“Never test the depth of water with both feet.”
The above proverb caught my attention on a reader board I saw in Spokane, Washington, this weekend.
If wondering how deep a pond is, you don’t jump in with both feet first. You keep one foot planted on the ground and test the water depth with the other until you're sure what to expect.
Earthly life is filled with “depth testing” experiences. Perhaps you’re contemplating a job change, starting a new relationship, wanting to move, preparing to make a large investment, or embarking on some other major commitment that requires you to gain more information and knowledge before you dive in without a worry. If you keep one foot firmly planted on what you know is sure and true while you test the new proposition to determine its soundness, you’ll keep yourself from drowning in more than you were prepared to handle.
God’s ever-present love and care is the rock to stay anchored to. Knowing God is giving us everything we need to live happily, healthily and abundantly, and in a timely way, keeps us from making premature and poorly thought out decisions.
Once we’re sure our desire is a God inspired idea and feel confident we can follow through with its requirements, we can jump into the new experience with both feet and rest assured we’ll stay afloat without trouble.
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Thursday, July 6, 2006
The perils of cloning
It’s been ten years since Dolly’s birth, the lamb that was cloned in Scotland.
Time magazine reported this week, “Dozens of animals have been cloned since that first little lamb—mice, cats, cows, pigs, horses and, most recently, a dog—and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they are all, in one way or another, defective.”
Dolly was euthanized in 2003 because of premature aging and lung disease.
Cloning does not produce exact duplicates, scientists are discovering. Somewhere in the cloning process, the genetic replication breaks down, and the end results are defective.
Do clones break down because it’s impossible to duplicate a unique creation in the first place? I wonder.
Every cat, cow, dog, horse, and person has a unique individuality. There can be no other just like it, for each reflects the unique and infinite individuality of God.
I’ve lost my fear of ever being cloned. There’s only one me, and there will be no other. Same for you, don’t you think?
Time magazine reported this week, “Dozens of animals have been cloned since that first little lamb—mice, cats, cows, pigs, horses and, most recently, a dog—and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they are all, in one way or another, defective.”
Dolly was euthanized in 2003 because of premature aging and lung disease.
Cloning does not produce exact duplicates, scientists are discovering. Somewhere in the cloning process, the genetic replication breaks down, and the end results are defective.
Do clones break down because it’s impossible to duplicate a unique creation in the first place? I wonder.
Every cat, cow, dog, horse, and person has a unique individuality. There can be no other just like it, for each reflects the unique and infinite individuality of God.
I’ve lost my fear of ever being cloned. There’s only one me, and there will be no other. Same for you, don’t you think?
Monday, July 3, 2006
Be free
July 4th is Independence Day in the United States, a time when US citizens celebrate their right to self-government and self-directed sovereignty.
There’s an even greater freedom than political and religious rights, though, that people the world over can celebrate. It’s the right to think spiritually.
No dictator, ruler or government can stop us from being spiritually minded. Whether the despot we dread takes the form of a king, a disease, a boss, a debt, a fear, or an unknown, our thinking is under our own control. We can choose to love. We can choose to think spiritually.
I heard a story once of a prisoner of war who spent an indefinite number of years in a dark cramped prison cell. To help maintain his sanity he etched the initials CT in the wall of his cell. The letters reminded him to Control Thought. He was not going to let the brainwashing tactics of his captors send his thinking into a downward spiral.
He daily prayed to stay spiritually minded and knew he could make that choice.
He knew there was one Mind over all,--the divine Mind,--and he proclaimed the one Mind to be his Mind. He understood that the one Mind was not influenced by people, places, or events in the world, and since the one Mind was his Mind, he could not be influenced by his captors, his prison environment and war circumstances either. He survived and eventually went home free with his sanity intact.
Paul wrote, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Mary Baker Eddy responded with “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free!”
You are a child of God. I am a child of God. We are all children of God, and as offspring of the one Father-Mother, we do not have to bow down to any mental despots. We live to serve God, the one harmonious, peaceful and healthy Mind.
Declare your independence from any mental despots and be free today! There’s no better time.
There’s an even greater freedom than political and religious rights, though, that people the world over can celebrate. It’s the right to think spiritually.
No dictator, ruler or government can stop us from being spiritually minded. Whether the despot we dread takes the form of a king, a disease, a boss, a debt, a fear, or an unknown, our thinking is under our own control. We can choose to love. We can choose to think spiritually.
I heard a story once of a prisoner of war who spent an indefinite number of years in a dark cramped prison cell. To help maintain his sanity he etched the initials CT in the wall of his cell. The letters reminded him to Control Thought. He was not going to let the brainwashing tactics of his captors send his thinking into a downward spiral.
He daily prayed to stay spiritually minded and knew he could make that choice.
He knew there was one Mind over all,--the divine Mind,--and he proclaimed the one Mind to be his Mind. He understood that the one Mind was not influenced by people, places, or events in the world, and since the one Mind was his Mind, he could not be influenced by his captors, his prison environment and war circumstances either. He survived and eventually went home free with his sanity intact.
Paul wrote, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Mary Baker Eddy responded with “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free!”
You are a child of God. I am a child of God. We are all children of God, and as offspring of the one Father-Mother, we do not have to bow down to any mental despots. We live to serve God, the one harmonious, peaceful and healthy Mind.
Declare your independence from any mental despots and be free today! There’s no better time.
