then, from fear to diagnose
Let Mind supreme, instead, the case dispose.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

In His Presence, Always

What a thought of comfort this,
That all those we may be
Responsible for --
       Children or pets --
Are always in His care,
That wherever they may go,
Wherever they may be,
Whatever they may do,
They cannot be away from Him,
Never, ever out of His presence.
Is it not wonderful
That God Himself
Does surround,
Looking out for them,
Thinking for them,
And leading them safely
            Home.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Do You Love Jesus' Words?

If you don't,
This is what you can do --
Get yourself a Bible
With Jesus' words in red.
Read/ponder/do
What the Master said.
Nothing on this earth
Can bless you like this.
If you do love Jesus' words,
You know the good things
Poured out on His followers
Without measure --
Peace, joy, purpose in life,
Freedom from all kinds of fears,
Love for others, Love from others,
Tribulation encountered and overcome--
(I could go on and on).
But what I most treasure?
This from John 14:23:


"If a man love me,
he will keep my words:
and my Father will love him,
and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with  him."


I could not wish for you
Anything more wonderful
         Than this!

Monday, July 4, 2016

You Don't Have to Fear Illness

    


        As I wrote in the previous blog, people all over the world yearn for freedom from many things, freedom from the fear of becoming ill among them.  Thus the following:


        God, good, is all-powerful and ever present.  And because He is, you don't have to feel afraid when confronted with sickness or any physical disability.  The fact that God is always with us is more than comforting, however; it can be of practical benefit when we know how to avail ourselves of His healing power.


        The purpose of Christ Jesus' unequaled example was not merely to inspire mankind but to show us what God is and how to avail ourselves of His power--how to be free from every form of material bondage, physical suffering included.  The Master promised, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."  (John 14:12)


        Christian Science maintains that this can be demonstrated now as one understands the divine laws underlying Jesus' words and deeds. These changeless laws are explained fully and clearly in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The Science revealed in this book is based on the understanding that God is the divine Principle of all that is real, the Principle of Jesus' healing and teaching.


        The law of Spirit, God, is available for anyone to learn and use in his daily life.  This law of God, which brings healing, is wherever we are and is applicable to any situation.  This law isn't a formula; it is power, specific force. It rests on the supremacy of God and is enforced by His allness.  And when His law is brought into contact with one's particular problem--and it makes no difference whether the problem is physical or moral, financial or emotional--the result is freedom from whatever fear is tormenting one.


        Mrs. Eddy writes:  "The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation.  Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural.  They are the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us,' -- a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,


                                                 To reach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
                                                  And recovering of sight to the blind,
                                                  To set at liberty them that are bruised."
                                                           (Science and Health, p. xi)


        Because you and I are actually spiritual and include only those qualities which God, Spirit, imparts--such as peace, joy, health, dominion--the fears that may seem so real have no genuine power over us.  They are misconceptions of God and man, false beliefs, not actual God-created conditions.  And the truth of man's inseparable relationship to God, of man's uninterrupted well-being as God's image and likeness, corrects them.


        Now, you who may be coming upon the subject of scientific divine healing for the first time might be wondering specifically how you should pray when you find yourself confronted with fear of becoming sick.  For a practical explanation of  how to demonstrate Christ-healing for yourself, you can turn to the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Healing.  This book shows that fear of sickness and disease is wholly mental, rooted in a misconception of God and man.  It can be completely overcome by the change in thought that prayer and reliance on God's law bring.  When God's nature, His power, and His law are understood, one's thoughts and actions are brought into accord with the spiritual truths of God and man.  This is a fundamental change in consciousness, and the result is invariably freedom from fear.


        It is your God-given right to experience this.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Freedom For Our Housekeeper







        People yearn to be free in so many ways.  And freedom from fear is a big one, freedom from fear of disease.


        Beverly came once a week to clean house for us, and one day she said, "I am overwhelmed with fear of disease, the disease my father had.  I'm afraid I'll pass on from the same thing.  Do you know of anything that will  help me?"  "I certainly do", I told her.  A copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy was at hand on a bookshelf, which I loaned to her as long as she needed it.  She was eager to see what this highly recommended volume had to say that would help lift the terrible fear that plagued her.  Over the following weeks, Beverly found many truths that gave her a new perspective on health and well-being.  She learned she didn't need to live with fear. And in my next blog, I'll go into detail on this important topic that will show anyone reading this blog why they do not need to live in fear of becoming ill.  Stay tuned.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Using Our Talents For Christ

Writers who use their talents


In the service of their King


Have so little say


In whether they write or not;


Thoughts begin to flow,


Words are set to go,


And inspiration must be attended to


Right then and there.


Those who do this gathering


Of ideas from above


Inhabit a universe they're in,


But all too often not of --


Beings who dwell apart.








      
                  You, world, are richer far


                                      That these beings are


                                                               The way they are.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Giving, Serving

If giving from the heart
Can bring us so much joy,
Think how great God's bliss must be,
Who gave the world His Son beloved,
A Son who lived to serve His Father,
Who gave his all to set men free.
Lived to serve?  The King of Kings?
God's gift the highest?
Him who we gladly bow down to,
Adore and serve,
And count ourselves blessed?
Yes, lived to give, to serve,
As you and I must do.


"I am among you as he that serveth"
Our blessed Master says in Luke.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Letting the Problem Go

                                               


                                                  John Robert Howell






Come now.  You clutch that problem to you
           Like a mother might her only child.


You claim it imposed itself upon you,
          But then you say it's yours.


You possess only what God gives you,
          Not some error in your thinking.


Inspired prayer and patient listening
         Will calm and abate any affliction.


You are God's child, perfect now,
          Just the way He made you to be.


Open your thought to this healing message
          And see false beliefs fall away.




                                               

Monday, June 20, 2016

Do You Want to Feel Close to God?



"I've never once felt close to God"


Someone confided recently.


An amazing thing to hear


For those of us who do.


Could this be the problem,


That she, like so many others,


Are trying to find peace and joy


While leaving Christ Jesus out,


Whose essential role they doubt


(If they even think about it at all?)


Our loving Father does want


Us to feel close to Him,


To have all the good


He yearns to give.


But the path there is one --


The one given us all


By His beloved Son.




"I am the way, the truth, and the life:
No man cometh unto the Father,
But by me"
Our Lord and Master said.


          (John 14:6)


Take the teachings of Jesus,


Love them, live them,


And you can't help


But feel close to God.


Nothing concerns our


Health and safety,


Our over all well-being


More than this.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Making a Difference

You can make
Such a difference
In this world of ours.
       Yes, you.
Shall I tell you how?
Take the love Jesus
Lived and taught,
Pour it out
On all you meet,
     Regardless.
A greater life purpose
Cannot be sought.
Its power makes
      Things go,
You and your world
      Will glow.
People need bread,
  Yes, they do.
But they need to
Feel God's love.
Oh, how they do!



Monday, June 6, 2016

A Remarkable Woman







       This Mary Baker Eddy was in my estimation.  She was an influential American author, teacher, and religious leader, noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health which she named Christian Science.  She articulated those ideas in her major work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  Four years later she founded the Church of Christ, Scientist which today has branch churches and societies around the world.


        I wouldn't have the life I now have without the influence of this woman, and will be forever thankful she was brought through all she had to endure in her early years.  "I love Jesus more than any man who ever was or is" she once wrote.  And what drove her on through tribulation was an overwhelming desire to bring to mankind the laws of God that were the basis of Jesus' healing work, and that had saved her from death.


        At one point, Mrs. Eddy was to give a talk in a New England town and some people threatened to blow up the hall.  What did this nineteenth century, refined lady do?  She didn't seek human protection.  In her own words, "I leaned on God, and was safe."


        Of all the inspired words this woman has left, this to me is the most sublime:  "I can endure anything, if I just don't incur His displeasure."


         I'd like to think that my own experiences of deliverance from all kinds of problems, as well as those of thousands of thousands of men and woman who embraced her great discovery would have been enough to repay her for the years of  toil, opposition, friendlessness, poverty,  even hunger at times, as she pushed on to do what she was sure God had called her to do.


        What more can I say about a woman who certainly ranks right up there among heroic Christians in my view.  The indebtedness I feel for the freedom I've gained from physical afflictions alone  (and this is no small thing) gives some idea of how highly I regard this remarkable woman.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Study and Daily Progress







                                                        John Robert Howell












        Ever encouraged by Christ Jesus' life and teachings, who of us does not anticipate beholding each day fresh vistas in the Way to health and holiness, a greater sense of God's love and comfort, security, and a peaceful existence? 




        No doubt if we consulted more regularly and faithfully the map and counsel found in the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, this would occur more frequently.  Paul says in his second epistle to Timothy "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  (2:15)  J. B. Phillips translates this passage:  "concentrate on winning God's approval, on being a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, and who knows how to use the word of truth to the best advantage."  (The New Testament in Modern English)

        Whether we call it concentration or "trying hard" (The New English Bible) spiritual understanding and progress requires effort to attain.  Consecrated, diligent, prayerful study is the way we replace misleading material beliefs with spiritual understanding.  Study is one important way we prime the pump which is our thought.  If this pump isn't primed and kept primed, it won't be able to draw the living, healthful waters of Truth and Life when we need them.  And, thus, we might find it necessary once more to retrace our steps and regain the right path.




        Through individual, habitual study we make the necessary and exciting metaphysical discoveries that reveal the grand truths of God and Christian Science in a way that makes them our own, bases for our thoughts and actions.  This invigorating study also helps to develop our innate spirituality and spiritual sense.  Christians and Christian Scientists are not metaphysical skimmers, those birds who fly just above the water's surface with their long lower bills skimming just beneath the surface for a fish.  Not all fish or knowledge swims so conveniently near the surface, and thus we must often launch out into the deep and cast our nets there.




        Understanding, spiritual growth, and progress do not come through casual effort or even from frequent soaking in refreshing spiritual showers.  The Word must be thoughtfully engaged in quiet hours of "seeking and find."  ("The Mother's Evening Prayer", Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 389:20)  Such study may not, to some, seem appealing or rewarding at first, but it will bear the rich rewards of health, happiness, peace, and satisfaction and become easier and more natural as one persist in it and makes it habitual.  Mrs. Eddy writes:  "Take divine Science.  Read this book from beginning to end.  Study it, ponder it."  (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 559:20-21)




        It might be helpful to touch briefly here on some possibly attractive and less demanding alternative approaches to spiritual growth and progress.  One of these might be called the osmosis/absorption method, whereby one simply dips or immerses himself in truths by attending church services, reading over perfunctorily what others have written on metaphysical topics, and thereby absorbs all the spirituality he thinks or need or can handle.  These are obviously helpful and desirable activities, but to understand and live Truth one needs active, continuing study, a hungering and thirsting for God that will not be denied.  We are not strips of unexposed film which need but one brief exposure to light to imprint Truth, Life, and Love indelibly upon our consciousness.




        Mysticism, mystical revelations, Zen-like meditation, and being prayed for are also not substitutes for study.  Study needs to be an organized, methodical process, a step-by-step, precept by precept understanding of the Science of Christianity, using the Bible and the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy as the primary source works.  It should also be evident that Christian Scientists do not have gurus or spiritual mentors to whom they turn regularly for wisdom, instruction, and knowledge.  Having someone pray for us may be a necessary and welcome aid to healing or help with some problem, and this prayerful support may have an educational benefit as well,  but we cannot be prayed for or grow vicariously as a substitute for our own study and praying to God.






        Perhaps the best known and easily one of the most significant equations of the 20th Century was Einstein's famous E=mc2.  It helps explain, for example, the enormous power within the atom.  Yet,
ridiculously simple as this equation may appear, it could easily take years of study to understand even partially its implications


.            Mrs. Eddy states:  The starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is all-in-all, and that there is not other might nor Mind.--that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle."  (S&H, 275:6-9)  The idea that God is All-in-all also seems fairly easy to grasp intellectually, and yet it can be said that the whole mighty oak of Christian Science grows from this simple acorn of spiritual fact.  A human lifetime of study and thought will not uncover the full import of this one sentence.  Which is but to say that today is none too soon to begin in earnest this study.


        We need to see ourselves as spiritual athletes who work our daily and hourly to increase our spiritual strength and endurance through deep study, consecrated prayer, and calm reflection.  It is in this way the Kingdom of Heaven, harmony, begins and continues to be manifested irrevocably today in our lives, bringing blessings which will exceed our fondest earthly hopes.


   

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Disregarding Jesus Words?

"Not me", you may be saying.


And you may be right.


But we can think we're obeying


What God expects, and not be.


The neglecting of Jesus' words


Can be unbelievably subtle.


Christians we are then in name only,


Who without realizing it,


Are letting the day's distractions


Move what our Master taught


Off the cover of our lives.


You and I then need to stay sharp.



Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Beauty of Selfless Love

        Happened to see a program recently highlighting an animal shelter in the Guatemalan jungle, and I was taken with the men and women primarily saving innocent little creatures from the illegal pet trade. Transcending the worldly concept of beauty, their faces were aglow with the day in, day out giving they do.  The beauty of selfless love writ large.


        Of course, thought went instantly to our supreme example of this, our beloved Christ Jesus, whose teachings admonish us to love, love, love.  And my religion certainly stresses this.  To think of all the men and women through the centuries who have forgotten about themselves to give out kindness and helpfulness to those they encountered in their endeavors. They were and are living reflections of the wondrous love God has for all His creatures.


        And to think that you and I are taking up space on this planet to do the same.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

For His Holy Child

Whatever our work in life


Happens to be,


We should question


Ourselves regularly:






Am I doing what I'm doing


For His holy child or, --


For personal  homage.






The Father's smiles await


Those who get this right.


And more (if more we need)


Blessings galore.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

What Really Governs Us?

        Not to open a political discussion, but the upcoming election here in the United States has caused me to think about who is really in charge of our government. 


        Being that I adhere to the teachings of the Bible and of Christian Science, two statements have been in thought recently, and helped me look at this topic from a higher standpoint. 


        First, as Psalm 22:28 points out:  "The kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations."  Christian Science teaches that the sole governing force of the universe, including man, is God, divine Principle.  He maintains His creation in perfect harmony and righteousness.  There is never a moment when His divine law is not operating, nor can we be deprived of its power.  God's law is good, supreme, and all-inclusive.  He does not share His power with anything or anyone else, for there is none--the human picture to the contrary.


        And these thoughts from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind." Mary Baker Eddy wrote this book.


        Powerful truths these, and they have been giving me a firm basis from which to pray about this issue.  How reassuring it is to know Who really governs us.
       





Sunday, May 1, 2016

Light of Heaven

Candy-pink roses low in cool breeze,
Care-free birds dart in and out of hedges,
Someone mows his lawn in the distance.
Of all the May delights that confront me
As I sit here on stone garden bench,
It's setting-sun rays that get me most --
Light shines on forest floor,
Light plays on trunks of trees,
Light glints off rusting wire fence
A farmer put up long before we moved in.
But there's a thought much higher
Than enchanting light of earth --
It's something Christ Jesus once said:
"I am the light of the world: he that
Followeth after me shall not walk in darkness,
But shall have the light of life."
               (John 8:l2)
The beauty of this Light
Can never fade to black.
Its presence and its power
Followers of His can never lack.






And from Science and Health with Key
               to the Scriptures by
               Mary Baker Eddy:


"Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God:
      first,  in light; second, in reflection; third, in
         spiritual and immortal forms of beauty
                   and goodness."
       

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Loving Jesus











        Someone from another Protestant religion said to me recently, you can't be a Christian Scientist and love Christ Jesus!  Oh?  Well, I beg to differ and this is the way one devoted and indebted Christian Scientist feels about our Lord and Master:








                                                               Loving Jesus






                                                          Loving Jesus as I do,


                                                         Can't help wanting for Him


                                                         What His Father wants --


                                                                  
                                                               Honor,


                                                                      Obedience


                                                                                 Love.






                                                          And I want all to want this


                                                                  For Jesus, too.


                                                                                                                                       




                                 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.;
                                                          hear ye him."


                                                      (Matthew 17:5)
                                              

Monday, April 11, 2016

Christian Science Healing



        The quickest, safest, and most potent remedy for any inharmonious bodily condition is through the teachings of Christian Science.  They make plain the way Christ Jesus healed.


        This knowledge is available to any sincere seeker.  What Christian Science presents makes practical the divine method of deliverance referred to in Jesus' words, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  (John 8:32) The study of divine Science turns the sufferer from the mistaken belief that God is far-off and unavailing, and lifts his thought to see that Christ, the manifestation of God, is ever at hand to set  him free.  The sufferer then has no need of drugs.  And blessedly, no need to undergo so many of the side effects associated therewith.


        In her search for truth, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, perceived that God is the source of all reality and being, and that whatever is contrary to His nature must be considered untrue and unreal, however tangible it may appear.  She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "It is well to be calm in sickness, to be hopeful is still better; but to understand that sickness is not real and that Truth can destroy its seeming reality, is best of all, for this understanding is the universal and perfect remedy." (pages 393, 394)


        Christian Science reiterates with precision and reverence the Master's mighty works.  For this reason it cannot be valued too highly.  Through scientific prayer we heal from a purely metaphysical standpoint, basing our work on the allness of divine Mind, God and the nothingness, the nonexistence, of matter.


        Mrs. Eddy's writings accentuate this sine qua non of divine healing.  She states, "My insistence upon a proper understanding of the unreality  of matter and evil arises from their deleterious effects, physical, moral, and intellectual, upon the race."  She continues at the bottom of the next page:  "What is the cardinal point of the difference in my metaphysical system?  This: that by knowing the unreality of disease, sin, and death, you demonstrate the allness of God.  This difference wholly separates my system from all others.  The reality of these so-called existences I deny, because they are not to be found in God, and this system is built on Him as the sole cause." (Unity of Good, pages 8, 9-10)


        Since bodily discord does not exist as a fact but is only an illusion of material sense, one is  healed as his misconceptions yield to the powerful and corrective Christ, Truth; to the recognition that God is perfect and man is His perfect image and reflection, now and forever.


        The action of Truth bringing light to one's consciousness destroys the darkness of fear and suffering and lifts thought to  behold the all-presence of spiritual harmony.  This corrected mental state is then objectified in one's experience as health and freedom. This is Christian Science healing, and any one of us, anywhere in the world, at any time, can experience it.






   

Monday, April 4, 2016

Keeping Our Thoughts in Him









                                                          John Robert Howell






        Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, like the Bible, is a wondrous book, ever unfolding kaleidoscopic statements of Christian Science. Each thoughtful reading reveals new facets of sentences and paragraphs which have been read dozens, if not, hundreds, of times before.  Only eternity will reveal the whole of it.  All that in a mere 600 pages!


        For example, there is this challenging statement: "Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body."  (411:25-26)  Cherish is an intriguing word.choice. It is likely that its usual meaning is not the most fruitful one.  Here are some others from the Student's Reference Dictionary:  "To treat in a manner to encourage growth, to harbor; to indulge and encourage in the mind."  The word implies active support, which I would hope all Christian Scientists avoid assiduously.  The word harbor, however, is passive--and subtle.  A harbor is where boats seek shelter and moor or tie up.  Are we unconsciously permitting false beliefs, mesmeric suggestions, to dock unchallenged in the harbor of our consciousness?  Such beliefs may reside quietly and unobtrusively for a time, but eventually they begin offloading their malignant cargoes.


        God gave His perfect reflection, man, dominion over error in all its forms.  To cede that dominion would be a sin.  For many, frenetic lifestyles seem to allow little unencroached-upon time for adequate study and prayer.  It usually takes time to calm the agitation of mortal mind before meaningful prayer, communion with God, can take place.  Effective prayer is not a product knitted together in the odd scrapes of time left over from a busy day.  True prayer draws truths from the scabbard of the page, enthrones them in active thought and thereby lets the sword of Truth guard and guide individual experience.  Sufficient quiet time for prayer, keeping our thoughts in Him, ensures that we may realize, and enjoy, our God-given dominion over all error.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

God the Substance of All Things











"How do you grow such flowers?"


My neighbors would ask.


I used to say, "feeding and watering?"


Lest they think I'm a bit odd.


But now I come right out and say,


"I talk to them,


Tell them  how pretty they look,


How well they're doing."


After all, don't most of us


Appreciate a little praise


Every now and then?


But in the final analysis,


It is truly feeling that


It is God Himself who is


The substance of a flower.*








*"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"
             by Mary Baker Eddy,
                   page 508
         

Friday, April 1, 2016

Sonata Celestial






                                              Golden harp standing



                                              Alone in springtime meadow,



                                              God's winds performing.





(A scene on the nightly news, somewhere inTennessee, brought this haiku to thought, also this from Mary Baker Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"Wind:  That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things.")

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Christ's Own

   


All of us who belong to Christ

Do well to remember this:

Tough times are going to come

To all who carry His banner.

As the Bible plainly states:

"Yea, and all that will live

godly in Christ Jesus

shall suffer persecution."*

Opposition to our endeavors

May nearly overwhelm.

Discouragement may drop

Like a concrete block.

But what of it? --

When we know this is fact --

Our Master's ministering angels,

Of which there are legion,

Hover about us day and night,

And outnumber far and far outdo

Whatever the devil's helpers try to do.

And let us not forget this:

It isn't primarily us the devil is after;

It's to interfere with Christ

Working in us to bless others.


*II Timothy 3:12