Divine Protection

Yesterday morning, I had a lovely experience!

It was time for me to be leaving my house, and I was making my way down the last section of steps to my living room, wearing high heels and wide-legged pants. One of the heels of my shoes caught on the opposite pant leg, and I lost my balance, with about four steps left to go.

It was BEAUTIFUL: even as pictures of what could happen tried to come to thought, I could feel them being swept away. My thought was filled--in that instant--with thoughts of peace :) and protection. Instead of falling, it was like someone picked me up right from where I was, and set me down on the floor. In my mind, it was like the old video/computer games where when the character jumps, its limbs remain motionless, and the whole frozen body just moves to a different location. I landed on my feet (granted, with a bit of a thud), but neither of the heels of my shoes broke. My pants legs were not torn, and I felt absolutely no effects from the incident.

Of course afterward, angel thoughts made sure I knew that this was an instance of divine protection. That, to me (and according to the teachings of Christian Science) doesn't mean I was in a dangerous situation and then delivered from it, but rather that I was never in one. It never existed. There was a suggestion coming to thought, encouraging me to believe in such a situation. But understanding His law to the extent that I do, I was safe. 

It was a very Psalm 91 kind of moment. :)

The Princess and the Pebble?

I posted a comment on Tuesday's Daily Lift. It's the 8th or 9th one down. Listen to the Lift, browse the comments. What a wonderful community! Here's the link: Shake out the pebbles

Update, 3.17.2016 | The Daily Lift has transitioned to keeping posted only a few of the most recent lifts. Here's the link in case you'd like to see what's going on with the Daily Lift these days: daily lift

23rd Psalm - Monday Morning edition

God is guiding and providing; I won't lack anything.
He gives me rest. He provides soothing refreshment.
He fulfills me: I'm always on track because my very being expresses, and glorifies, Him and His wonderful nature.
There might be some obstacles, but I can, and will, choose not to be afraid, because I know You're with me. Your presence is a constant comfort.
This week is a feast You have provided. And I'm the guest of honor! You're showering me with abundance!
And this feast will continue--for my entire life. I want to, and will, abide with You forever.

Psalm 23 (the original!)

Tick Offed (literally)

The other night when I got home, my cat Turbo happened to walk around me in such a way that I noticed something stuck on her little behind. It was a tick. While a flood of material methods came to thought, suggesting ways to be rid of it, a quiet, more calm thought told me that I could handle the situation through prayer in Christian Science.

What came to thought first was a reminder of something I'd already demonstrated. Several years ago, my cat and my sister's both had a case of fleas. As I prayed about it, I saw that the concept of a parasite--something that has to steal its sustenance from something else--just didn't make sense in God's perfect, good creation (see Genesis 1:31). Since then, my cat hasn't had fleas, despite spending much of her time outside, and becoming friends with a stray cat whom I've named Percy Jackson. I even reasoned that it was much more likely that Percy Jackson would catch flealessness from Turbo, than that she would catch fleas from him, since now my thought was resting on him, too. But back to the tick...

So, I knew it wasn't the false concept of parasitism that needed handling. That was done. Then it occurred to me--I truly was, as a Christian Science practitioner, working with thought. So, just as with any case, I realized that I couldn't and shouldn't be praying to fix matter. Instead of praying to get rid of a tick, I was praying to understand something more about God's creation, about its perfection--just whatever it was that was truly going on in God's universe.

I remembered that a day or so before I had been listening to some Christian Science audio recordings. In one of them, I heard the familiar idea that we find the truth by reversing error; in other words, a mistake always indicates its opposite--what's correct, what's true. Applying that to the concept of a parasite-tick, something just clicked in thought: if what most people would see was a nasty parasite [the error], then if a tick were really real, it would have to be something really neat [the truth]! It wouldn't have any of the negative qualities we tend to associate with a tick. It would be something "very good," as God declared in Genesis. I didn't take time to contemplate it any further. Thought seemed satisfied at knowing that it was good.

So, I let my cat out for the night and went to bed. When I let her in the next morning, I had almost forgotten about what I'd seen the night before, but when I remembered, I checked where the tick had been, and found that it was gone.

Thinking back on it, I realized that this incident wasn't really about helping my cat. She hadn't seemed bothered at all by the tick. It was really about me having the opportunity to demonstrate God's law. Kind of like when Jesus healed a blind man, as recorded in John's gospel. He said that the opportunity to heal presented itself so that "the works of God should be made manifest" (see John 9:1-7).

And just like when Jesus healed, this process didn't really take time. From the moment I stopped considering material means of tick removal, and mentally committed to prayer, all the helpful ideas just flooded in. Seriously, the process took under five minutes. Why so quick? Because it was natural! God's law is always operating. And experiencing it in even the tiniest details of our lives is about the most natural thing there is. Amen!

A thought on substance

The real, eternal substance of anything we do or are, is the spiritual qualities it expresses. Just think of all the patience, love, order, joy, etc. that lay behind even the little things in your day, and you'll be seeing the true substance in your life! :)

Grace

from burning bridges
to mending fences
what a softening
of my pride
what a strengthening
of my heart
I am not 
"the captain of my soul"
for Soul
is simply Its own
and I
am Its

Let.

Breathe.

Inhale Love
Exhale stiffened will
Inhale gentleness
Exhale peace
Inhale forgiveness
Exhale renewal

It takes no self
to let Him in
It wakes oneself
to know His grace

Suddenly well!

A couple of days ago, I had an interesting experience. I found myself in my basement that evening feeling just all-around fantastic! Energetic, loved, mentally calm, pleased with a good day's work. And I was so aware of this feeling, just knowing and feeling that I was God's perfect expression, as I've learned in Christian Science. (See Gen. 1:26. 27.)

So, one second, I'm standing up feeling perfect, then the next second, I sit down and feel horrible! It was sort of a stomach-head-sinus feeling of yuck. After the initial shock of this shift in how I felt, I began mentally to handle my thoughts about the symptoms.

First, I knew I needed to overcome the fear that I was being sentenced to suffer through some sort of cold, something that had a timeline it needed to fulfill. The calming thought that met this fear came quickly: even though the symptoms felt physical, I knew they were simply a mistaken thought. And this mistaken thought could be changed, replaced with the truth, in the blink of an eye--could be made to reflect what I knew was really going on with me as God's image and likeness.

Once I wasn't afraid anymore, it became obvious to me that the symptoms had no cause. Hadn't I just been feeling super a moment before? Wasn't I knowing my oneness with God? I reasoned that He never created the symptoms, or whatever condition they might be symptoms of. God is so good! The whole thing just made absolutely no sense to me.

So rather than resigning myself to suffer, I kept up this mental protest. Even though I still seemed to be feeling icky, I was never going to accept that there was a cause for it. I lay down on my couch thinking I was beginning to watch a TV show, but quickly fell asleep. When I woke not too long afterwards, I was completely symptom-free.

More than being grateful to feel well, I was grateful for the thoughts that came so quickly--right when I needed them--to counter the fearful and unwell thoughts. It reminds me of a story from the Bible. Jesus and his disciples encountered a man who was born blind. The disciples, still accepting the commonly held belief that diseases were the result of sin, asked Jesus whether A) the blind man had sinned, or if B) his parents had, to cause the blindness. Jesus chose C) None of the above! He said the only possible outcome of the situation was to show God's glory, and then he healed the man. I think it was the same for me. No one and no thing had caused me to feel ill; it was simply another opportunity to demonstrate God's goodness, and to know my freedom as his beloved child. Amen!

Healing the blind man
Suddenly well