Looking for an exit door?

A woman commented to me recently that her business was locked into a debt repayment schedule that had no exit door for her company in the event income temporarily dwindled and a payment was missed or late. She feared losing her whole company to creditors.

The words “no exit door,” caught my attention. In my understanding of God’s infinite possibilities for progress and healing, I know there is no such thing as having no exit door to freedom. There is always an exit door, and it’s labeled, “God.”

But I pondered how often people do feel locked up in what they perceive to be impossible and hopeless situations.

The prison they fear could be delinquent mortgage payments threatening the loss of their home, a disease, or hate harming a precious relationship. From a material point of view, prison walls seem to appear all around in the human experience.

But we are never locked into a state of hopelessness, for we are not limited material people. We are unlimited spiritual children of God! There is always a way out, a spiritual way out of the trouble we dread.

This is an extreme example, but I’m sure Jesus felt locked into a very unfair circumstance when facing impending crucifixion. From a human point of view, his future looked extremely dismal. A court trial set, unfair judges, rulers bent on destroying him, a cross, death, a tomb…how much worse could it get?

He prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Jesus felt locked into a very evil situation, and he was looking for an exit door. But he also knew better than to doubt God’s omnipresent and all-wise care. He continued to pray, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” During his prayer, he let go of his fear of death, and settled into a consciousness of eternal Life, and this transition in thought proved to be his exit door.

He realized to a greater degree that he lived in God, Spirit, and not in matter, and therefore had nothing to fear. His substance was spiritual, his self was spiritual, and his life-work was spiritual. None of his good could be lost, for it was indestructible, in Spirit.

His trust was soon vindicated when he walked out of the tomb alive triumphant over his enemies’ attack.

We too have our exit door to walk through when feeling imprisoned. It’s never a debt, a boss, a spouse, a job, or a disease that imprisons us. The prison is never material. It’s fear of matter or material circumstances.

We break the fear by knowing we belong to God, and not to evil, by understanding that we are spiritual beings reflecting the infinite possibilities of Life. There are no limits on our Life in Spirit.

Life in Spirit is our exit door from any matter-prison that mortal mind wants to build around our sense of possibility.

We are not material. Our supply is not material. Our health is not material. Our love is not material, and therefore never at the mercy of material circumstance. We are spiritual, and everything about us that is important and significant is spiritual too.

Living in Spirit is our wide-open exit door to any freedom we yearn for. Feel free to walk through it today!

Joy,

Making sense out of a mess

Have you ever felt like your life was a mess? Like the pieces were not fitting together, and you had little or no evidence of completeness to show for your efforts? What’s the point of continuing? You might begin to wonder.

As I watched a paintjam video on youtube that a friend forwarded, I thought about how different experiences we have in life look messy and unorganized at the time we’re in them. But, in time, we see a reason for their happening. That a larger picture was being worked out that eventually became apparent. And then it all made sense.

Take a look yourself. You have to watch the whole video, 5:40 minutes long, to reap the reward.

Turn up the volume. It’s a fun watch!

Always enough in Spirit

Many patients who come into my practice are struggling with beliefs of lack. They fear lack of health, lack of funds, lack of love, lack of understanding or some other form of deprivation. This fear of lack is rooted in the belief that their supply is matter-based—some worldly contrivance or arrangement that they’ve been taught they need to survive.

To break this mesmeric and hurtful hold on thought, I strive to help them see their supply is coming from Spirit. That they do not lack at all if they look for their supply, or help, in the right form and in a spiritual place.

The effort to find abundance in matter—in things, in money, in the body, in self, in drugs, and in time—is what leaves one feeling empty handed. But to dig deeper into Truth, and discover the infinite riches of Spirit, taps into the wellspring of Life that truly satisfies and blesses.

The following story of “The Aquifer” illustrates how a matter-sense-based life can turn in upon us and make prospects for health and happiness pale, shrivel up and poof away when we don’t look beyond the obvious.

The Aquifer

Once there was a group of people who lived in a dry desert land. Life was challenging for these people. There was little food or water; in fact, the community only survived by clustering around a stream that ran though the land. Although it was meager, the stream offered fresh water to drink and irrigate a few crops. The people who lived by the stream managed to survive.

However, one year the stream began to run weaker than it had before. The following year, the water levels dropped even further. The people began to panic – after all, this was their only source of sustenance.

One evening, an argument broke out as one person accused his neighbor of siphoning off extra water. A few weeks later, there was another argument. The people began to live in fear of one another. Was that person stealing extra water? Did those people think that we were stealing? The sense of suspicion grew as the water continued to drop.

The community experienced great strain; neighbors eyed each other warily. When people drew drinking water from the stream, they did so surreptitiously. The townspeople barely spoke to each other, worried about sparking a conflict.

Finally, the stream dropped to a trickle. There was no longer enough water to sustain the community. A few people became belligerent, and accused others of causing the water to drop. Hostilities flared. Someone was injured in a conflict; this sparked a violent retribution. Soon thereafter, the community collapsed and disappeared.

Many years later, a new group of people stumbled upon the site of the old town.

"Curious," one of them said, looking at the remains of buildings. "I wonder why these people left."

"Look," said another, "there's no well anywhere. Perhaps these people never realized they were sitting over an aquifer. All they had to do was dig ten feet down, and they could have found enough water to last for lifetimes. It looks like they never realized how much they had."

The “dry desert land” in this story is mortality.

The land of mortality is always lacking and will always be depraved and desolate in some way. When we believe we are material and that we live in this land and must rely upon its meager resources, we might become suspicious of our neighbor, become self-protective, and self-defensive. We fear lack, and eventually see lack. To preserve our existence, we compete with our neighbor for resources, and that leads to potential conflict. It seems, there is never enough, and we fight over what little remains until nothing is left for anyone.

Have you ever seen this scenario played out in a marriage, at the office, between children, amongst countries?

The cure is to dig deeper into the well-spring of Spirit. Spirit is the aquifer that never dries up and never leaves us wanting.

Spirit is Love, and Love is infinite.

To reach into the well of Love is to rely upon a fountain that never fails and always has enough for everyone. Drawing upon Love for supply wipes out fear and suspicion. We are no longer fighting over limited material resources and time. We’re abounding in joy, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and love—all riches of God that multiply in our experience the more we use them.

Christian Science gives us the tools we need to dig deeper into the aquifer of Spirit. Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote,

The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and triumphs of the righteous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being.

So, if you’re fighting with someone today, remember the parable of the aquifer. Ask yourself some probing questions, like, why are you fighting? Is it worth it? Is the conflict necessary? Or are you looking beyond the material sense of things and seeing the unlimited possibilities of Love that can bless everyone? Are you willing to forgive? Are you willing to give up a puny concept of Love and immerse thought in the unbounded ocean of Love where there is enough benefit to go around for everyone?

The same rule applies to health. What are you fighting over? Is it a material limited concept of health in the body that you fear losing? Are you willing to see beyond the body, beyond physicality, beyond matter, to the health of Mind which never fails or disappears? If so, the freedom you desire is yours to find. Divine Mind possesses it—and it’s found in the deep aquifer of eternal Life.