I sought some spiritual perspective yesterday after hearing about the stock market free fall on Wall Street.
Daily, people are calling me with their financial fears. Retirees are watching their portfolio bleed day by day. Business men and women can’t get loans or find credit to keep their operations running. Homeowners are facing foreclosure. Moms can’t afford food. Dads are losing their jobs...
If one were to soak in all the negative news without an understanding of spiritual wealth and sustenance, one might start to feel depressed and worried.
But there is a spiritual perspective that brings hope and restores peace of mind. The Dow Jones average does not affect our ability to be supplied anymore than the size of the brain affects how intelligent we are.
I grew up on a family farm. You might say that we “saw everything,” over the years in terms of potential calamity. One year, our potato harvest for the season rotted in storage because of a weakness in the spuds. I’ve seen wind destroy fields of seedlings, rain destroy hundreds of tons of hay laying on the ground, frost wipe out whole orchards of fruit and kill trees. I’ve watched my parents lose nights of sleep worrying about how to pay several months of bills ahead of them until the next crop came in. There was a lot more you don’t need to hear about…
But above it all, my parents survived and thrived. The good years outweighed the bad years, and when dad retired, they had much to show for their faith, hard work and effort over the decades.
What got them through the tough times? It was faith and understanding that there was a higher power at work in this universe that would sustain them despite the disaster of the moment that threatened to deprive them.
This is the kind of perspective that can help now as divine Principle sorts out the issues on Wall Street and works to strengthen and increase the moral and spiritual integrity of our financial system and bless those who depend upon it.
The temporal storm on the surface appears fearsome, but there is an underlying force for good at work that will keep our ship afloat.
Our economy is bigger than Wall Street, mightier than the banks that have fallen, and stronger than any economic measurement coming out of Washington DC. We live in a divine economy where divine Mind meets all needs, present and future.
The substance that sustains us is spiritual. It is not in a 401K or a pension fund, a failed bank or other financial instrument. The love of divine Love gives us life and all the means to live it out fully.
Divine Love sustains us now and forever. Its blessings never dry up, shrivel away, decline into nothing, or disappear. They are spiritual, and built into our being for all of eternity. We never lose these assets—ever!
I saw this truth lived out in my parents farming experience. When times got tough, and I mean really tough, they went higher and reached deeper into the divine Love that was always present to sustain them, and found the faith, strength, confidence and encouragement they needed to keep on going and trust that the next day would be brighter. And eventually, it always was.
We live in a divine economy where infinite Love meets all needs. There is no lack in this economy, and there is no threat to the health and well being of the supply that sustains us. God is the source of that supply, and this source never goes into a free fall. It is ever growing and multiplying for those whom it is intended to bless—which is you!
Only God can bring us gladness,
Only God can give us peace;
Joys are vain that end in sadness,
Joy divine shall never cease.
Mid the shade of want and sorrow
Undisturbed, our hearts rejoice;
Patient, wait the brighter morrow;
Faithful, heed the Father's voice.
Christian Science Hymnal, 263
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Loss is gain
More than once I've had a conversation with people who were concerned about what constitutes success and failure in life. One woman I talked wtih had a yearning to spend more time in the practice of healing others through Christian Science, but was concerned that time spent in the practice would deprive her of opportunity to be successful in a secular career.
I knew the feeling well. I struggled with the same conflict after graduating from college many years ago.
I had been taught that success involved making lots of money, or gaining a name, or finding fame of some sort. I loved my spiritual studies and time spent with God, but I found the pursuit of spiritual education was at direct odds with seeking fame and fortune in the world. To seek material gain required me to forsake the pursuit of spiritual gain. I could not pursue the riches of Spirit with my whole heart at the same time that I pursued the riches of matter. They required opposite states of thought to seek. It was one or the other.
Finally, I settled on seeking the riches of Spirit, and happily let the matter-seeking go. It was one of the wisest decisions I ever made.
So, when my inquirer voiced concerned about being seen as a failure by peers if she put the study and practice of Christian Science first in her life, I blurted out, “Success in the world is failure with God.” And likewise, “Success with God is failure in the world.”
The two simply don’t mix.
To seek spiritual gain is to not seek material gain. Spirit and matter are exact opposites, like black and white. They do not mix or mingle.
We all have priorities, and they are either Spirit focused or matter focused. Success with God requires Spirit focus. And getting to know God is the greatest success one could ever have for it leads to eternal life. What else is there? Nothing! And that’s what matter is…nothing.
I was just reading the Sermon on the Mount in The Message, and the second beatitude which the King James version translates,
This is so true.
When we cling to things, worldly goals, persons or stuff, we set ourselves up for loss. These things all disappear someday and leave a void behind that has to be filled spiritually. Why not seek the real substance today and prevent the struggle with loss later?
When we cling to things and people, we don’t cling to God. When we cling to God, we find freedom from things and their surround.
This may be a lesson that is working out in the world economy today. Millions of people are losing financial wealth in the trillions of dollars. It is a hard lesson and a hard way to learn what constitutes true substance, but there is a spiritual treasure to be gained that far outweighs the temporal loss. It is the treasure of Truth.
When we have Truth, we have it all, and our human needs are met too.
Loss is gain, Jesus taught in many different ways.
Loss of material hopes and affections leads to gain of spiritual love and understanding.
How can this be? Because trials send us to God, and there we find Her care.
True wealth is spiritual, and it is freely given to each of us. It comes through the gateway of understanding and by the grace of divine Love. As we put selfish interests aside and faithfully follow Christ down the pathway to Truth, we find spiritual riches, and they take care of us along the way, just as they did our Master.
It’s not what we lose on earth that matters much, but what we gain in heaven. To actively practice Christian Science, the laws of God, and continue to gain in spiritual understanding day by day, is the most rewarding occupation I can imagine ever engaging. To get to know God amounts to grand success, and there is no temporal gain that comes even close in value.
Success with God amounts to failure in the world for what the materially minded person considers to be success is the opposite of what the spiritually minded person seeks. And success in the world leads to failure with God, because the pursuit of material goals, ambition and desire requires one to put material aims first and God second.
Which shall be our choice? And when will we make it?
I knew the feeling well. I struggled with the same conflict after graduating from college many years ago.
I had been taught that success involved making lots of money, or gaining a name, or finding fame of some sort. I loved my spiritual studies and time spent with God, but I found the pursuit of spiritual education was at direct odds with seeking fame and fortune in the world. To seek material gain required me to forsake the pursuit of spiritual gain. I could not pursue the riches of Spirit with my whole heart at the same time that I pursued the riches of matter. They required opposite states of thought to seek. It was one or the other.
Finally, I settled on seeking the riches of Spirit, and happily let the matter-seeking go. It was one of the wisest decisions I ever made.
So, when my inquirer voiced concerned about being seen as a failure by peers if she put the study and practice of Christian Science first in her life, I blurted out, “Success in the world is failure with God.” And likewise, “Success with God is failure in the world.”
The two simply don’t mix.
To seek spiritual gain is to not seek material gain. Spirit and matter are exact opposites, like black and white. They do not mix or mingle.
We all have priorities, and they are either Spirit focused or matter focused. Success with God requires Spirit focus. And getting to know God is the greatest success one could ever have for it leads to eternal life. What else is there? Nothing! And that’s what matter is…nothing.
I was just reading the Sermon on the Mount in The Message, and the second beatitude which the King James version translates,
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,reads in The Message,
You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
This is so true.
When we cling to things, worldly goals, persons or stuff, we set ourselves up for loss. These things all disappear someday and leave a void behind that has to be filled spiritually. Why not seek the real substance today and prevent the struggle with loss later?
When we cling to things and people, we don’t cling to God. When we cling to God, we find freedom from things and their surround.
This may be a lesson that is working out in the world economy today. Millions of people are losing financial wealth in the trillions of dollars. It is a hard lesson and a hard way to learn what constitutes true substance, but there is a spiritual treasure to be gained that far outweighs the temporal loss. It is the treasure of Truth.
When we have Truth, we have it all, and our human needs are met too.
Loss is gain, Jesus taught in many different ways.
Loss of material hopes and affections leads to gain of spiritual love and understanding.
Trials are proofs of God’s care,Mary Baker Eddy wrote.
How can this be? Because trials send us to God, and there we find Her care.
True wealth is spiritual, and it is freely given to each of us. It comes through the gateway of understanding and by the grace of divine Love. As we put selfish interests aside and faithfully follow Christ down the pathway to Truth, we find spiritual riches, and they take care of us along the way, just as they did our Master.
It’s not what we lose on earth that matters much, but what we gain in heaven. To actively practice Christian Science, the laws of God, and continue to gain in spiritual understanding day by day, is the most rewarding occupation I can imagine ever engaging. To get to know God amounts to grand success, and there is no temporal gain that comes even close in value.
Success with God amounts to failure in the world for what the materially minded person considers to be success is the opposite of what the spiritually minded person seeks. And success in the world leads to failure with God, because the pursuit of material goals, ambition and desire requires one to put material aims first and God second.
Which shall be our choice? And when will we make it?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Financial meltdown or prayer build-up?
It occurred to me this morning that the most important activity happening in the financial sector of our country right now is not the meltdown on Wall Street so many investors fear. It’s the prayers of the spiritually minded at work dissolving those fears and restoring peace of mind about the future of our economy.
When crisis hits, it’s tempting to get caught up into the disaster of the moment. Even this morning, the front page of my local newspaper headlined the downfall of WaMu. We have money in that bank. So, I ask, what is most helpful? To panic, worry and fret? Or to pray for calm and peace of mind that enables me and others to make sound wise financial decisions? I believe the latter.
The more all of us buckle down in prayer and refuse to go hysterical over the calamity facing the markets, the sooner sanity and wisdom will take over and redirect the economy of our world in a progressive direction that better serves humanity.
No doubt, many mistakes have been made. Gross sins need to be recognized that got us into this mess. But the path to a sound economy is not the route of red-hot anger, self-righteous finger-pointing, futility, or resignation to defeat. The road to reliable prosperity is the path of increased wisdom, morality, sound reasoning and spiritual mindedness. These virtues lived and practiced, lead to healing, and they come to us in the quietness of prayer.
Will you join me in a few quiet moments of prayer today for the integrity of our economy?
When crisis hits, it’s tempting to get caught up into the disaster of the moment. Even this morning, the front page of my local newspaper headlined the downfall of WaMu. We have money in that bank. So, I ask, what is most helpful? To panic, worry and fret? Or to pray for calm and peace of mind that enables me and others to make sound wise financial decisions? I believe the latter.
The more all of us buckle down in prayer and refuse to go hysterical over the calamity facing the markets, the sooner sanity and wisdom will take over and redirect the economy of our world in a progressive direction that better serves humanity.
No doubt, many mistakes have been made. Gross sins need to be recognized that got us into this mess. But the path to a sound economy is not the route of red-hot anger, self-righteous finger-pointing, futility, or resignation to defeat. The road to reliable prosperity is the path of increased wisdom, morality, sound reasoning and spiritual mindedness. These virtues lived and practiced, lead to healing, and they come to us in the quietness of prayer.
Will you join me in a few quiet moments of prayer today for the integrity of our economy?
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalms
