God's Unspeakable Gift

                                                         John Robert Howell






The muezzin of the infinite and light-enthroned firmament
marked the nightly vigils' silent and meditative hours
of those wakeful, watchful shepherds, Scientific avatars,
who pondered not dusty constellations of earth's deceptions
but the higher lessons witnessed in God's effulgence,
thus to behold the glow of that eldritch eastern star,
herald of Jesus' nativity, Light in the flesh.


That event was once and not to be repeated,
yet for those whose receptive hearts wander wearily
among the darkly lighted trails and travails of mortality
the promise of that holy dawn blesses all eternally.

Is Your Life Complete?

        Some months ago we saw a documentary about Mahatma Gandhi when something the narrator said jumped out at me:  Gandhi, he said, would tell his fellow Hindus, "Unless you study reverentially all the teachings of Jesus, your life will be incomplete."


        So powerful are these teachings, I couldn't  help thinking about the lives of those Indians who were transformed as something Jesus said took roots in their thought.


        My life would certainly not be complete without God's Word.  Life would be lacking joy and peace, and a sense of divine power with which to overcome difficulties that arise.  How have these heavenly sayings impacted my life for good?  How have they not been an influence for good?


        If you have not done so, get a Bible with Christ's words marked in red and begin a thoughtful reading.  You cannot imagine the wonderful things that will happen in your life.

Whose Glory?

When the tempter said he ought


To pursue aims for himself,


Jesus put this evil out of thought.


For our Master was here,


As are you and I,


To be about the Father's business,


To see that God on high


Gets all the glory.


To be right with God,


To keep to the path Jesus trod,


It's good now and then


To ask ourselves,


Am I doing what I'm doing,


That God may get the glory, or --


For personal homage?

Winter Joy

On a yellow tag
identifying variety
of shrub just planted
were these words:
"Winter Joy"

Winter,
a season  full of delights --
crisp, cold days
hot chocolate with
lots of whipped cream
starry nights
woodsmoke in the air
walks with dogs in countryside

But leaving love of nature aside,
there is something much higher:

We are Christ's,
and Christ is God's
Awesome thought!
That we are His

Is this not joy of the highest --
God-given/unfading/ours forever?

Sharing the Good News

        It is such a privilege to be able to share good news through this blog,  I can think of nothing more beneficial to readers than the mention of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This book written by Mary Baker Eddy has done wonders for thousands of people through the years because some kind neighbor or co-worker or family member told of what Christian Science had done for them.


        Recently I was reading the testimonies of healing at the back of the book, 100 pages of the most inspiring accounts of those who had no where else to turn in many cases and were given up as un-healable by the medical profession.  Had it not been for someone bringing this book and its healing truths to their attention, they might well as gone on for years suffering.


        My own mother is a case in point:  she had suffered for many years for a physical problem, an inner ear disturbance kind doctors had tried and failed to alleviate.  One day a neighbor seeing her challenges with two small children to care for came to visit.  She mentioned what this book had done for her and that my mother might find it helpful.  Well, she went to a Christian Science Reading Room and got a copy.  She was only part-way through when she was freed, once and for all, from this problem.  As you can imagine, her joy was unbounded.  She turned away from medicine, of which she had plenty, and enrolled my brother and me in the Sunday School. 


        Other instances I know about was a man who was confined to his bed, unable to even take a drive with his parents.  A neighbor told of this book and that it might help. The book was procured, he began reading, said his healing was not fast, but eventually it came.  And it would have been a difficult thing to find a more energetic, healthy man with a very full life.  He was so grateful to God for what had been done for him, he entered the full-time public practice and for many decades helped others find Christ healing through Christian Science.


        I could go on and on.  But you get the point.  And you just might be one of these individuals ready to investigate a book that could transform your health and set  you free.

On Choosing Lowliness

If the mighty meekness our Master
In his own life exemplified,
Lived, in ours, will keep us
Less responsive to the prince of this world
From avoidable unhappiness free,
Then let us our daily asking be,
Give me, O God, more humility --
That true humility Jesus showed.
Doesn't he seem at times
To be almost hiding himself,
Never trying to be a "star,"
Wanting invariably instead
To see his Father glorified?
So let us choose life's "lowest room,"*
Be unpretentious in what we do and are.
It is this not seeking things for ourselves,
Living to honor not us but Him,
That keeps us from  the pride
That makes of life
Not His heaven, but a hell;
That enables us to walk the Christly path,
Touching other lives perhaps
More widely than we can tell.


(*see Luke 14:7-11)

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?