casting nets

One year, as I prayed for a topic to study to continue my spiritual growth, the phrase that came to me was 'cast your net'. It just so happened that was the year that I considered being part of the this new world wide thing called the internet. I had made the commitment to devote full time to the practice of Christian Science healing and to be available to take calls from the public 24/7/365. It was a time to open my thought and my heart to the world. Mrs. Eddy wrote of this over 100 years ago: "Millions of unpre-judiced minds - simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert - are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences." (S&H 570)

So I spent that year studying and praying and listening for wisdom and guidance about 'casting' my net . Every day I began with another sentence she wrote: "Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity now, as aforetime, to learn and to practice Christian healing". I won't attempt to put all I learned that year into one blog but I can say that I was very grateful to have this sentence appear in this week's Bible lesson on Truth. It brought back so much of the sweet study.

Are you willing to leave your net? Are you willing to abandon old ways of thinking and acting in your search for answers and healing? It takes courage to do that. It takes faith. Your net is what you have relied on for supply. It is your means of communicating with others. It is your circle of contacts. It is also a limited way of thinking about your life, as if you had no other choices. The disciples had spent three years traveling with Christ Jesus, watching him interact with crowds, hearing him teach in their synogogues and gathering places, learning how to think about God and their relationship to Him. He was their teacher, teaching them how to do what he was doing and commanding them to take this freely shared teaching to the world. When they thought he was gone they did not do that, they went back to their old life. They went fishing for fish. They went back to their old belief about nets.

Early in his ministry he called out to them one day, as they were trying for a catch and not finding any fish. He told them to cast the net on the right side. It was now daytime, when the net is visible and the fish could just swim away, but Peter, willing to obey his teacher, agreed to let down the nets one more time. And now they could hardly pull them in, they were so filled with fish. Three years later, as they once again tried unsuccessfully to fish, the Master appears on the shore and gives them the same instructions, cast your net on the right side. Once again, it is filled with fish where it had been empty before.

As you learn to turn to God, good, for your daily needs, do not be afraid to place your full reliance on Him. He loves you. You are His image and likeness. He is your beloved Father Mother. In divine Mind you are a complete and cherished idea, fully supported with all your needs met. If your need is to see a change in your life, what Mrs. Eddy calls 'a wider sphere of thought and action', a building of your business, or a strengthening of a relationship, or a physical healing...don't be afraid to cast your net, knowing His strong arm is helping you. If what you have been doing seems unsuccessful, be willing to listen for His guidance and cast that net in a new way...with the confidence of divine Love's complete intention to bless your life.

Don't be surprised if you are suddenly dealing with a huge catch!

Babel or babble?

I was just reading a great article in this month's Christian Science Journal. I love the Journal for its indepth articles and this one really made me think. The story of the tower of Babel is found in Genesis following Noah and the flood. This ties in with the second account of creation, the one where God creates man from the dust of the ground and woman from one of Adam's ribs. These children disobey and are punished, sent from the garden of Eden out into the world. This is not the loving Father who creates man and woman in His own image and likeness and gives them dominion.
A couple of hundred years later the earth is populated. The people are basing all their knowledge on the material sense of things. God is not among them but high up in the heavens. At least they were all of one speech. One section of the population decides to build a huge structure that will reach up to where God is. Jehovah visits the site and in anger, confuses their language so they cannot communicate. The people then scatter.
This allegory has many applications to our daily experience. We can choose which version of creation we believe to be true. This is what you base everything upon, this is what you understand about God and your relationship to Him. But if you choose that second version you accept that there is disobedience, anger, jealousy, hatred, ambition, cruelty all around you. And that God is an angry, punishing Father. You choose to accept as real what you can see with your eyes and hear with your eyes as realitly.
This picture of our world puts men and women at odds with one another. We find ourselves in situations where cooperation is needed and instead, those involved are not communicating. There is misunderstanding and mistrust. This is not dominion, this is not all things working together for good. Babble.
If you find yourself surrounded by babble, just take a step back and choose instead the first account of Genesis. God's beloved child has never left that account, but demonstrates dominion. All of divine Mind's ideas dwell together in harmony and progress is the law of God, good.
Babel or babble? It's your choice to make.

new study - God's promises

After much praying, struggling with what to do about attending an Association this year, I finally felt that it was right to proceed with plans to go to New York in August to attend my own Association. I had to deal with the fear that I could not afford the flight. A letter came from the Association saying funding was available to help. The amount I would get back was half of the cost of the ticket, so I got on line and booked a ticket. Then I had to figure out where I was going to stay. The hotels around the air port or the church seemed way out of reach. I went back to the letter and saw that a Christian Science facility not too far away was offering rooms. The amount it would cost to stay there was the same as the amount being reimbursed by the Association, so I called them and booked a room for both nights. The next challenge was how to get to Association on Saturday as it was quite a distance from the church. The woman who helped me with my reservation said that another guest was driving in from Connecticut and he had offered to drive others to Association in the past. I called him and he was very happy to offer me a ride to Association. As we spoke, I asked him for a suggestion of how to get from the airport to the facility. When I told him I was flying into La Guardia about 3:00 on Friday, he said he would pick me up at the airport. Step by step, the arrangements proceed and I know it is going to be a wonderful experience.

Our speaker this year has chosen "The Promises will be kept" as her topic and I will now spend the next few months working with this idea. To being, I need to be clear on just what God promises are. I thought of many examples in the Bible of God's promises being kept. There are many mentioned in Science and Health. I can also research articles from our periodicals on this theme. Should be fun and inspiring.

This week's Sentinel includes an article 'Blessings without limit' and it begins this way. When God created man and woman in His image, He blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply." So I like to ask myself, How abundantly do I see my works being fruitful and multiplying? Now, that is the other side of the promises being fulfilled. Are we truly expecting them to be? I will be praying with this today.

prayering about flu and contagion

Our phone rang late last night with a message from the school district announcing that all schools would be closed immediately and for the next ten days to deal with the spreading of 'swine flu'. Turning to this week's Bible lesson, I found so many helpful references to pray with: from the Bible...It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed...for He will not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men...none of them who trust in Him will be desolate... And from Mrs. Eddy's writings...let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error...the divine must overcome the human at every point...God is everywhere and nothing apart from Him is present or has power...then one disease would be as readily destroyed as another...disease must lose its reality in human consciousness and disappear...Love sends forth Her everlasting strain...

From an article...if your friend believed in ghosts and his heart beat faster and he had nightmares - you, not believing in ghosts, would have no fear of 'catching' his symptoms, however real they might seem.

Another thought - when a cat and a dog meet unexpectedly the cat arches its back. You would not pray about the cat having curvature of the spine, you would simply calm its fear. For more ideas to pray with for yourself, your loved ones and your community in connection with this topic, go to Spirituality.com and read "Freedom from swine flu through God's care".

turn that procession around

In this week's Bible lesson, Doctrine of Atonement, there is a touching and powerful scene. Jesus and his disciples, along with a crowd of those seeking to hear him and those clamoring for healing, came to the city of Nain. As they approached the gates, a sad sight appeared. A funeral procession. Jews did not bury their dead within the walls of a city. A young man, the only son of his mother, had died. She was already widowed and was now without protection and provision. A large number of people accompanied her on this sad walk. So two great crowds of people were able to converge and witness this event.

When Jesus saw her, he instantly knew her situation and had compassion for her. He speaks to her these words of comfort, "weep not". I'm sure many had tried to comfort her but his words held a much different meaning. Having addressed her, he now touched the bier and those bearing it stopped. Imagine the astonishment of those around him when he said to the young man, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise". But that was nothing compared to their amazement when the young man, who all had accepted as dead, sat up and began to speak. Jesus had already raised many from beds of infirmity and pain, now he raised this young man from a funeral bier. To complete the healing, he delivers him to his mother. One can only imagine her reaction.

And with these few words and actions, Jesus completely reversed that procession leaving the city in sorrow and mourning to one of happiness and rejoicing. Surely, when he said 'arise' it rippled out to all of those present. They felt awe and wonder and word spread that a great prophet was among them. God had visited His people. Not just a prophet, but a great prophet for in their whole history only Elijah and Elishas had revived the dead. A long period of silence in the form of prophecy now came to a close. No prophets had appeared for centuries. So this story spread quickly throughout all Judea and all the region round about.

What I love about this is how the Christ completely reversed what appeared to be consuming everyone. That is how Christian Science operates. Use it with whatever grief or sadness or illness is causing you to feel like you are in a long walk of depression. Weep not. Stand still, stop moving forward with your problem. Don't continue down that path. Listen for the Christ telling you to arise, lift up your thought, see things differently. Be delivered whole and well and happy back to those who love you. No hands were needed to help that young man, he sat up on his own. No period of getting over whatever had caused him to die, he was able to speak normally. The problem had vanished. Health was restored. That procession turned around and went back into the city with a totally different feeling. You can do the same. Today.

Nothing can 'plague' you

This week's Bible lesson asks what appears to be a simple question but we cannot take it lightly. Are sin, disease and death real? Well, they certainly seem real. This is a natural follow up to the previous Bible lesson topics, Reality and Unreality. What is real to you? What is your reality based upon?

Within the lesson is a familiar citiation from Psalm 91. If you are not familiar with this Psalm, please look it up. It is one of the most comforting and promising passages in Scripture. Its applications can change your life and help you to see the all-presence of good. Good is the theme running all through this lesson and if we can understand the allness of God and the allness of good in His creation, we can answer that question with a confident "no".

This morning, I am working with Psalm 91:10. "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling". This is what we all want to hear and believe in this troubled economy. No evil will happen to you. No evil whatsoever. Nothing bad. That's one side of the promise. The other half balances it perfectly. Since God is good and God fills all space, then good fills all space. Not only will no bad things happen, many good things will.

The second part of this citation is wonderful. "...no plague shall come near your home". What a promise for those struggling to keep up with house payments. What relief for those suffering from spring allergies. I looked up the word 'plague'. It means a widespread affliction or calamity, a sudden destructive outbreak, a cause of annoyance, a highly infectious disease. If any other these things appear to be present in your experience, here is the way to reason whether they are real or not.

Mrs. Eddy defines 'house' as 'consciousness'. So what we are defending is not only our physical home but the things we are accepting into thought. She gives Mind as a synonym for God. If we can see that God is divine Mind and that Mind is ever present, if we can see that God is good and good is ever present, we can see that we, as His image and likeness, are part of that expressing of good. We are what God is thinking about, we are what He is dwelling on. As there is only one Mind, we can know what He is knowing, the ever presence of good. He saw all that He had made and it was very good. That includes each one of His children. Nothing else is present. No one else is present. That is what is real.

Spend a little time with Psalm 91 today. I guarantee some of the verses will really resonate with you. This is prayer, spending time with God, getting to know Him as He is and to see His goodness ever present. To see yourself as the recipient of good. Prayer brings honest-to-goodness physcial change for the better. That eliminates sickness or disease. That brings an end to sin or making poor choices that do not lead to good.

You are not the victim of any form of plague. Nothing can 'plague' you. You are enveloped in good and it is your Father's good pleasure to open the windows of heaven and pour out more good than you can possibly take in.

don't touch the hem, be wearing the garment!

As I read a familiar story in this week's Bible lesson, I was struck by an interesting idea. The woman in the story was suffering from a long-standing issue of blood. She hid herself in the throng surrounding Jesus, reasoning that if she could only touch his clothes, she would be healed. So she reached out and touched the hem of his garment. She believed that he had some power within him that healed. The hem, or blue fringe on the border of the garment, was put there by divine command, and served to remind the Jewish wearer of the special relation to God in which he stood. (See Numbers 15: 37-40) She knew, as soon as she touched him, that she was healed of that problem and the loss of blood stopped. She would have slipped away but Jesus, sensing what had happened, did not allow that. He asked who touched him. When she, fearful and trembling because what she had done broke Jewish law making those around her unclean, came forward, he made sure that she realized that it was her faith in God that had brought about the healing. And he announced this so that no one could condemn her for her actions as she was whole. If she had slipped away without knowing this, she might have been unable to get a healing next time she needed one and the Master was not around.

But what I thought about this morning was that many of us tend to identify ourselves as the person who needs the healing, the one turning to the Christ and trusting that we can make contact in some way and be healed. Think what it would be like if instead we identified ourselves with the Christ, accepting the idea that we have the same mind that was in the Master because that is the only Mind there is. We can be just as aware as he was of man's perfection and wholeness. For ourselves and for others. We are the ones wearing the garment! We are clothed in righteousness, right thinking, Truth knowing so we are always in 'our right mind', the only Mind there is.

Try looking at a familiar Bible story and ask yourself which character you are identifying with. Go about your day today imagining yourself clothed in that garment. What a concept.