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.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Healed of overeating
Over the course of this past summer, I realized that I'd gained a bit of weight. It probably wasn't even noticeable to anyone, but I finally became aware of it when some of my shorts and pants didn't fit as comfortably as they had the previous summer.
At first, I reasoned that I had just been eating too much; ergo, I would eat less and the weight would go away. I'd done it in the past. Easy peasy. But try as I might, that didn't work. My eating habits just didn't change. As I'd sort of expected all along, my human will-power wasn't effective, wasn't really a power at all. And besides, I didn't want a quick fix, so I knew I needed to pray, and pray scientifically--because it brings permanent healing.
One of the first things I had to do, was to deny that gradually putting on weight was just a part of aging. It's not. God's "mercies are new every morning," and we are God's image, His exact likeness. We are brand new every morning. We are ageless. And that sly suggestion that "This is normal; nothing is wrong," is precisely the suggestion that would keep us from ever working to overcome errors--that would quash our efforts before they begin.
Next, I realized that the problem wasn't really increased body size. It was that food was constantly on my mind. It was like I was hypnotized always to be thinking of food! This became clear to me when I was on a family vacation towards the end of the summer. Any time we went out for our daily adventures, I was worried I'd get hungry before we ate again. Talk about a downer for a vacation!
But the realization that, as with every problem, thought was what needed correcting--not a material body--marked the beginning of the end for this dilemma.
Over the next week or so, I thought about Jesus' counsel to, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" He then goes on to explain that just as God feeds the birds, and arrays the lilies in beautiful blossoms, so he will care for us because we, as His children, are infinitely more precious to Him than birds and flowers.
And that's exactly what I hadn't believed. I had a laundry list of situations I was worried about at the time--over the whole summer, in fact. Relationships. Finances. Projects to complete. You name it. And as I prayed, it came to me that I had been eating bigger meals than necessary, and eating more frequently than necessary, because of the temporary sense of comfort it gave me. But that's just it--it was temporary. I knew God was the only source for any lasting comfort and peace I could feel. And I knew it was my right to feel that peace and comfort.
Finally, one day, the afternoon approached, and I realized that I had actually felt hungry all day, including during and after eating my lunch. "How ABSURD!" I thought. At that point it was so obvious to me that the urge to be eating was just a misguided thought, that I actually laughed about it. And with that, the sense of hunger vanished--as if I'd had a "hungry" switch, and someone turned it off!
So, have I lost the weight? Materially, I don't know. I'm not really checking anymore. But mentally, absolutely! I've lost the real weight--I've been freed of the burden of excessive thought about food and my body.
Amen!! :-)
New every morning
God's image and likeness
Take no thought
At first, I reasoned that I had just been eating too much; ergo, I would eat less and the weight would go away. I'd done it in the past. Easy peasy. But try as I might, that didn't work. My eating habits just didn't change. As I'd sort of expected all along, my human will-power wasn't effective, wasn't really a power at all. And besides, I didn't want a quick fix, so I knew I needed to pray, and pray scientifically--because it brings permanent healing.
One of the first things I had to do, was to deny that gradually putting on weight was just a part of aging. It's not. God's "mercies are new every morning," and we are God's image, His exact likeness. We are brand new every morning. We are ageless. And that sly suggestion that "This is normal; nothing is wrong," is precisely the suggestion that would keep us from ever working to overcome errors--that would quash our efforts before they begin.
Next, I realized that the problem wasn't really increased body size. It was that food was constantly on my mind. It was like I was hypnotized always to be thinking of food! This became clear to me when I was on a family vacation towards the end of the summer. Any time we went out for our daily adventures, I was worried I'd get hungry before we ate again. Talk about a downer for a vacation!
But the realization that, as with every problem, thought was what needed correcting--not a material body--marked the beginning of the end for this dilemma.
Over the next week or so, I thought about Jesus' counsel to, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" He then goes on to explain that just as God feeds the birds, and arrays the lilies in beautiful blossoms, so he will care for us because we, as His children, are infinitely more precious to Him than birds and flowers.
And that's exactly what I hadn't believed. I had a laundry list of situations I was worried about at the time--over the whole summer, in fact. Relationships. Finances. Projects to complete. You name it. And as I prayed, it came to me that I had been eating bigger meals than necessary, and eating more frequently than necessary, because of the temporary sense of comfort it gave me. But that's just it--it was temporary. I knew God was the only source for any lasting comfort and peace I could feel. And I knew it was my right to feel that peace and comfort.
Finally, one day, the afternoon approached, and I realized that I had actually felt hungry all day, including during and after eating my lunch. "How ABSURD!" I thought. At that point it was so obvious to me that the urge to be eating was just a misguided thought, that I actually laughed about it. And with that, the sense of hunger vanished--as if I'd had a "hungry" switch, and someone turned it off!
So, have I lost the weight? Materially, I don't know. I'm not really checking anymore. But mentally, absolutely! I've lost the real weight--I've been freed of the burden of excessive thought about food and my body.
Amen!! :-)
New every morning
God's image and likeness
Take no thought
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
"Your life is your practice."
The following is an email I sent a friend (and posted with his permission) describing how I had a healing demonstration over pain and weakness simply by hearing about the good he was doing one day.
The terms you'll see "animal magnetism" and "mesmerism," as used in Christian Science, both refer to what the apostle Paul calls (in Romans 8:7) "the carnal mind," or a seeming pull away from Godlike thought. But since God is All, this type of "thought" is really just a dream we can snap right out of--just like I did! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dearest dear _______,
Basically, _______, you just being yourself brought about a healing demonstration for me last Saturday. I had been having a slight challenge with pain/weakness, that seems to be recurring, and I was silently refuting it ... but also taking it easy so as not to make the situation worse.
Then you called.
And just hearing about your day that was so productive--humanly and metaphysically--totally snapped me out of the mesmerism, made me feel all pumped up and full of life, and the pain/weakness just vanished!--along with another side effect I won't go into, but that always seems to accompany this challenge.
So, [at the] Wednesday [evening church meeting], I talked about this as an example of how "your life is your practice"--how living in accord with God, not allowing oneself to be handled by animal magnetism, can just heal others without any effort. Cuz that's what you did! So go you, practitioner _______, transparency for Truth!! :-)
LOTS of love!
Erin
transparency for Truth
the carnal mind
The terms you'll see "animal magnetism" and "mesmerism," as used in Christian Science, both refer to what the apostle Paul calls (in Romans 8:7) "the carnal mind," or a seeming pull away from Godlike thought. But since God is All, this type of "thought" is really just a dream we can snap right out of--just like I did! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dearest dear _______,
Basically, _______, you just being yourself brought about a healing demonstration for me last Saturday. I had been having a slight challenge with pain/weakness, that seems to be recurring, and I was silently refuting it ... but also taking it easy so as not to make the situation worse.
Then you called.
And just hearing about your day that was so productive--humanly and metaphysically--totally snapped me out of the mesmerism, made me feel all pumped up and full of life, and the pain/weakness just vanished!--along with another side effect I won't go into, but that always seems to accompany this challenge.
So, [at the] Wednesday [evening church meeting], I talked about this as an example of how "your life is your practice"--how living in accord with God, not allowing oneself to be handled by animal magnetism, can just heal others without any effort. Cuz that's what you did! So go you, practitioner _______, transparency for Truth!! :-)
LOTS of love!
Erin
transparency for Truth
the carnal mind
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Answered prayers
I realized just now that a prayer of mine had been answered, and thought it would be a good idea--for myself and others--to mention it and another one--since this made two answered prayers in as many days.
The first answered prayer--well, I didn't even realize I'd prayed it until it was answered! On Tuesday, I attended a conference, and by the end of the day felt the weight of some accumulated disappointments and annoyances having to do with the content of some of the sessions and the behavior of some of the attendees. I think we all naturally rebel against this sort of negativity, since it is so contrary to our nature as God's children. And at the heart of that rebellion is the desire to see harmony. So, at the same time I felt the imposition of this weight, I also desired to be free of it. At the time, that's all I was aware of--that I felt annoyed and didn't want to.
I was leaving the building where the conference was held, when I saw a former colleague, whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Now, when we worked together, I have to tell you, that I had a pretty low opinion of him. And employees came and went so frequently where we used to work, that I was genuinely surprised that he remembered me. At any rate, the last time we had bumped into one another, he told me he had just gotten engaged, so I asked him about it. He was ready to celebrate his second anniversary with his wife, and they were expecting a son in a few months. He'd bought a house, and for the past couple of years had been working somewhere I knew would be easier than where we'd worked together. From where I was standing, his life was PERFECT! So where was this guy I'd looked down on a few years ago? He certainly wasn't the guy standing in front of me!!
And in that moment, the weight I'd felt just vanished. Here was God, divine Love, at work! Love was providing all this good in this man's life, and Love had lifted the clouds from my view of the world and this man. The realest thing to me was God's presence and love, and the perfection of his children. I was elated!
Driving home, I realized what had happened. First and foremost, my prayer for peace had been answered. "But you didn't actually stop and pray," you say? Well, the way I understand it, prayer is consecrated thought. And a right desire is certainly a consecrated thought. In one of my favorite passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind [God]. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in word and in deeds" (p. 1). So, really, I had desire-prayed, and within minutes, my prayer was answered. I'm still floating from this one, I have to say. :)
The other answered prayer I recognized this morning. Over the past few days, it felt like I was being pulled in many directions, especially related to what activities were filling my days. I had the sense of stress that I should wake up each morning and dive into my Bible study and prayer, but it wasn't quite happening to the extent that I wanted before I moved on to other activites, and then I felt guilty...and then I was mad that I was indulging thoughts of guilt because they're as unproductive as the other thoughts. Hmph!
So yesterday, as I was reflecting on the incident with my former colleage, I thought about those prayers that I have consistently seen answered immediately--the prayers for right feelings, and so I prayed to want to get more out of my Bible study and prayer, as well as not to be so hung up on time and my to-do list. Essentially, I was asking God to help me feel my natural desire to be close to Him, and to feel the freedom and joy that are natural to me as His child.
And that's exactly what happened. I woke up this morning feeling peaceful and excited to go learn something from the weekly Bible Lesson. At first, I thanked God for the feeling of freedom and was so happy it came at the time of day I seemed to want it most...then I realized my desire-prayer had really been targeted at that time of day anyway, and I was seeing exactly what I'd prayed for!
Okay, so I think I explained the concept of a desire-prayer. But what do I mean by a prayer for "right feelings"? Well, a right feeling would be something that's yours by right as God's child (and we're ALL God's children), something that comes from the basis that God is perfect and perfectly in charge of all. So things like peace, joy, freedom, comfort, creativity. And then we can also pray for "right thoughts." I usually think of right thoughts as seeing the situation the way God does; like I did with that former colleague--I caught a glimpse of the perfect man God created, not the ugly picture I seemed to have created and carried around all that time.
These prayers are always answered. Period. In the Bible, Jesus says, "Ask, and ye shall receive." But later, James writes, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). To me that means that the only reason a prayer wouldn't be answered is if it's asked from a selfish motive. This passage from Science and Health, really explains this point: asking amiss. And that's why we should never ask for things, or events to occur. God knows what's best for us all and provides it. [Here, I refer you to the title of this blog, and the Bible verse that inspired it. :)] And if we pray to see things like God does, we'll always be in good shape.
The first answered prayer--well, I didn't even realize I'd prayed it until it was answered! On Tuesday, I attended a conference, and by the end of the day felt the weight of some accumulated disappointments and annoyances having to do with the content of some of the sessions and the behavior of some of the attendees. I think we all naturally rebel against this sort of negativity, since it is so contrary to our nature as God's children. And at the heart of that rebellion is the desire to see harmony. So, at the same time I felt the imposition of this weight, I also desired to be free of it. At the time, that's all I was aware of--that I felt annoyed and didn't want to.
I was leaving the building where the conference was held, when I saw a former colleague, whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Now, when we worked together, I have to tell you, that I had a pretty low opinion of him. And employees came and went so frequently where we used to work, that I was genuinely surprised that he remembered me. At any rate, the last time we had bumped into one another, he told me he had just gotten engaged, so I asked him about it. He was ready to celebrate his second anniversary with his wife, and they were expecting a son in a few months. He'd bought a house, and for the past couple of years had been working somewhere I knew would be easier than where we'd worked together. From where I was standing, his life was PERFECT! So where was this guy I'd looked down on a few years ago? He certainly wasn't the guy standing in front of me!!
And in that moment, the weight I'd felt just vanished. Here was God, divine Love, at work! Love was providing all this good in this man's life, and Love had lifted the clouds from my view of the world and this man. The realest thing to me was God's presence and love, and the perfection of his children. I was elated!
Driving home, I realized what had happened. First and foremost, my prayer for peace had been answered. "But you didn't actually stop and pray," you say? Well, the way I understand it, prayer is consecrated thought. And a right desire is certainly a consecrated thought. In one of my favorite passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind [God]. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in word and in deeds" (p. 1). So, really, I had desire-prayed, and within minutes, my prayer was answered. I'm still floating from this one, I have to say. :)
The other answered prayer I recognized this morning. Over the past few days, it felt like I was being pulled in many directions, especially related to what activities were filling my days. I had the sense of stress that I should wake up each morning and dive into my Bible study and prayer, but it wasn't quite happening to the extent that I wanted before I moved on to other activites, and then I felt guilty...and then I was mad that I was indulging thoughts of guilt because they're as unproductive as the other thoughts. Hmph!
So yesterday, as I was reflecting on the incident with my former colleage, I thought about those prayers that I have consistently seen answered immediately--the prayers for right feelings, and so I prayed to want to get more out of my Bible study and prayer, as well as not to be so hung up on time and my to-do list. Essentially, I was asking God to help me feel my natural desire to be close to Him, and to feel the freedom and joy that are natural to me as His child.
And that's exactly what happened. I woke up this morning feeling peaceful and excited to go learn something from the weekly Bible Lesson. At first, I thanked God for the feeling of freedom and was so happy it came at the time of day I seemed to want it most...then I realized my desire-prayer had really been targeted at that time of day anyway, and I was seeing exactly what I'd prayed for!
Okay, so I think I explained the concept of a desire-prayer. But what do I mean by a prayer for "right feelings"? Well, a right feeling would be something that's yours by right as God's child (and we're ALL God's children), something that comes from the basis that God is perfect and perfectly in charge of all. So things like peace, joy, freedom, comfort, creativity. And then we can also pray for "right thoughts." I usually think of right thoughts as seeing the situation the way God does; like I did with that former colleague--I caught a glimpse of the perfect man God created, not the ugly picture I seemed to have created and carried around all that time.
These prayers are always answered. Period. In the Bible, Jesus says, "Ask, and ye shall receive." But later, James writes, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). To me that means that the only reason a prayer wouldn't be answered is if it's asked from a selfish motive. This passage from Science and Health, really explains this point: asking amiss. And that's why we should never ask for things, or events to occur. God knows what's best for us all and provides it. [Here, I refer you to the title of this blog, and the Bible verse that inspired it. :)] And if we pray to see things like God does, we'll always be in good shape.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Some dog blog love...
Here is a blog from time4thinkers about a healing of a pet dog; my response is the seventh one down... Unleashed by Love
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