The trouble tree

I couldn't help but chuckle when reading the below story sent in by a reader today.

We all need a tree

I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.

On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family.

As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car.

We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

"Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again."

"Funny thing is," he smiled," when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."


When I finished reading this, I thought, "And even better yet, hang your troubles up with God when you come home, and there won't be any to pick up in the morning when returning to work!" It's interesting how when we put our cares in the lap of the Lord, they tend to diminish in importance, thought relaxes, opens to new perspective, and solutions appear that otherwise seemed hidden from view. It's the miracle of spiritual trust and faith at work.

Concerned about obesity?

I have a new blog posted on tmcyouth.com titled, “Is obesity contagious?”

It begins:

“Have you heard the recent news about gaining weight? Researchers claim that obesity is contagious!

Their report states that it matters who your friends are, explaining that people gain weight or slim down according to the girth of neighbors and relatives they associate with…."

Click here to read more.

Shirley and Marcy

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't
want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.

The neighbor said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.

The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor boy he knew.

She did this for the whole week.

As the boys walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.

Finally, he said to Timmy, "Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?" Timmy nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, I know who she is."

The friend said, "Well, who is she?"

"That's just Shirley Goodnest," Timmy replied, "and her daughter Marcy."

"Shirley Goodnest? Who is she and why is she following us?"

"Well," Timmy explained, "every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!"


May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always too!

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Psalms 23

The right kind of light

Light is light, right?

Wrong.

There are different kinds of light, I’ve learned from my family’s recent visit to the Lewis and Clark caverns in Montana. And depending upon the light you’re relying upon to see, you take in different sights. It’s quite an amazing concept to consider from a metaphysical point of view.

The Lewis and Clark caverns are a series of caves, tunnels, and caverns that weave deep into the mountainside of southern Montana. The cathedral rooms and openings along the way are filled with geological wonders and marvels.

When we began the tour, rock formations were all different shades of brown, from pure luminescent light shades to deep dark chocolate. But near the end of the trek, the guide suddenly announced how thrilled she was to show us the next cathedral room because it had the latest in lighting technology installed. The light most nearly approximated sunlight of any artificial light they could put in, she explained.

As we entered the room, we all oohed and awed because hues of red that we had never seen before were dripping from the walls. No more dull brown! The room was radiant with color. They were the same type of rocks but different light, and an incredibly different view. She pointed out that incandescent light, which was used in all the previous rooms, does not allow one to see all the colors there are to see in those dark settings. Use the right kind of light, and you get the right kind of view, we learned.

I pondered the lesson for everyday life.

I wondered, “How often do we walk through life in boredom and dullness of thought because we’re looking at the scene about us through a lacking light?” By lacking light, I mean a light that does not reveal the full picture.

For example, Christian Science teaches that we are living in the Kingdom of heaven now. Most people don’t believe this because they look at life from a material point of view. They believe that matter is real and defines their existence, and this false belief would be a “lacking light” that paints a picture of dullness and depravity to their sense of things, realized. It’s not the truth, but nonetheless, to the one who believes the illusion, to the one who walks in the lacking light, that’s what he sees. And the Kingdom is not apparent to their view.

Another person could walk through the same environment they did, but experience great joy and health because they look at the environment with a more inspired light.

We need to be mentally walking in the right light, the Light of Truth, to see the Kingdom all about, I decided.

Material light, artificial light, even sunlight, is not adequate to reveal the Kingdom. The Kingdom is Spirit, found in Mind, and the light of Christian Science reveals the eternal Life we possess from living in this Kingdom as children of God. I filled with gratitude to have this light of Christian Science to walk in.

As Jesus preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How close is your hand?

Very very close.

And that’s how close the Kingdom is.

So, I decided to pay more attention to what light I mentally walked in. No more lacking light for me! I protested. I could choose to walk in the light of Spirit.

So, I’d recommend to anyone, “Walk in the divine light today, the light of Truth, and you’ll see a spectacular array of spiritual wealth, substance, and joy-producing phenomena all around. This infinite good was there all along, but it takes the light of Christian Science to see it. And you have that light. It’s readily available in Science and Health.

Enjoy the view!

Llamas, storms and finding the good

Part of our family’s excursion to Yellowstone Park last week was a three day expedition with llamas into the back wilderness north of the Park. It was an experience to remember for a lifetime… Llamas are cool!

On the second day of the hike, we set out for Big Horn Pass, which was the summit point of the trip. We had perfect weather for hiking all morning. It was a thrill watching elk graze with their little ones and mountain sheep leap among the rocks on sheer cliffs.

At the top, we ate lunch, watched more wildlife, and ogled over the spectacular view, but our stay was brief, for a mass of storm clouds moved in unexpectedly. Even the guide was taken by surprise.

We threw on our rain clothes and no sooner did we turn to descend down the steep incline, but Armageddon broke out all around us. Winds roared, rain came at us sideways, lightning zapped the terrain hundreds of feet from where we stood and thunder shook the ground.

Before every family trip, we pray together for successful travels. We share spiritual reasons as to why we’ll stay happy, healthy and united every day, every minute and we list truths we can hold to while traveling. One of the themes we agreed to work on daily was, “Always be grateful for the good!”

As we slipped and sloshed down the mountain slope, while pummeled by rain which turned to hail, surrounded by lightening so close you could reach out and grab the bolts with your hand, and a rapidly disappearing path filled with maddening torrents of muddy water pulling our feet out from under us, I started to list all the good things happening at that moment that we had to be grateful for.

I realized that many people might think the experience was a bad one. “Why me?” they might lament. But I did not see bad or danger anywhere.

Looking back, I was filled with joy and gratitude. A smile was on my face as I enumerated all the good happening at that moment. I refused to allow my thinking to nosedive into fear and anger. This was an incredibly enriching adventure for our children and our family, I believed. But I had to keep thinking on the reasons why.

Even though trees were sparse and we frequently seemed like the closest point for lightening to reach, I knew the electric current would not touch us. God’s lightening serves useful and worthwhile purposes, I affirmed. It could not be destructive, and the divine design for mutual harmony between all of God’s creation would assure our safety and well being, I felt confident.

“Good is happening here!” I declared.

I thought about a man I was told about who suffered a severe stroke. He went from being very active to being stuck in a wheelchair, barely able to move and talk. What few words he could utter were often “Isn’t this good!” Visitors would listen in disbelief for they saw nothing good about his predicament. But he would insist, “Isn’t this good!” He was a practicing Christian Scientist relying upon Truth to heal the effects of the stroke. He fully recovered, and when he could talk again he explained that he had said, “Isn’t this good,” because he knew God was working out a good purpose in him. That he would come out of the experience, better, stronger, more spiritually minded and closer to God than ever before. And that is exactly what happened.

“What good was happening in the midst of this storm?” I pondered.

For one thing, our children were learning the value of proper preparation, to not underestimate Mother Nature, and to not be naïve about weather conditions in wilderness areas. But even more importantly, I thought, this sudden outbreak of force could be used as a life-lesson.

Surprises come forcefully in school, in business, and in family at times. If we look at them the right way, we will not dread them or capitulate to fear. We’ll look for the good happening and become a better person. This storm would serve to strengthen our children’s understanding, attitude and outlook on how to deal with adversity without letting it overcome them.

The children were learning not to fear, to trust, to be strong, to buck-up and do what needed to be done with due diligence. The storm was not evil. The lightening was not a threat. The soaking rain would not hurt us. Even the hail was bouncing off harmlessly. (Just don’t look up!) We would survive just fine, I knew for a fact. We were hiking in Love, and Love was all around. There was no danger to our well being.

We had two young llamas in training that had never had an experience like this, but they performed marvelously and fearlessly, following close on our heels each step of the way, more surefooted than we were.

The noise was so loud we could not talk amongst ourselves. We occasionally gave a thumbs-up to our guide to let him know we were okay.

Down the steep mountain slope we descended, a very united and determined party.

Twenty minutes later, the fury halted, the skies cleared and we all stood in a circle smiling and laughing with each other at our hasty retreat from above,--the slips, the falls, the mud all over us, how well the llamas performed, and the memories we’d treasure forever.

Good was happening.

After the storm

Sometimes, the onslaught of mortal mind can be fast and furious, catching us off guard, but if we keep the bigger picture firmly in view, that God reigns over all, we can find the good to be discerned and not let evil suggestions overwhelm our perspective. It’s a healing way to approach life, and it makes the going much more enjoyable.

Eli, one of our guides, and a wet llama!

Look for the good, and you’ll find it, even amidst the worst of storms.

Our three guides and their llamas

Avoid the blindness of materialism

While headed to Yellowstone Park for a vacation, my family stopped at the Lewis and Clark caverns in southern Montana. Wow! What an incredible panorama of rock formations these caves have to offer. If you’re ever driving through the area, I highly recommend taking the tour.

At one point in the tour, our group was 325 feet below the surface of where we entered the caverns. It’s an amazing and long winding trip that takes one through several runs, cathedral rooms, down beaver alley (a sit down on your bottom and slip down the narrow glistening smooth rock-slide that has been shaped to the angular outline of the human buttocks from much use), to the pristine pool of water, to hundred of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, slow flow water, bacon, water falls and much more.

In one room, as typical with most cave tours, the guide had us turn off all lights and cover all luminescent objects, including the blinking lights on kid’s sneakers. When the room went pitch dark, everyone oohed and awed at how dense the darkness was. You could not see your hand in front of your eyes, it was so pitch black. Then our leader lighted a single candle in an old-fashioned mining lantern, and she told us the story of Ralph Pierny (sp?).

Ralph had been a CCC (civil conservation corp) worker back in the 1930s when the cave was being prepared for tours. Ralph had other plans though, that stepped out of the bounds of his responsibilities. He was going to steal some of the stalactite formations to take back home to Ohio and sell for personal profit.

One Friday, after work was finished for the week, he snuck back into the Cavern alone to loot his booty. Deep in the Caverns, busily about his dishonest deed, the single candle he had brought with him burned out. And there he stood in absolute darkness with no other means of light.

The guide explained that the human mind cannot compute darkness and begins to hallucinate after a period of time. We all tried to imagine what we would do if stuck in that cavern 300 feet below the surface of the ground with absolutely no light.

In the dark, we could not see anything. We didn’t know what direction to turn, where the alley out was located, what rocks to avoid tripping on, what holes in the ground to avoid. We couldn’t do anything. We’d be stuck, maybe forever! And that’s exactly the situation that Ralph found himself.

Three days passed for Ralph, until Monday morning when roll call was taken outside, and the work party realized Ralph was missing. They sent a search party into the cave, and found him alive, a bit dehydrated, but otherwise, quite fine. Ralph confessed his criminal intent and said he never wanted to experience that again. At times he was lying on the floor and thought he was standing up, the darkness was so confusing, he relayed.

I pondered the guide’s statement of “the human mind cannot compute darkness,” for days afterward.

I thought about different kinds of darkness the human mind often faces other than pitch black in a cave, like immorality, greed, and self-centeredness.

How was Ralph so stupid to take only one candle, I wondered? I decided it was because he was blinded by his dishonest intent. And this is true with all crimes. The criminal eventually, if not from the start, makes major errors in judgments and calculation because he is walking in mental blindness to some degree.

I thought about the blindness of dense sensualism--thought so engrossed in physical sensation that it loses touch with Spirit. I considered the blindness of selfishness, hate, anger, rampant consumerism, and materialism, the belief of living in matter. When thought is absorbed into the belief that happiness, life, mind, and substance is in the flesh, it loses touch with reality, and starts floundering around as if in darkness, just like Ralph trying to find his way out of the cave without light. He could not.

We need light to find direction and stay alive, I concluded. We need a shining hope outside of ourselves to survive.

Ralph could not save himself. He needed help.

We need help too. We need God to save us from the darkness of mortality. Christ is the light God sent to deliver us from evil, and Christian Science is the Christ-light shining brilliantly today leading mankind out of the pit of error into the glorious dawn of Truth.

I’m grateful to know my Light. I’m grateful to know my Light will never burn out or forsake me. I’m grateful to know the Light is wherever I am, even before I get there, and will never fail to lead me to where I need to be.

The story of Ralph Pierny has been a powerful teaching tool for our children who heard and experienced the account firsthand on the cavern tour. My wife and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to illustrate the various types of darkness for them to avoid in coming decades as they learn to lead ethical and spiritually progressive lives.

I will not soon forget the saga of Ralph Pierny either!

The error, which says that Soul is in body, Mind is in matter, and good is in evil, must unsay it and cease from such utterances; else God will continue to be hidden from humanity, and mortals will sin without knowing that they are sinning, will lean on matter instead of Spirit, stumble with lameness, drop with drunkenness, consume with disease, — all because of their blindness, their false sense concerning God and man. Mary Baker Eddy

The weather of divine Love

I’ve often told people who are preparing to travel and are fearful about what they might find at their appointed destination that they take their environment with them. Environment is not a state of matter, but of Mind, and Mind is everywhere, I explain. What is true in Mind where you begin is true about Mind where you end up. So, one way to work for a successful trip is to know the truth about Mind’s harmonious universe before you leave. Because you will find where you end up what you take with you along the way. I had a chance to prove this truism recently.

My family and I headed to Yellowstone Park last week for a vacation. One of our anticipated trip highlights was hiking deep into the backwoods with llamas. Yes llamas! During our drive to Yellowstone we weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived, for fires were raging out of control all over this part of the country, including the Yellowstone Park region.

As we drove up our first morning to meet our llama outfitter, we remarked amongst ourselves that we needed to pray more for the fires to cease and skies to clear so the forest would be saved and, for selfish reasons, we could see the scenery while hiking! The horizon was filled with smoke and haze from fires near and far.

We had watched the weather forecast the night before, and there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight on the radar screen all the way out into the Pacific Ocean, many hundreds of miles away. So, in my own prayers, I thought, “God’s skies are clear, and God’s forests are safe. There is more than one way for divine Love to keep the atmosphere clear. And rain clouds don’t have to show up on a radar screen first before there’s hope of relief.”

When we arrived at our designated trailhead, met our trail guides and befriended the llamas, we headed off to hike the first 6 miles of our adventure. No sooner did we begin walking, but a gentle breeze blew our way, and within a short period of time, all smoke in the valley was gone. The view was spectacular and awesome. Plus, in 85 degree weather, the breeze felt wonderful.

In my quiet way, I praised God’s good, marveled at His beautiful creation and enjoyed the lively company each footstep of our trek up the long majestic valley. The day was filled with joy, increased appreciation and love for God’s picturesque and beautiful universe, and with gratitude to be a part of it.

The mountain we were headed for in the far background

That evening, after we had made camp, ate dinner and washed up, no sooner had we tucked ourselves in for the night in our tent, but it started to rain, and it continued to rain on and off all night. The next morning, our guides were thrilled with the wet conditions declaring it was the first time in over a month they had seen water coming from the sky, and of course, was so needed to put out nearby blazes. The next night it poured and poured, and from brief news reports I’ve seen since, the drenching put out all local fires. As we toured the vast Park later, the skies were pristine clear, and not a fire to be seen or smoke to be viewed from anywhere. We were immensely grateful to God for the beautiful views and safe environment.

From what I understand, we all need to pray for the rest of Montana to be wild fire-free too, for there are still many blazes further up north. But I rejoice in this one small proof of relief coming in most unexpected ways and from seemingly out of nowhere. We left home in peace, back in Washington, and we found peace where we ended up here in Yellowstone.

I realized more clearly in my prayers that fire does not have to be destructive, and lightning does not have to be dangerous. Every activity and action in the universe of Mind serves a useful and peaceful purpose, all blending together in one harmonious whole. There is no room or space for hurt and harm amongst God’s creatures and creation, and this is the mental environment we all can experience more of.

And the above is only the beginning of the story I have yet to tell!

More trip blogs to come….

One of our new llama friends!

What does God need to know to heal you?

I have a new blog posting on tmcyouth.com titled "Does God need to know about your problem?"

If you've ever wondered what God needs to know, and maybe doesn't need to know in order to heal you, this blog may answer some of your questions!

The bigger picture

When you read the headlines in the US these days, you would think the most important events going on in the world are the Iraq war and the upcoming presidential primaries. These are certainly significant activities, and need to be honored and valued, especially a quick and appropriate resolution of the war. But it occurred to me recently that there is a bigger development going on in the world that we often lose sight of. And it’s a spiritualization of thought that leads people to see, eventually, that life is ever new and safe in God.

In thinking back on my early years, I was raised on a family farm where there always seemed to be some calamity or difficulty that needed to be mastered. Either a frost hit the apples, or hallow heart (a brown cavity in the middle of the spud) struck the potato crop, or interest rates were sky high, or yields were down, or the price of crops plunged. There was frequently some pressing need of the moment that seemed to eclipse everything else in life if we let it. Focus on those troubles often kept attention mesmerized in a state of despair and possibly forgetting the bigger perspective, that no matter what happened on the farm, life would go on.

And it did. Life always went on. We survived every year, every calamity, every catastrophe, and every disaster. A new year always showed up, a fresh start always presented itself, and the opportunity to prosper and succeed never left. Through often incredible patience, perseverance and persistent faith, we flourished over the long run.

When watching the news, I like to remind myself that there is more going on in the world than the news anchors report. There is always an undercurrent of Truth at work sustaining us regardless of what happens materially. Wars, political debates, and weather present challenges that we must face and resolve, but we must never lose the spiritual perspective and believe that any of these troubles are the sum total of existence. There is always a bigger picture to appreciate and remember than the material senses present.

There is a God that helps us. There is a Life that never ends. And there is a Mind that protects and saves us eternally. We are spiritual beings living a spiritual life that we never lose, no matter what mortality throws at us. There is a spiritual reality that prevails, survives and thrives forever.

I learn from this to mentally stay in divine reality so dismay over things gone awry in the temporal does not overtake my thinking and cast me into a pit of despair. Truth is always the victor, and it’s only a question of time and spiritual growth that this is proven to be true.

As was true back on the farm, there was always a fresh New Year right around the corner. Trials were left behind, and new opportunities were embraced that demonstrated the infinite renewal of Spirit.

Politicians will debate for eons to come, conflict will demand resolution, and chaos will cry out for order and peace, but through it all, Truth will prevail. Life in Spirit will continue to thrive and survive, and present endless opportunities for humanity to progress and continue growing closer to that final day when all faith in evil is left behind and the omnipresence of good and divine Love is fully accepted and experienced. Heaven!

What lies within

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The second death

A number of people asked me this week about the second death mentioned in Revelation 11:2.

The verse states:

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

The verse is included in the Christian Science Bible lesson for this past week on the subject of Spirit.

I’ve always interpreted the second death as the recurrent death that happens to mortals who have not yet discovered Life in Spirit after having passed from earth. And logic implies that there may be a third death, a fourth death, and so on, until the belief of life in matter is totally conquered.

Heaven is not a place people die into, I've always believed. It’s a state of Mind we grow into through increased spiritual understanding, whether the growth is accomplished here or hereafter.

From what I know, Jesus Christ did not teach that we die into heaven. His example taught the opposite, that death is to be conquered in order to discover heaven. That’s why he went through the crucifixion and then came back with the resurrection, to prove that death is not real.

Life is real and eternal. And he said, “Follow me.” In other words, Follow me in my demonstration of Life, and conquer death so you can discover heaven too.”

A lesson gained from death is the truth that there is no death. Mortals go through the experience only to learn they never died. And then existence goes on. As Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science wrote,

“As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needed change.”

We all have to conquer sin, disease and death through Christ. First sin and disease must be proven unreal, then death will disappear.

The "second death" is not anything to fear or worry about, but the mention of it by the Revelator John, who saw beyond the veil of matter to all things to come and all things that had passed, is proof that we need to be working out the problem of being now. We do not die and then get magically popped into paradise. There is spiritual work to be done first.

Heaven is a state of Mind discernible here and now. We find it in Life, in Spirit, where there is no death, no matter, and no end of anything good.

I take heart in knowing that in Spirit, there is no first death or second death. There is no death at all, only eternal Life.

We can live Life now. We don't have to wait. And then we see that the so-called “second death,” is not even a remote or far off possibility, for in Life there is no death. Only on-going good.

How perceptive are you?

My wife and I needed to replace the wood stove on the lower level of our cabin in the Blue Mountains this year for it has become a safety hazard. So, last Tuesday we visited a stove store in Elgin, Oregon, to buy a replacement, and we learned the most fascinating information about what the trained eye can perceive that the untrained eye ignores.

The man who does the work was not in, but his wife greeted us and was a most gracious and a knowledgeable help.

She asked us several questions about the condition and state of our chimney to determine how much work needed to be done before the new stove could be installed. We were clueless on how to answer most of her questions, and began to wonder how many delays would transpire before the replacement could be made.

Then I brought out several pictures my wife had taken of the stove and its chimney. The woman looked at the pictures and pulled out one snapshot of the metal caps on top of the roof. The picture showed very little and looked quite meaningless to the casual eye, but she exclaimed, “Oh, Grant can figure out all the answers to our questions by looking at this picture.”

She explained that her husband could tell the age of the chimney, the quality of the piping, whether it needed to be swept or not from seeing that 6’ cap on top of the A-frame. Our jaws went a gap. I awed at how much knowledge an experienced eye could gain from such a small piece of evidence.

Then she blurted, “Maybe he knows your chimney already! Is your cabin located in a visible place from a main road?” And she further explained that he notices everyone’s chimney while driving to and from jobs. It was his work, “To know chimneys!” And we awed a bit more.

“Of course,” I later thought. “This man knows chimneys like a pianist knows the keys on a keyboard. He understands and finds meaning in minute details that the average person takes for granted.”

In seeking a spiritual lesson from this conversational exchange, I decided that we all should be just as observant of God’s presence at work in our environment as this chimney-sweep was of his neighbor’s stove-pipes. He needed to see only a few inches of evidence to deduce a huge sum of information not visible to the naked eye.

Do you notice your neighbor’s chimneys? Probably not, if it’s not your business to know chimneys.

But more importantly, do you notice your neighbor’s full blown God-given spiritual selfhood, even when it’s not obvious?

A simple good deed, a little smile, a kind gesture, a steadfast presence, is the “few inches of evidence” that indicate a much greater and grander spirituality underneath that is not always apparent to the naked eye because there are so many other things that would distract our attention.

But if we’re willing to look into the details, to study existence closely, we’ll find evidence of good where good doesn’t seem to exist because we aren’t paying attention.

I’ve learned through this that we mustn’t drive on through life ignoring the obvious. Signs of God’s presence are everywhere, but sometimes only noticeable in the smallest of details. Like the chimney-sweep trained to know chimneys inside and out, we can be a God-sweep, trained to know God’s wonderful creation inside and out from whatever vantage point we’re sitting.

Enjoy the view!

McDonald's advertising and mesmerism

A study just printed confirms the dangerous effect advertising can have on the unguarded thought.

Young children were given identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. They were then asked to identify which food tasted better. The branded foods always won out.

Why?

Researchers figure the pervasive and pointed marketing strategies of the food maker are the reason for the difference, and use the study to illustrate the powerful influence advertising has on children’s tastes and choices.

“Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids’ perception of taste was ‘physically altered by the branding.’ The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising,” the report indicated.

When I read the report, I dismayed for children, but even more, I wondered how many adults fall victim to the same type of mesmeric influence advertising strives to sway over their thinking.

And I’m not talking about consumer choices like which car to buy, or where to eat out. I’m thinking of deeper issues like choices we make to be healthy or not, depressed or happy, strong or weak, sick or well, poor or wealthy.

For example, the media is filled with images of disease and fear-breeding health reports. It gives the impression that the threat of illness lurks at every corner and we should live in paranoia as to whether we can stay healthy or not.

In light of the food report, how many adults unwittingly chose to live sick and depressed when they could live healthy and joyous? How many adults choose to live a harried, stressed filled life when they could have days filled with peace and buoyancy?

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science wrote,

The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought.

God has given each of us a productive, profitable, happy and healthy life to experience. It is eternally ours, but in this human experience we must assiduously protect our thinking from the harmful influence of advertising created to alter our perceptions in a way that causes us to accept premises that are not in our best interests.

Like the children who unwittingly chose the branded food as most desirable because that’s what they learned through advertising to choose, adults too often unwittingly choose to be sick because that’s what they learned through the media to expect out of life.

The lesson from all of this is to stay alert, to vigorously defend one’s mental home from outside influence, and to remain strong in knowing there is only one true influence, the divine Mind influence, over every thought and action.

The child of God, the expression of sound spiritual wisdom, intelligence and reasoning, is solely under the influence of God, and cannot be manipulated by baneful advertising.

Think for yourself—your spiritual self—and stay free of mesmerism.

No more errors

My wife and I played mixed doubles in a local tennis tournament this past weekend. We had a great time and I learned a valuable lesson about not giving into error.

While playing in the finals for the consolation round, we won the first set 6-4. After beginning the second set, in short order we found ourselves down 1-5. This was embarrassing! We were making too many errors.

At 1-5, suggestion rages strongly that defeat is inevitable. Once your opponent hits 6, the match is finished.

I wasn’t concerned about beating the opposition, but I was concerned about making too many errors on our side of the net. This was a less than a representative example of our playing abilities.

I kicked my prayers into high gear and decided this was a time to demonstrate the presence of unerring Mind.

We live in a universe of Mind, and there are no errors in Mind! I insisted.

Rather than seeing my wife and myself playing another team, I saw one Mind sending and returning the ball. I steadfastly grabbed onto the pure metaphysical truth that the one Mind never makes mistakes. The one Mind never errs, but hits every shot correctly and places it well.

The suggestion then came, “What about Kathy (my wife)? What if she makes a mistake?” I rebuked the temptation to allow error a passage-way into our game by declaring that she expressed the same Mind I did. She could not make a mistake, and neither could I. We were not two mortals thinking and acting independently of each other. We were as one expressing the same unerring Mind. I didn’t need to worry about her. I needed to stay riveted to the spiritual truth about our oneness in Mind.

All of this reasoning happened very fast in thought, for there was no time to lose. The opposition was coming down hard and fast, and happy about it.

I could not waver in conviction, I knew. One little waver in faith would allow for error, and the game would be finished.

I remembered Mary Baker Eddy’s rule, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” (Science and Health, p. 261) The word “steadfastly” was key. If I wished to demonstrate consistency, I had to be steadfast in my trust. There could be no wavering, no wishy-washy faith, no doubting.

I calmly, but resoundedly knew one Mind, and one Mind only!

The most amazing turn-around began.

My wife and I stopped making as many errors, and started to win our games. Soon we made it to 6-5. Right on the edge of victory, the opposition lobbed over my head and I reached to return the ball, but my faith wavered. Even though the ball was within my reach I pulled my racket back in doubt refusing to believe that I could get the ball back accurately, even though I could have. Suddenly, the score was 6-6. It was my first waver in thought, and the score tied. Lesson reinforced—you cannot waver!

We went into a 7 point tie-break, where first to 7 by 2 wins.

Then, the previous round of errors happened again. The score soon was 1-6, their favor. One more point and they were the winners of the set. I knew what the problem was. I was still despairing over my slip in faith from the previous set.

I set the failure out of my mind and affirmed the immediacy of Truth. There was no past haunting me, I agreed. There was only the nowness of Truth.

I snapped out of the mesmerism that wanted us to accept defeat and re-insisted that the unerring Mind was fully expressed through us.

Again, the most amazing reversal. We ceased making errors and came all the way back to 6-6, finally winning the tie-break 9-7.

The other side was in disbelief. We were too, a bit.

But it worked! Kathy and I could not see anything we changed in strategy or technique. We simply quit making so many errors, and the results spoke for themselves.

I’ve often been conflicted about prayer and sports competition, because my universal sense of Love precludes me from praying for one side against the other. That’s not the Love-way, I believe.

I had an insight this time that helped me view prayer and competition in sports in a freer vein.

In tennis tournaments, my motive never has been to beat my opponent. My goal has always been to be my best. If I learned and improved from the experience I considered myself a winner whether or not I had the higher score. And many times, I’ve had the lower score. But I’ve never felt like a loser.

While competing this weekend, I realized my rule for playing pertains to the other side too. If they were playing to beat me, then their motive needs to be purified and elevated, and that’s there task to figure out. But, spiritually reckoned, their motive should be the same as mine, to express the abilities and capacities of Mind to the best of their understanding. And if they learn and improve from the experience, they are always a winner, no matter what the score.

So, my job as a player, was to focus on fulfilling my responsibility on the court, which was to demonstrate the unerring capacities of Mind to the best of my understanding. That was all anyone expected me to do, and that’s what I needed to do. This motive also allows us to praise our competitor’s successes, even during the match. It is not a weakness on our part to acknowledge the talents and strengths of the other side, and openly say so. And it also is not commendable to perform poorly in the name of “loss doesn’t matter because the score doesn’t matter.” The score does not matter, but our attitude does. Success in sports is all about what is going on in our thinking. It’s a venue to improve and spiritualize thinking for those who are inclined to such activity.

I could go on and on…I learned so many lessons. But enough for now. There are more tournaments coming up to blog on further!

This experience of not giving into defeat when the odds are all against you will be a long lasting memory that inspires me for years. I look forward to my next time on court to take the lesson even further.

For those of you who like to play: Happy tennis!

Say No to colds

A friend was telling me how he heard a testimony where a teacher, who was a practicing Christian Scientist, was talking with a co-worker in school who was complaining about getting a cold. The teacher immediately told her friend that she wasn’t getting a cold and didn’t need to expect to suffer.

The next day, the friend reported that she had no cold and was delighted with the freedom. She asked, “What did you do?”

After thinking about the immediacy of the healing with a quick clear definitive reply of truth, the man telling me this story said that later in the week he was having lunch with his sister who started complaining about getting a cold, and described the on-coming symptoms in detail.

Without ado, my friend said, “No you’re not!” The sister did not agree, and argued that, “Yes she was getting a cold!” And continued to explain all the reasons why she would get a cold and suffer miserably. My friend held his spiritual position in thought that God’s child doesn’t get a cold, and let the discussion drop.

The next day, the two meet, and my friend asks his sister, “What happened to your cold? You look well to me.”

Caught off guard, and by surprise, she replied, “You’re right. I don’t have a cold. The symptoms are all gone.” She was not a Christian Scientist and didn’t understand what had healed her, but nonetheless, the truth still met her need and brought a cure.

Truth heals.

What do you hunger for?

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”

~ Mother Theresa

I certainly see this truism played out in my spiritual healing practice. Many people believe they're suffering from physical pain and disease, but its a spiritual craving for Love that often yearns to be satisfied.

It's not time and attention from fellow mortals that genuinely meets this need, but a feeling of being close to God, to divine Love itself, that closes the gap of loneliness and comforts the agonizing heart.

And the neat part is, as we draw closer to God, the embodiment of all Love, and live true to Love's purpose for our life, people often draw closer to us and become our friends. That which we thought we lacked, appears.

"Love is reflected in love," as Mary Baker Eddy wrote.

Extreme jobs

Do you put in too many hours at the office? Are you on-call 24/7? Is your family suffering because of your job commitments?

If so, you may be what researchers are calling an Extreme Worker.

You’ve probably heard of extreme sports like rock climbing, snowboarding, or decathlons where participants push their bodies and minds to the limits, even to the point of abnormal risk and danger. Now there’s Extreme Jobs, where employees log over 60 hours a week and endure 24/7 client demands, tighter-than-ever-deadlines, and unpredictable work flows.



Yet, according to a recent study, “…extreme workers don’t feel exploited—they feel exalted. Some love the intellectual challenge and the thrill of achieving something big. Others relish the oversize compensation packages and status that come with the territory.

“Extreme jobs fuel workers’ adrenaline highs and beef up entire nations’ competitive prowess—popping up in industries as diverse as financial services, consulting, medicine, law, and manufacturing,” claims the study.

“Still,” according to Hewlett and Luce, authors of the report, there are “hints of danger afoot: health problems and family woes for extreme workers, along with eroded corporate productivity when extreme job holders suffer the inevitable burnout….”

“Extreme jobs may enrich your company in the short run. But can it live with the costs in the long run?” so concludes the report titled “Extreme Jobs: The dangerous allure of the 70-hour workweek,” printed in the December 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review

It’s been common knowledge that workers, in the USA anyway, have been putting in longer hours on the job, sacrificing vacations, and turning the office into the center of their life. The 60 hour workweek is now practically considered part-time, say Hewlett and Luce, by this type of worker.

I am not innocent of extreme “jobism” myself as I think about the large number of hours I work in meeting patient demands in my practice. Being on call 7 days a week lends itself to this type of schedule. But I have made strides in recent months in bringing a better balance to the demands of work and family, for which I’m grateful to report.

I love my work. And this is common to extreme workers. They often really like what they do, but, as the study points out, there are sacrifices made to keep up the jam-packed schedules. 69% of those interviewed said they would be healthier if they worked less extremely. A vast majority admitted their home life, children and marriage suffered because of their work habits.

I remember reading a statement in a biography on Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, who worked very long days, 7 days a week most of her career, where she lamented not spending more time in prayer for herself in her earlier years. She had devoted herself so single-mindedly to the Cause she was establishing that she had neglected sufficient care for her own well being, she commented in her later years. She was still a strong and healthy woman, but she apparently would have done things a bit differently if she had understood earlier the price one pays for a 24/7 work week.

In my own prayers for avoiding the pitfalls of extreme working, I’ve had to understand better how my work and home life fit together as one.

I don’t have two lives I remind myself,—a work life and a home life. I have one Life, God, which is a good, wholesome, balanced, lovely existence filled with grace, poise, peace, health and harmony. My goal is to express a balanced blend of these qualities wherever I am, home, office or otherwise. As I stay committed to expressing this proper state of Mind, I find it brings better balance to my home/work life.

Believing life can be divided between home and office is like believing mind can be divided between north and south. It doesn’t make sense. Mind is the same wherever we go. We may use it differently in various places, but that’s a choice we make. Our consciousness make-up is the same.

We have the same life wherever we are too. The life we’re identifying with does not change when we’re in a geographically different place. How we express it may change, but the actual content remains the same.

The life we live at work, we bring home. And the life we live at home, we take to work. They are not separated. If one is suffering, it’s likely the other is suffering too.

For example, if you are harried at work, you’re probably acting harried at home. If you are stressed out at work, you’re probably bringing stress into the home. Home should be a peaceful environment filled with love, understanding and harmony. If it isn’t, then our understanding of home needs special attention. The discord needs to be healed for the benefit of home and office.

Many professionals believe they have to work overly long hours to be successful. And it doesn’t help that many corporate climates promote arduous work-weeks as the norm. In these cases, we have to know our priorities. We have to ask vital questions like, “What is most important to me in the long run? Is money and prestige worth the trade-off I make with home and family?” Each person has a right to their own answer, but no one should ever complain in later years that they were used and abused by employers who demanded long hours. If we take these jobs, it’s by choice.

I worked in a corporate environment once as a senior manager where almost all peers worked 12-16 hours a day. I had a family with young children. They did not. I could not possibly keep up their type of schedule and live true to my family. It was against the corporate climate I was in, but I made a conscious decision to go home in time for dinner with my loved ones as a rule. I reigned in my schedule with the understanding that it wasn’t long hours that translated into productivity, but spiritual mindedness. I needed time away from work to keep my spiritual mindedness intact and nurture home, and I took it.

As it turned out, my job and position did not suffer. In fact, I thrived; my staff flourished, was highly productive and was happy to come to work. We thrived together. And my family thrived too.

We don’t have to be an extreme worker to prosper in the workplace, and we don’t have to sacrifice a home life to be economically successful. We have one Life to live, God’s Life, and this Life is big enough to bless us with a full experience of home, family, and the focused purpose and mission often associated with work.

Many hold onto extreme jobs because they love the challenge of conquering new heights in the work world, elbowing with other highly talented individuals, and earning large sums of money. There may be some merit to this type of argument, but it’s crucial to one’s long term success to never lose sight of the most important job of all—working out your eternal spiritual life.

All the money in the world, all the headline success possible, and heaps of outstanding recognition from peers doesn’t come even within a zillion miles of knowing what it feels like to live a genuinely peaceful life filled with deep-rooted love, generous goodwill, and broad-based spirituality.

There is not a work life and a home life. There is one Life—God, and the sooner we live true to this Life, whether at home or at work, the sooner we’ll eliminate harmful extremism and settle into a balance that blesses one and all touched by our activities.

Are your fields prepared?

Two farmers prayed to God for rain to water their crops. One farmer prepared his fields for an expected downpour. The other did not. Which farmer had faith that his prayers would be answered?

I was struck by the below passage in Hebrews on the role faith plays in prayers that bear fruit.

“By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. ‘They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.’ We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken ‘he pleased God.’

“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” The Message

Have you prepared your fields today? Do you expect your prayers to be answered?