Knowing what Jesus knew --
Does this not make thought soar
Beyond trivialities,
personalities?
Knowledge already here,
God-given Discovery
Available in a book*
Truths made clear
For all to see.
Finding out what Jesus knew --
Of all earth's fleeting pleasures
Nothing appeals to me more.
*"Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures"
By Mary Baker Eddy
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
The Honest Truth
Some years ago a friend who was a student of Christian Science, as I was and still am, said to me: "Remember, it's the absolute Truth that redeems us." What did he mean by this? That the God-given Truths Christ Jesus gave the world, and the Truth the teachings of Christian Science reiterate, are what redeem us. Redeem us from what? From the false, mortal sense of existence as apart from God, and being in matter.
And how grateful I am to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, that the divine facts given in her master work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" not only have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands over the years, all over the world, but they continue to do so.
Instead of watering down what God gave her to give mankind, she writes in the Preface to this work: "The author has not compromised conscience to suit the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and honestly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so infinite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated cases of healing, she and her students have proved the worth of her teachings."
I and so many others are the beneficiaries of the honest Truth found in her book.
And how grateful I am to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, that the divine facts given in her master work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" not only have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands over the years, all over the world, but they continue to do so.
Instead of watering down what God gave her to give mankind, she writes in the Preface to this work: "The author has not compromised conscience to suit the general drift of thought, but has bluntly and honestly given the text of Truth. She has made no effort to embellish, elaborate, or treat in full detail so infinite a theme. By thousands of well-authenticated cases of healing, she and her students have proved the worth of her teachings."
I and so many others are the beneficiaries of the honest Truth found in her book.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
When we find ourselves there
and we can't see a way through,
we can look in God's direction.
He always knows what to do.
Can anything that comes up
in our day to day
baffle the Creator of all?
No, never. He can clear the way.
"In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct
thy paths"
we are told in Proverbs.
Doing this will bring solutions
we, unaided, just cannot see.
Then let us, dear Lord,
be turning ever more to Thee.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Christ-Healing Requires Christly Love
People will pray to God to heal them of some difficulty. But do they fulfill their part by loving as His Son did and taught others to do?
This is what our loving, heavenly Father expects of us. And what Christ Jesus makes abundantly clear in his teachings. For instance, the thirteenth chapter of John contains these words of Jesus: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
Christly loving of our fellow beings is the basis for spiritual healing, as the life of our Master demonstrated. His healings exemplified the nature of God as tender, understanding Love, who knows what we have need of before we ask Him. Christ-healing is based on this knowledge of God and man, and faith in and understanding of divine Love constitute the healing power of all prayer in Christian Science.
While there are probably many reasons why we are sometimes less loving than we would like to be, one thing is certain, we all can express more Christly affection. They study and practice of Christian Science bring increased spiritual insights that lead to an increase in spiritual love. This religion shows that as God's expression, His image and likeness, we have the ability to love; it is natural to each one of us. Understanding this encourages us to see our fellow beings as they truly are--as God's man, the perfect, sinless, pure, loving reflection of God. This is the real spiritual identity of each one of us. And no matter how ungodlike someone may seem to be, we can know that right there is God's perfect, spiritual child.
This recognition enables us to feel more healing, compassion toward others. Why? Because in the consciousness where Christly love predominates, the divine is embracing the human. And this actually causes our hearts to change in a wonderful, tangible way. As we make earnest and consistent efforts to "put off the old man" (to use St. Paul's phrase), we find ourselves, to our joy and delight, feeling something of the warmth and tenderness that animated Jesus. We feel the restorative, healing Christ surrounding us and those we deal with. This helps us to see through limiting, spiritually unenlightened views of our ourselves and others that would keep kind words unspoken and loving deeds undone.
Some people may feel at times that there is something a little weak about being warm and loving--something that strong, self-reliant people just don't do. But think about Jesus. Where have we ever had an example of a more courageous yet tenderhearted person? Having a heart that overflowed with love didn't interfere with his moral courage or healing power or dynamic spirituality one bit.
To be caring, and loving toward others can demand great spiritual stamina at times. But even if we have to pace the floors in prayer in order to conform to what the Master requires of us, through the power of Christ we can gain forgiveness and healing love.
Mary Baker Eddy points out in Miscellaneous Writings, "A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God."
Wonderful, healing words to think about here.
This is what our loving, heavenly Father expects of us. And what Christ Jesus makes abundantly clear in his teachings. For instance, the thirteenth chapter of John contains these words of Jesus: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
Christly loving of our fellow beings is the basis for spiritual healing, as the life of our Master demonstrated. His healings exemplified the nature of God as tender, understanding Love, who knows what we have need of before we ask Him. Christ-healing is based on this knowledge of God and man, and faith in and understanding of divine Love constitute the healing power of all prayer in Christian Science.
While there are probably many reasons why we are sometimes less loving than we would like to be, one thing is certain, we all can express more Christly affection. They study and practice of Christian Science bring increased spiritual insights that lead to an increase in spiritual love. This religion shows that as God's expression, His image and likeness, we have the ability to love; it is natural to each one of us. Understanding this encourages us to see our fellow beings as they truly are--as God's man, the perfect, sinless, pure, loving reflection of God. This is the real spiritual identity of each one of us. And no matter how ungodlike someone may seem to be, we can know that right there is God's perfect, spiritual child.
This recognition enables us to feel more healing, compassion toward others. Why? Because in the consciousness where Christly love predominates, the divine is embracing the human. And this actually causes our hearts to change in a wonderful, tangible way. As we make earnest and consistent efforts to "put off the old man" (to use St. Paul's phrase), we find ourselves, to our joy and delight, feeling something of the warmth and tenderness that animated Jesus. We feel the restorative, healing Christ surrounding us and those we deal with. This helps us to see through limiting, spiritually unenlightened views of our ourselves and others that would keep kind words unspoken and loving deeds undone.
Some people may feel at times that there is something a little weak about being warm and loving--something that strong, self-reliant people just don't do. But think about Jesus. Where have we ever had an example of a more courageous yet tenderhearted person? Having a heart that overflowed with love didn't interfere with his moral courage or healing power or dynamic spirituality one bit.
To be caring, and loving toward others can demand great spiritual stamina at times. But even if we have to pace the floors in prayer in order to conform to what the Master requires of us, through the power of Christ we can gain forgiveness and healing love.
Mary Baker Eddy points out in Miscellaneous Writings, "A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God."
Wonderful, healing words to think about here.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Free
(If the Son shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed.)
John 8:36
It keeps happening,
I'm happy to say,
When desire to do what
God knows is best
Becomes paramount,
Circumstances change,
Often amazingly fast.
We're removed from places
We no longer need to be.
Things we no longer
Need to do just fall away.
Life becomes simpler, free --
The way our dear Father
Wants it to be.
ye shall be free indeed.)
John 8:36
It keeps happening,
I'm happy to say,
When desire to do what
God knows is best
Becomes paramount,
Circumstances change,
Often amazingly fast.
We're removed from places
We no longer need to be.
Things we no longer
Need to do just fall away.
Life becomes simpler, free --
The way our dear Father
Wants it to be.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Oportunities Without End
Why accept limited opportunity
to be and do
what God created His child
to be and do?
Infinite Mind, God knows
no limitation whatever.
Limited good, or finiteness
has to do with a false, mortal
concept of man only.
To think that endless opportunities for usefulness
stretch before us!
"God's being is infinity, freedom,
harmony and boundless bliss."*
And so is that of His reflection, man.
You and me,
Forever more.
*"Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
to be and do
what God created His child
to be and do?
Infinite Mind, God knows
no limitation whatever.
Limited good, or finiteness
has to do with a false, mortal
concept of man only.
To think that endless opportunities for usefulness
stretch before us!
"God's being is infinity, freedom,
harmony and boundless bliss."*
And so is that of His reflection, man.
You and me,
Forever more.
*"Science and Health with Key to the
Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
Stamina For Life's Work
How to work at capacity day after day and not get worn down by it is a question many face these days. Across the board, people seem to be busier than ever. Can one lead a super demanding life without paying the price in fatigue?
There is an effective way to combat fatigue. The teachings of Christian Science, in harmony with the Bible, invite us to learn of God as inexhaustible Spirit, as the one infinite Mind, which is never limited or depleted. The Bible asks, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" When we come to realize that man is the very expression of God, made in His likeness, as the Bible teaches, we begin to see a spiritual basis for overcoming weariness.
Your real identity and mine is not material; it is spiritual, because our creator is Spirit. This selfhood is characterized by such God-derived qualities as inspiration, energy, strength, and vitality. It is refreshing to realize that our real nature already includes all these qualities. And knowing how natural it is for us to express the strength and stamina God imparts can take some of the strain out of work. It can lift the sense of burden and heaviness from our day-to-day responsibilities.
Mary Baker Eddy, ,the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "When we reach out limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality."
When duties seem exhausting to us, there is something specific we can do that invigorates more thoroughly than physical rest. We can affirm in prayer our unity with Mind and insist on our God-given authority over weariness. This strong stand for the spiritual reality of our being, held to, invariably brings relief. Appealing to the law of God, Spirit, inexhaustible Life, overrules belief in the inevitability of fatigue, unfinished projects, and loss of joy in what we're doing. In fact, turning to God for help will not only lift weariness; through the freshness divinely imparted we'll have even more energy than usual.
Something else that will help us maintain a high level of activity and usefulness in our career is expressing humility--the kind of sublime humility that shines through Christ Jesus' words "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." As our Master illustrated for us in his life and teachings, man's reason for existing is to reflect God, to express the spiritual qualities that constitute his true selfhood and that glorify the creator. Acknowledging God as the sole source of action, ability, intelligence honors Him, and it does wonders for one's whole experience. As you and I look to God, exhaustless divine Life, for renewal, energy, support, and stamina, we'll find ourselves demonstrating the staying power we need in order to fulfill a demanding schedule. And we'll keep our joy and enthusiasm in the process.
There is an effective way to combat fatigue. The teachings of Christian Science, in harmony with the Bible, invite us to learn of God as inexhaustible Spirit, as the one infinite Mind, which is never limited or depleted. The Bible asks, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" When we come to realize that man is the very expression of God, made in His likeness, as the Bible teaches, we begin to see a spiritual basis for overcoming weariness.
Your real identity and mine is not material; it is spiritual, because our creator is Spirit. This selfhood is characterized by such God-derived qualities as inspiration, energy, strength, and vitality. It is refreshing to realize that our real nature already includes all these qualities. And knowing how natural it is for us to express the strength and stamina God imparts can take some of the strain out of work. It can lift the sense of burden and heaviness from our day-to-day responsibilities.
Mary Baker Eddy, ,the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "When we reach out limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality."
When duties seem exhausting to us, there is something specific we can do that invigorates more thoroughly than physical rest. We can affirm in prayer our unity with Mind and insist on our God-given authority over weariness. This strong stand for the spiritual reality of our being, held to, invariably brings relief. Appealing to the law of God, Spirit, inexhaustible Life, overrules belief in the inevitability of fatigue, unfinished projects, and loss of joy in what we're doing. In fact, turning to God for help will not only lift weariness; through the freshness divinely imparted we'll have even more energy than usual.
Something else that will help us maintain a high level of activity and usefulness in our career is expressing humility--the kind of sublime humility that shines through Christ Jesus' words "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." As our Master illustrated for us in his life and teachings, man's reason for existing is to reflect God, to express the spiritual qualities that constitute his true selfhood and that glorify the creator. Acknowledging God as the sole source of action, ability, intelligence honors Him, and it does wonders for one's whole experience. As you and I look to God, exhaustless divine Life, for renewal, energy, support, and stamina, we'll find ourselves demonstrating the staying power we need in order to fulfill a demanding schedule. And we'll keep our joy and enthusiasm in the process.
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