The Furnace Guy, the Wrench, & the Analogy

So, the furnace guy came to my house today to clean my furnace. By the time he left, I had a new analogy for what the healing practice is like . . . but it’s probably not what you’d expect.

The furnace maintenance proceeded as planned, and as the visit was winding down, the furnace guy came into my office and presented me with the bill. While I was filling out a check, he somewhat sheepishly offered that although the furnace was fine, he had to admit that he lost a small, black wrench in my front yard when he dropped a few of his tools. He said he found the other tools, but he couldn’t find the wrench because of all the leaves. He said he would look again on his way out. And it wasn’t that he was concerned for the wrench’s sake—he had others he could use—but he really didn’t want anyone to get hurt the next time we mowed the lawn. Admiring his selflessness, I immediately offered to help him, and a moment later we were both outside looking.

Naturally, I was praying. Usually when I’m praying about something I’ve dropped and can’t find, it goes a little something like this: I keep taking the logical human steps of scanning the area I think the object might be in. But while I do that, I affirm that divine Mind, God, knows where everything in Her universe is. As the reflection, daughter, of this Mind, I can know where the item is if I truly need to find it—and I leave that up to God’s discretion, trusting my needs will be met either way. Then I acknowledge that it won’t be my scanning eyes or fingertips that find it, but rather that God will give me the intuition that causes me to notice it. One time this helped me find my bicycle after it was stolen—but that’s a whole other story!

So, back to the furnace guy. As soon as I stepped outside, an “if only” attempted to distract me. “If only he’d taken the front steps, not come through the yard—then he would’ve heard the wrench fall.” SWAT! That suggestion wasn’t helpful at all, so I dismissed it. Then the suggestion came that maybe we didn’t even need to worry about it. “The mowers the lawn crew uses are pretty heavy duty; the wrench probably wouldn’t hurt the guys or the mowers.” SWAT! Apathy had no more place in my thought than blaming; another suggestion dismissed. Then blame tried again: “If only you’d had him come in through the garage, not the front door, he’d have heard it drop.” SWAT! Nice try, but I’m really not going there. With that cleared up, I moved forward.

I followed him back down the path he walked up to the front door, but after a couple of close sweeps, the wrench was nowhere in sight. I commented on the color of it. “So, it’s a black wrench, huh? We’re not even gonna get a glint of sunlight to help us find it.” That’s when I turned wholeheartedly to divine Mind and stopped relying on our material eyes.

I got the feeling that the wrench wasn’t in the yard. So I gently asked him if maybe it fell out before the other tools, and was actually still in his van. He said he’d already checked but would check again. I admired his humility. I kept scanning the yard, moving leaves with my feet. It wasn’t that I was expecting to find the wrench that way anymore, but it seemed the best way to show compassion yet stay quiet so I could keep praying. Maybe that’s part of why Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dirt in the incident with the adulterous woman. (See John 8:1-11.) Anyway, furnace guy didn’t find the wrench in the van. So we went back to shuffling through the leaves.

After about another minute, it came to me pretty strongly that the wrench was not in the yard. Quiet words came out of my mouth: “Maybe it just isn’t here.” And as I started thinking of asking him if maybe he could’ve left the wrench at the house he’d been to before mine, I found myself doing a quarter-turn, and my eyes looking to a spot just under the rear bumper of the van. Right at a small, black wrench. No scanning--my eyes went straight there. Then, for some reason, rather than walk over to pick it up myself, I pointed to it and asked, “Is that the wrench?” With a look of amazement and a big smile, he said it was, and that he probably would’ve backed right over it and never seen it. He apologized that I had to help him, but I just replied, “No problem—it was fun!”

As I was rejoicing in this demonstration, I immediately noticed how this experience could serve as an analogy for a pracititioner-patient experience: The call for help. Both parties humble and dedicated to finding a solution. The practitioner maintaining the patient’s spiritual innocence, expressing compassion, listening so she can see past misguided human reason, beyond human outlining of how the solution would come--something I'm now calling "looking in the leaves." God guiding the practitioner to the truth that dispels the illusion. And—my favorite—the practitioner holding the truth in thought, pointing the way for the patient, but allowing him to recognize it for himself and claim the victory.

What a joy it is to demonstrate the power of God in the little things—and to let Him teach us how He works in all things.

Embosomed deep in Thy dear love, 

Held in Thy law, I stand:  

Thy hand in all things I behold,  

And all things in Thy hand.  

Thou leadest me by unsought ways,  

Thou turn’st my mourning into praise.

(Christian Science Hymnal, #134) 

Q: Can we pray about technology "viruses," like we might pray about disease?

This is the current "Question of the Week" on JSH-Online, and what I posted in response.

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A: Yes, I certainly do!

Most of the technology viruses I seem to hear about fall into three categories: either they were developed by someone maliciously to access private information, developed with the somewhat less malicious intent of getting advertisements in front of people, or seem to develop over time as technology begins to be out of date. So, behind all three of those types, I see mistakes about the nature of man and the universe that I can correct through prayer.

In the first case, I can know that God’s children are the direct outcomes of Him. The only thing they can manifest are His qualities of goodness, love, respect, etc. They represent divine Mind, and as such can’t include an evil intention of harming others.

In the second case, I can know that both I and whoever is trying to market things to me, can be free from a false sense of manipulation—me from being manipulated by another to think or feel the way they want me to; the other parties from feeling that manipulation is not only an acceptable, but also an effective way to achieve success in their business or cause. Again, divine Mind is supplying all of us with right thoughts and motives, and wakes us up from a deluded sense of human will as something effective.

In the last case, I handle it as a belief of aging. I mean, isn’t the way we think of aging technology eerily similar to how we think of aging material bodies? I love the explanation I read/heard somewhere recently in one of the periodicals that what we think of as aging is just an accumulation of false beliefs that we haven’t handled, that is, seen the nothingness of. And that’s just how we think of old technology—it isn’t properly squashing new security threats, and so it gets slow, malfunctions, or—we even use this word for it—dies! 

So, to counter this type of imposition, we can take a few steps that are a lot like prayer to heal or prevent disease. Updating our anti-virus software is a lot like working with the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—possibly through the Weekly Bible Lesson—to glean new ideas or new applications of ideas and use them in our daily lives. Learning to spot email scams is a lot like becoming so familiar with Truth, God, that anything erroneous is really obvious to us and we dismiss it instantly. And deciding when to upgrade to new technology is a lot like listening for inspiration about when it’s appropriate to move on to new life experiences, such as jobs, homes, or relationships—or when it’s time to move up higher in our reliance on God in any kind of situation, including for our sense of health and well-being.

So I think it’s mostly about being alert, listening for inspiration—to our intuition or spiritual sense, and acting on the guidance we’re given. Those activities preserve us from all kinds of ills—bodily and technological included.

Q: How have you prayed when you've heard about, or seen images of, animal abuse?

This is the current "Question of the Week" on JSH-Online, and what I posted in response.

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A: When I’m considering the part of God’s creation we term “animals,” I often work with the following passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Its marginal heading is “Creatures of God useful,” and it’s part of the explanation of Genesis 1:25, where God creates animals:

Understanding the control which Love held over all,
Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the 
viper to be harmless. All of God's creatures, 
moving in the harmony of Science, are harm‐ 
less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand
verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies.
It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor
to emulate the example of Jesus. "And God saw that
it was good” (pp. 514-515).

Initially, the part of the passage I used most, was the sentence stating that “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible.” From this I establish what I have a right to see: animals interacting harmoniously, not hurting themselves or others, never being capable of being destroyed. This is the spiritual reality, so I can claim it, and see it in my experience.

Lately, though, I’ve realized that even though this passage is explaining the spiritual significance of God’s creation of animals, Mary Baker Eddy is actually pointing to an even larger truth in that sentence I love so much. She says not just animals, but all God’s creatures are harmless, useful, indestructible. Certainly we are God’s creatures, so this includes us—all people. It means all of us are harmless, useful, and indestructible.  Rereading the paragraph, I realized this was something Daniel knew—or discovered—about Darius when he was in the lions’ den. Otherwise, how could his greeting to him after a night in the lions’ den have been, “O king, live for ever”? (See the sixth chapter of Daniel.)

I also like to use this passage:

"Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the
realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and dis‐ 
port themselves” (ibid., p. 514).

From this I’ve come to see that God, Mind, loves His creation so much, so perfectly, that He’d just never ever put any part of it into matter, which is so fragile (and, in reality, is only a counterfeit of true, spiritual substance). Mind’s offspring are ideas—eternally perfect and free from harm. I know that they’re right with God—present in His mind as His thoughts, never separate in any way. Both they and we can hear God’s messages to us, guiding us. This truth can stop abuse—and it can prevent it. It can bring together God’s smaller/fuzzier/scalier/etc. creations with loving caretakers and companions. And it can even instill in us a love and appreciation for all of God’s creatures we encounter every single day.

Decisions, decisions!

Sometimes we're unsure about the decisions we have to make. Sometimes we feel uncertain about the big decisions, but more often we fret over some of the innumerable small ones we have to make on a daily basis. If we're striving to live a spiritually grounded, Christian life, the important part is listening for inspiration along the way.

I experienced this--in a very small way--this morning. I was already out dropping my husband at the rapid station. After that, I knew I had to make one other stop to check for packages at my in-laws' house, and I also wanted to redeem the rewards from my Panera card--a coffee and a pastry--which were expiring today. The hitch was that it's trash day, and I hadn't set out the trash yet, so I had a decision to make. (Like I said, this was certainly not a major life moment or anything.)

From the time I began to think about how to proceed with these errands, I was trying to listen to see if I had any sort of feeling that I should just skip the trip to Panera. Since I didn't, I headed that way after a short stop at my in-laws'. And again, I listened carefully as I pulled into the parking lot. And what did I find? An empty parking spot directly in front of the door. As silly as it may sound, as soon as I realized that, no, that was not a reserved spot, and yes, I was allowed to park there, I just knew that I would have time to get my coffee and pastry and still get home in time to put the garbage out. So I wasn't impatient or worried while I waited in line. I drove the speed limit the whole way home. Once there, I worked quickly, but by no means frantically, to set out the garbage and recyclables. And guess what? The garbage truck came by probably within ten minutes of me setting everything out, just as I was ready to enjoy my treats.

Now, as delicious as I knew my hazelnut coffee and cheese Danish would be, believe it or not, if I'd had a feeling that I needed to head straight home from my in-laws' for trash duty, that's what I would've done. I've just had too many experiences--big and small--that have shown me that being obedient has its rewards. In fact, it's a key theme in the Bible.  (Think of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Ruth . . . the list goes on.) And now that I'm thinking about it, I see that  practical, daily obedience has several parts. 

First, we have to be willing to let God be in charge. Not to start the day thinking that we're going to force our way through any number of tasks, but rather trust that God will show us, guide us, be with us the whole way, moment by moment--and help us accomplish whatever actually needs to be done.

Next, we have to be actively listening for any instructions God has for us, which I find tend to come in the form of intuitions--things you just seem to be suddenly aware of, seemingly out of nowhere, that would only result in good for anyone involved. 

Lastly, and most importantly, we have to act according to those intuitions to the best of our ability. You might think of it as acting up to your highest sense of what's right. If we make that choice--to do what seems the most right to us--every time we have to make a decision, it can make for some pretty peaceful days.

Just think of it: it's the difference between going to bed at night fretting over what you didn't get done or what you could've done better, or instead, even if things didn't go quite the way you'd imagined, feeling satisfied that you did your best. And when you look at it that way, the decision is simple.

I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. --Psalm 57:2

[Divine] Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.  Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.  --Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 454

Thoughts on the election . . . before the results

Elections today.
Your guy may win.
Your guy may lose.
Either way, the winner will be our country's leader.
And he deserves our prayers and support.
That he'll hear and act upon inspiration, rather than human will.
That he'll be honest.
That he'll be good.
We may not agree with the way he does things
All the time, or ever.

But he'll be acting from his highest sense of right
And that can be the starting point for seeing him as God's man,

Made in His image
(See Gen. 1:26)
And a protection to him
And to us
From anything untoward.

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!)

Psalm 23 - the Surrender edition

Just like my post from a while back, this is a reworking of the 23rd psalm. Enjoy. :)

The Lord is in charge! I don't want to be!
He plops me down amid plenteous resources: He removes the fear of trusting Him.
He refreshes me! He keeps me on a good path so that I glorify Him; this is all I can do.
Even if it seems like I'm in a tight spot, You won't let me be afraid: You are with me; and Your law governs, upholds, and protects me.
You are nourishing me right in the midst of trying circumstances: You give me more pure thoughts of charity, gentleness, and consecration than I could ever need. Truly heaven is here.
Only good things are in store for me as long as I live: and I live with You, forever.

23rd Psalm, reworked

Sometimes I like to use familiar Bible passages as inspiration for addressing whatever seems to need addressing in prayer at that moment. I tend to go for the uber-comforting ones, like The Lord's Prayer (see Matthew 6:9-13), Psalm 91, 1 Corinthians 13, Psalm 46, and, of course, Psalm 23. Most times, I just apply the ideas to what's in thought, but sometimes I actually rewrite the passage to fit the situation. Psalm 23 lends itself particularly well to that, and it becomes especially easy to make it work both literally and figuratively.

So here's my summer vacation edition of the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my home; I shall not be out of place.
He provideth me with comfy and beautiful furniture: he leadeth me through my chores peacefully.
He remindeth me who and where I am: he directeth me to mine and everyone's inherent goodness, the foundation of my home.
Yea, though the kitchen be a mess or the laundry drying everywhere, I will keep my joy: for Thou art the "house"-keeper; thy Dawn and thy Downy they do the work.
Thou givest me my daily bread no matter what: thou baptisest me with purity, consecration, gentleness, heavenly inspiration; I am having a house-party with the angels!
Surely this shall be so each day I live: for I dwell in my Father-Mother's house, alway.

Passages that inspired me:
Psalm 23
Psalm 23 in Science and Health

Lord's Prayer with Its Spiritual Interpretation

Oil

Angels

Father-Mother

al-way

Traffic and Travel Turmoil Evaporated!

Just a couple days ago, I was returning home after visiting my grandma, who lives about six hours from where I do. I had hoped to get an early start because afternoon traffic where I live can be a bit hectic, and I really didn't want to be mixed up in it. However, as I approached the final leg of the trip, it appeared I would be arriving right smack dab in the middle of rush hour.

I called my dad to let him know, since he would be helping me unload something when I got home, and he recommended an alternate route, the one he normally took. I thanked him and told him I would think about that option. What I meant was that I would pray, listen for God's guidance, to see whether that was indeed the best option.

However, despite my best intentions, I never actually made the effort to quiet my thought. And I certainly didn't feel the calm I knew came along with listening for and hearing God's inspiration. Instead, after filling up with gas, I somewhat willfully decided to take my dad's advice and charged ahead into unfamiliar territory, with the GPS as my back-up guide.

At first I wasn't too happy about all the traffic lights--since there would have been basically none on the route I usually took--but the GPS said I'd be getting home a half an hour earlier than I had planned, so I stuck with it. Then, at probably the sixth or seventh red light, as I looked at the GPS, I realized that it wasn't set for daylight savings time...so I would actually be getting home half an hour later than if I had taken the other route.

That's when things got unpleasant. I felt so trapped! I was too far from my normal route for it to make any sense to backtrack. And I had no idea how many more traffic lights I was going to be in for! I blamed myself. I blamed my dad. I blamed my sweet grandma who I just couldn't stand to leave any earlier than I had.

Then I saw a sign for a landmark I normally passed and abruptly decided to head that way. Now, this road was gorgeous--rural and curvy, with all kinds of pretty scenery. Exactly the type I like to drive on. But I was so concerned about making good time, that instead of enjoying it, all I could think about was the guy in front of me driving below the speed limit, and how irritating it was that I never had the opportunity to pass him.

So, because I've made it a practice to recognize these negative types of thought as mistaken views of what's really going on, during this whole time, underneath the loud, irritated thoughts, my heart was quietly reaching out to God, knowing that I didn't have to indulge the negative thoughts. Not only did they make no sense (like blaming my dad because he suggested the route), but, in fact, they actually weren't my thoughts at all, because they were not how God was viewing the situation, and all my thoughts had to come from Him. I recognized this, but I wasn't yet seeing it in my experience.

And that's when Paul Simon started singing.

You know how couples sometimes have a song? Or friends have special songs to commemorate special events? Well, God and I have a song, and it's "Father and Daughter" by Paul Simon. The first words essentially say, if you wake up in the middle of a bad dream, and for a second can't remember where you are. My thought became very quiet. I was humbled. I said aloud, "This is exactly like a bad dream." And I realized that I had forgotten where I was--I was right in God's care, in His presence, because He, Spirit, was everywhere. And for the first time in the experience, I was ready to hear what God had to say, to see the harmony He was seeing. No sooner had my thought changed that way, than I came upon the road I normally took, just from the opposite direction. So from then on, I followed my normal route, and didn't even encounter any back-ups where I had anticipated them--AND I actually arrived home at the same time I'd originally predicted!

It was almost as if the whole unpleasant incident had been erased. In fact, it had--the unpleasant part--but I definitely gained some deeper insights into the way God and man relate to one another:

One was that we always need to follow our spiritual gut, i.e., our spiritual intuition about what's best to do, even in a seemingly non-life-changing event. As I looked back, I realized it had felt right all along to go the normal way. So all along, God was telling me what to do--I just wasn't listening!

Which leads into the next insight--God is always guiding us. The ideas we need--the right thoughts and right feelings, the practical guidance--are always knocking at the door of our thought, so to speak. But if we let the volume of a mental complaint stereo get cranked up too high, we can't hear the knock at the door. I had certainly proven that.

Now, those were both things I'd essentially already known. But the third insight was new to me. As it turned out, I had been thinking that I was responsible for my thought. That it was up to me to make the situation better by listening to God. But God is always in charge. Not only is He our divine Parent, our Father who shelters and cares for us like the dad in the Paul Simon song, but He is divine Love itself. Because Love is perfect, He has already seen to every need we have, meeting it perfectly.

And here's where I'll mention something I didn't earlier. That Paul Simon song was one of 383 songs in a playlist on my iPod, and I had it on shuffle. I had no way of knowing when that song would come up. But it did come up, not just at the moment that I needed it, but at the moment that I was ready to benefit from its message. I didn't do that. God did. So He not only sent me the thought and feeling I needed, but did it in such a way that it broke through the hypnotism of the negative thoughts. They simply evaporated when the sense of God's deep and special love for me came to consciousness. It's something so precious that my words don't really do it justice. But it's something that you and I always have the opportunity to prove.

God, Love, is always in the details of our lives. We are always with Him.

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. --Jeremiah 23:24