A “love-letter” to a widow who was feeling very lonely.
Dear Helen,
I love you!
I love you in the morning. I love you in the evening. I love you when you go to work. I love you when you come home.
I love to put my arms around you and hold you. I love to comfort you, to encourage you, to console you. I love to see you smile.
I never forget about you. You’re always on my mind. You never leave my thought. I cannot get you out of my thought! You are my cherished, my reason to be, and my beloved. I can’t imagine life without you!
I am grateful for all you are, your goodness, your unselfishness, your charity, your love. You are a blessing for me, for others. It gives me great joy to know we are inseparable.
I look forward to even more good unfolding, tomorrow, the next day, and the next. There is no end to the joy and happiness we can experience together. What a joy life is in each other’s company.
Yours truly,
God
“Thy Maker is thine husband.” (Isaiah 54:5)
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
Income, debt and the practice
A budding Christian Science practitioner asked me for some spiritual insight on how to meet her financial needs when faced with little income. I shared a few ground rules and truths I’ve applied myself, or learned through experience, over the 23 years I’ve been in this precious ministry.
1. God gives us what we need spiritually to succeed in the practice.
2. We don’t have to go into debt to the world to serve God, therefore burdensome debt is to be avoided. The practice is about serving God, serving divine Love, with our whole heart, mind and soul. It’s not about serving debt.
3. God blesses all right desires and motives with adequate resources for those desires and motives to come to fruition. The practice is a right desire, and brings only blessing into one's experience.
4. A practitioner’s income is not directly dependent upon his or her number of patients. The income that prospers a practitioner is spiritual, coming directly from God, and it flows in superabundance. This income is discovered in an inspired Mind-consciousness that knows no lack,--an understanding of unending love from Spirit that translates into human needs met. And most specifically, the human needs of patients who call for help.
5. There is an unlimited demand for the treatments and support a practitioner has to offer. More people than most practitioners realize are receptive to spiritual healing and ready to ask for help.
6. It’s not advertising, fame or popularity that attracts patients. Growth in the practice results from divine Love bringing the supply a practitioner has to offer together with the demand the practitioner is ready to meet.
7. Practitioners need to know what they have to offer, to understand its value and worth, to know the effectiveness of Christian Science healing, and to know Truth meets practical needs and produces practical results.
8. Christian Science practitioners are engaged in a noble and worthwhile profession that is worthy of honor, respect and success.
9. God blesses in practical ways a practitioner’s honest desire and diligent efforts to practice Christian Science for the benefit of humanity.
10. A practitioner works for God. God watches out for His employees and gives them the resources they need to succeed at the tasks He has assigned them to do. It takes hard work, sacrifice of self, a deep unselfed love, and iron-clad commitment to succeed, but the reward of faithful service and unwavering devotion is of El Dorado proportions.
1. God gives us what we need spiritually to succeed in the practice.
2. We don’t have to go into debt to the world to serve God, therefore burdensome debt is to be avoided. The practice is about serving God, serving divine Love, with our whole heart, mind and soul. It’s not about serving debt.
3. God blesses all right desires and motives with adequate resources for those desires and motives to come to fruition. The practice is a right desire, and brings only blessing into one's experience.
4. A practitioner’s income is not directly dependent upon his or her number of patients. The income that prospers a practitioner is spiritual, coming directly from God, and it flows in superabundance. This income is discovered in an inspired Mind-consciousness that knows no lack,--an understanding of unending love from Spirit that translates into human needs met. And most specifically, the human needs of patients who call for help.
5. There is an unlimited demand for the treatments and support a practitioner has to offer. More people than most practitioners realize are receptive to spiritual healing and ready to ask for help.
6. It’s not advertising, fame or popularity that attracts patients. Growth in the practice results from divine Love bringing the supply a practitioner has to offer together with the demand the practitioner is ready to meet.
7. Practitioners need to know what they have to offer, to understand its value and worth, to know the effectiveness of Christian Science healing, and to know Truth meets practical needs and produces practical results.
8. Christian Science practitioners are engaged in a noble and worthwhile profession that is worthy of honor, respect and success.
9. God blesses in practical ways a practitioner’s honest desire and diligent efforts to practice Christian Science for the benefit of humanity.
10. A practitioner works for God. God watches out for His employees and gives them the resources they need to succeed at the tasks He has assigned them to do. It takes hard work, sacrifice of self, a deep unselfed love, and iron-clad commitment to succeed, but the reward of faithful service and unwavering devotion is of El Dorado proportions.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Spiritual resiliency
I was walking through the snow-laden forest in the Blue Mountains this weekend. Many trees were bent over with heavy mounds of snow heaped on their branches. I felt sorry for the burdened evergreens, until I remembered the freedom that would inevitably occur.I had seen it many times before. Heavy snows fall. Tree branches and trunks bend under the massive weight. But eventually the sun warms the air enough to melt the load from the limbs. An incredible inner strength and resiliency in those trunks and branches spring into action, restoring the trees to their upright position.
At times, we might feel burdened by weights of the world such as sorrow, disease, debt, and loneliness. But we can learn from the winter-hardened trees. The strain is temporary. We can bend without breaking. The stress will pass. God’s omnipresent love is at work lifting the load off of our shoulders, a spiritual resiliency is at work within putting our life back together again, and we are left stronger for the experience.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Helping others has its reward
John Macartney was skiing down Crystal Mountain in Washington State when he saw two legs sticking out of the snow near a tree off to the side of the ski run.
He knew that when a skier falls into a tree well, the air pocket collapses, trapping the unsuspecting person who can lose consciousness in as little as two minutes. John had to act quickly.
Pulling and digging furiously, after five minutes he finally dislodged the body. He was stunned. It was his wife who had skied down the slope ahead of him.
Jesus Christ gave us the story of the Good Samaritan to remind us of the importance of helping our neighbor.
Macartney’s heroic efforts to save a trapped skier gives new meaning to the Scriptural command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” By helping another in distress, Macartney helped himself. His unselfed love saved his own wife, preserved his family, and eliminated potential guilt and remorse for not being alert when a crisis called for immediate action.
He knew that when a skier falls into a tree well, the air pocket collapses, trapping the unsuspecting person who can lose consciousness in as little as two minutes. John had to act quickly.
Pulling and digging furiously, after five minutes he finally dislodged the body. He was stunned. It was his wife who had skied down the slope ahead of him.
Jesus Christ gave us the story of the Good Samaritan to remind us of the importance of helping our neighbor.
Macartney’s heroic efforts to save a trapped skier gives new meaning to the Scriptural command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” By helping another in distress, Macartney helped himself. His unselfed love saved his own wife, preserved his family, and eliminated potential guilt and remorse for not being alert when a crisis called for immediate action.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
No sleepy retirement
A woman told me that she had grown sleepy during the day ever since she retired from a long career in her field. I told her she could physically retire from her old profession, but she shouldn’t mentally retire from life!! I suggested she find new and progressive ways to keep herself productively and profitably occupied. I reminded her that God had given her an invigorating and stimulating life to live and everyday should be a new adventure.
I’m not anywhere near what most people would consider retirement age, but retirement is not something I look forward to or cherish. In fact, I’ve never warmed up to the concept because it implies to me inactivity, long stretches of tiring leisure and empty hours idled away that could be put to worthwhile use. I love my work and can’t imagine not doing it.
I can see the value of retiring from a job one doesn’t love or has outgrown. But retiring from worthwhile and productive activity! Not an option. Life is God—on-going good and ever-fruitful endeavor.
Life is not unconsciousness, but consciousness. Life is not found in an unnecessary nap. It’s experienced in active seeking and finding of spiritual Truth.
With this important work before us, there’s no time or need to doze on the job!
I’m not anywhere near what most people would consider retirement age, but retirement is not something I look forward to or cherish. In fact, I’ve never warmed up to the concept because it implies to me inactivity, long stretches of tiring leisure and empty hours idled away that could be put to worthwhile use. I love my work and can’t imagine not doing it.
I can see the value of retiring from a job one doesn’t love or has outgrown. But retiring from worthwhile and productive activity! Not an option. Life is God—on-going good and ever-fruitful endeavor.
Life is not unconsciousness, but consciousness. Life is not found in an unnecessary nap. It’s experienced in active seeking and finding of spiritual Truth.
With this important work before us, there’s no time or need to doze on the job!
Monday, January 16, 2006
Iran's nuclear ambitions
Iran’s leadership appears determined to develop nuclear capacity that critics say can be used to build atomic bombs. Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has publicly voiced hatred and detestment toward Israel.
Most of us are not in leadership positions to decide appropriate political and military action, but we all can make a positive difference.
It’s time to shower the leaders of Iran and other involved countries with love!
The world doesn’t need more bombs, more wars and more destruction. The world needs love.
God is Love. God is power. Love is power. When we love another we bring more of divine Love’s presence into that person’s life. They feel an effect.
Wherever you sit on the planet today, your love for the people of Iran and for leaders sitting in power centers around the globe will be felt. Love opens minds, dissolves fears, conquers hate, resolves differences and restores peace. What is impossible to men, is possible to God [divine Love].
Like torrents of rain pouring down from a cloud-filled sky, let’s all join together in showering the concerns about Iran with love today. The whole world will be blessed.
Most of us are not in leadership positions to decide appropriate political and military action, but we all can make a positive difference.
It’s time to shower the leaders of Iran and other involved countries with love!
The world doesn’t need more bombs, more wars and more destruction. The world needs love.
God is Love. God is power. Love is power. When we love another we bring more of divine Love’s presence into that person’s life. They feel an effect.
Wherever you sit on the planet today, your love for the people of Iran and for leaders sitting in power centers around the globe will be felt. Love opens minds, dissolves fears, conquers hate, resolves differences and restores peace. What is impossible to men, is possible to God [divine Love].
Like torrents of rain pouring down from a cloud-filled sky, let’s all join together in showering the concerns about Iran with love today. The whole world will be blessed.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Do what you love
Many surveys indicate that a large percentage of the workforce do not like their jobs. This is unfortunate.
I’ve learned from experience the value of doing work you love.
Twenty-four years ago, I had a job I detested. It made me ill, depressed and empty-feeling to stay in it. Finally, after five years of steadfast prayer for a better direction, I found the spiritual courage and commitment to enter a career I really wanted. Prospects of financial success were dim, but suffering in the old job had been so great, I lost my fear of a low income.
The switch was one of the wisest decisions I ever made. Yes, my income sunk—for a few years—but my happiness and health increased exponentially. I looked forward to getting up in the morning, and I loved my work.
I’ve also learned that doing what you love can be a selfish enterprise if self-serving and not for the benefit of others. Those intentions will not be blessed. You have to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.
If our motives are unselfish with a desire and ability to genuinely help friends and neighbors, God will bless our efforts. What appears to be a financially impossible proposition can blossom into a very profitable activity.
Do what you love. Love to serve. And the presence of divine Love you feel within and express without will prosper you in your work.
I’ve learned from experience the value of doing work you love.
Twenty-four years ago, I had a job I detested. It made me ill, depressed and empty-feeling to stay in it. Finally, after five years of steadfast prayer for a better direction, I found the spiritual courage and commitment to enter a career I really wanted. Prospects of financial success were dim, but suffering in the old job had been so great, I lost my fear of a low income.
The switch was one of the wisest decisions I ever made. Yes, my income sunk—for a few years—but my happiness and health increased exponentially. I looked forward to getting up in the morning, and I loved my work.
I’ve also learned that doing what you love can be a selfish enterprise if self-serving and not for the benefit of others. Those intentions will not be blessed. You have to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.
If our motives are unselfish with a desire and ability to genuinely help friends and neighbors, God will bless our efforts. What appears to be a financially impossible proposition can blossom into a very profitable activity.
Do what you love. Love to serve. And the presence of divine Love you feel within and express without will prosper you in your work.
Sunday, January 8, 2006
It's easier to stay clean
A high-profile lobbyist in Washington DC named Jack Abramoff recently pleaded guilty to three felony counts. His up-coming testimony threatens to end careers of several members of Congress associated with his shady dealings, plus land himself in prison and end a high-flying career.
“The way of transgressors is hard,” the Bible reminds us. His plight reminds us it’s much easier to stay out of trouble then to restore one’s reputation and integrity once its been ruined.
Selfishness, greed and lack of respect may tempt some power players to ignore sound ethical choices at times, but the good news is we don’t have to give into temptation. God is the source of everything good we need to live a happy prosperous life. We don’t have to compromise with evil to prosper and do well. The trade-offs aren’t worth it. We can resist wrong and do what God wants us to do in the first place.
“The way of transgressors is hard,” the Bible reminds us. His plight reminds us it’s much easier to stay out of trouble then to restore one’s reputation and integrity once its been ruined.
Selfishness, greed and lack of respect may tempt some power players to ignore sound ethical choices at times, but the good news is we don’t have to give into temptation. God is the source of everything good we need to live a happy prosperous life. We don’t have to compromise with evil to prosper and do well. The trade-offs aren’t worth it. We can resist wrong and do what God wants us to do in the first place.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Obey the law
I stopped at a four-way intersection as three more cars stopped one after the other at all the stop signs. As each driver took their turn to pass through, one driver didn’t wait his turn. He zoomed across the street almost colliding with a truck that was in the right-of-way. A serious accident was barely avoided.
In witnessing this near-collision, I pondered the importance of obeying law.
The impatient driver broke the rules of the road endangering himself and others.
In this universe, divine laws exist to maintain order and harmony, laws of Love that produce health and peace in our lives. When we ignore the laws, usually in an act of selfishness, we set ourselves up for trouble and needless harm. When we obey the laws, they bless us and protect us from danger.
We always have time to obey God's laws and put them into practice. There is no need for impatience or mindless haste.
In witnessing this near-collision, I pondered the importance of obeying law.
The impatient driver broke the rules of the road endangering himself and others.
In this universe, divine laws exist to maintain order and harmony, laws of Love that produce health and peace in our lives. When we ignore the laws, usually in an act of selfishness, we set ourselves up for trouble and needless harm. When we obey the laws, they bless us and protect us from danger.
We always have time to obey God's laws and put them into practice. There is no need for impatience or mindless haste.
Monday, January 2, 2006
God is All
Shortly after graduating from college, it occurred to me one day that if I wanted to pray for people and heal them spiritually on a full-time basis, I would have to be thinking about God all of the time.
I grew uncomfortable.
Was it possible, or even healthy, to think about God full-time? I asked myself. There were so many other jobs that needed to be done to survive in this world.
Then it hit me.
God is All. There isn’t anything else to think about!
God is the source of all good, peace, harmony, health and well being--of everything and anything one could ever possibly need to live a happy whole life.
There is no other place to go, no other task to finish, no better way to spend time then finding the good one hopes for at its source. In God!
God is All. There is no other power or presence worth worshipping.
Think on it.
I grew uncomfortable.
Was it possible, or even healthy, to think about God full-time? I asked myself. There were so many other jobs that needed to be done to survive in this world.
Then it hit me.
God is All. There isn’t anything else to think about!
God is the source of all good, peace, harmony, health and well being--of everything and anything one could ever possibly need to live a happy whole life.
There is no other place to go, no other task to finish, no better way to spend time then finding the good one hopes for at its source. In God!
God is All. There is no other power or presence worth worshipping.
Think on it.
