Monday, October 23, 2017

What God Does For Us

Our heavenly Father does for us
 no one else can. do.
The things He brings us through --
Bodily disorders of all descriptions,
Tormenting fears of many things,
For those times we don't know
what we're going to do,
gives us just the right answers,
Healing of injuries we know about,
Calls too close to be aware.
Forget to be grateful?
Do we dare
when His Son was
always thanking Him,
And commended that leper
who turned back "to give God the glory"?
On top of this, our loving Father
has enclosed us in Himself permanently.

  
Given all this,
       can He be
               thanked,
                       praised,
                             loved enough?


Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Overcoming Envy

        A college student I know likes her life just fine--until a more talented, and/or better-looking girl appears on the scene.  Then feelings of comparison, envy, and depression roll in, eroding her self-confidence.




        My friend is not alone.  Many people have a struggle not to feel envious of the success and accomplishments of others.




        Christ Jesus addressed this problem in his parable of the prodigal son, in which the older son begrudged the good things that the father bestows on the repentant younger brother.  The father's words of assurance to his jealous son point to a vital spiritual truth of God and man that can be helpful to the person dealing with envy.  He says, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." (Luke 15:31)




        Christian Science, which follows the teachings of the Master, helps us see that man's actual being is made  in God's likeness, is the spiritual, eternal offspring of God.  So man is in full possession of every Godlike quality essential to joy, dominion, purpose, and fulfillment.  These are not gifts occasionally bestowed on certain individuals by a heavenly Father who loves some more than others.  They are bestowed on all God's creation impartially.  "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals" Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 13 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. 
        For the person beset by feelings of inadequacy and envy, the knowledge of his completeness as the child of God--endowed with just as much ability to reflect God's all-encompassing nature as any of His children--brings freedom from the misery of unfulfilled hopes and unnecessary comparisons. It awakens one to realize that all the good one can possibly need for happiness and well-being is already his; that God, divine Mind, is forever expressing Himself in man.  The prophet says of God's purpose for each one of us.  "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." (Isaiah 43:21)




        Instead of wasting precious time envying the good other people do, how much more rewarding it is--for ourselves and for mankind--to get busy expressing our own unique spiritual purpose.  Accepting the fact that God created us to show forth His nature, and recognizing that as His image we reflect unlimited ability, inspires us to develop to the full our God-given potential.


        If, then, we're struggling with feelings of envy, we might consider these two Bible-based spiritual truths:  (1)  Our true selfhood is God's perfect expression, inseparable from His eternal, all-encompassing care and therefore already in possession of all good.  (2)  Our purpose is to manifest God's attributes in continuous, satisfying activity.


        Understanding these potent truths, striving to develop our own God-bestowed abilities and individuality, we'll find ourselves no longer cast down by the thought of another's accomplishments but rather feeling satisfied and complete.






       

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Getting Along - Jesus' Way

Okay, so the other guy started it,
And you're going to finish it.
While giving it right back to him
May be satisfying, for a time,
Don't do it.
Returning evil for evil
Is like putting Miracle Grow
On your flowerbeds.
There's a better way to
Get along with people --
The way God expects.
"Love your enemies, bless them
That curse you, do good to them
That hate you, and pray for them
Which despitefully use you,
And persecute you"
Our blessed Master said.
        (Matthew 5:44)
Doing what the Prince of Peace
says to do never fails;
It stops strife in its tracks,
Leaves everyone better off.
Even makes a friend where
An enemy seemed to be.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

A Profitable Study

(My last blog mentioned the wonderful proofs of God's healing power found at the end of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  Following is one such experience found on pages 694 through 696)




        It may help others to know that some one was really healed of severe illness through Christian Science.  It is over nine years since we first becomes interested in the Science, and it would be hard to find a healthier person than I am now.  I can go all day from morning till night, upheld by the thought that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." I can truly say that I scarcely know what physical weariness is any more.  Before I came into Science the physicians said that one lung was gone, and the other was affected with tuberculosis, so, from their standpoint, there was little left for me to hope for.  We had tried every remedy that they had suggested. I had gone to the mountains, but could not stay there on account of the altitude; and when they did not know what to do, they said we would better go to England--that the ocean air would be beneficial.  So we spent three months in the British Isles, and when I came back I seemed much better, but this only lasted a short time.  In little more than a month I was worse than ever, and my mother was told that I had but a few weeks, or at most months, to live.


        At that time, a lady, a stranger to us, suggested that we try Christian Science.  There was no prejudice against it, as we did not even know what it was.  We knew of no Scientists in the Western town where we were living, and when we were told that we could send to Kansas City for absent treatment, we thought it was absurd.  We were then told that many people had been healed through reading of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, and to us this seemed a little worse than  the absent treatment, but as we had tried everything we had heard of up that time, mother sent for the book.


        It came in the middle of October and we began to read it together.  It seemed to me from the first that it was something had always believed, but did not know how to express--it seemed such a natural thing. My improvement was very gradual, but I felt I was recovering.  After the Christmas holidays I started in at school and went the whole term without missing a day,--something I had never done before.  I finished my school course without missing a day--in fact, I have not spent a day in bed since that time.  I feel absolutely certain that I have two sound,  healthy lungs  now. The hollows in my chest have filled out, and I breathe perfectly on both sides; rarely have cold to meet, and have not a sign of a cough.


        People sometimes say, "Oh, well, maybe you never had consumption."  Well, I had all the symptoms, and they are every one gone through the reading of Science Health.


E.L.B.  Chicago, Ill.