First Responders

Are you a spiritual first responder?

I have kept a clipping cut from a newspaper shortly after September 11th. This is what it says.

Many of us have been touched by the story of the firefighter's chaplain who died as he gave last rites to a trapped comrade. Mychal Judge had been an inspirational leader to Manhattan's Fire Brigade #7. This was his prayer for the firefighters.

Lord, lead me to where You want me to go.
Let me meet who You want me to meet.
Teach me what I am to say.
Keep me out of Your way.

First Responders are individuals who learn how to respond in an emergency, the proper way to handle others who may be injured, how to clear blocked areas, basic first aid. Usually they are local police, fire and emergency workers. They are trained to help during these incidents.

I have been thinking about being a spiritual first responder today. Those of us who have had class instruction with a Christian Science teacher should always have a spiritual response first. Any one who studies the writings of Mary Baker Eddy can see how to do this. It is an instant turning to God, the source of all good, for direction and guidance.

What is my first response when faced with an injury myself or to someone around me? Mrs. Eddy writes on page 397 of Science and Health, ""When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt! Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be."

When there appears to be a blockage, physical or mental, what is my first response? Mrs. Eddy addresses this as well on page 283. "Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action". Or this on page 447, "The recuperative action of the system, when mentally sustained by Truth, goes on naturally."

Christian Science teaches us how to be spiritual first responders. We understand that we can turn immediately to God at all times and under all circumstances and find comfort and healing. God will supply the wisdom needed and the result will be blessing.

Shall = not optional, nothing can stop it.

As I worked with this week's Bible Lesson, I noticed how often the word 'shall' appears, starting with our Golden Text, "...God, even our own God, shall bless us".  Shall means not optional, nothing can stop it. So now I can read this Golden Text as a promise that God will absolutely bless us, it's not optional, nothing can stop that.

There it is again in the Responsive Reading...'we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house'...the people who know the joyful sound 'shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance'. These things will happen, we shall be satisfied, all our need met, nothing lacking or missing, everything up to expectations. We shall walk with God because we are always in His presence.

Section One assures us 'we shall eat the good of the land'. January is typically a month bombarded with the latest diet and/or exercise plan. One is told how delicious this is going to be but it rarely is, when one restricts food. Nothing wrong with making good choices or altering excessive behavior but God wants only the best for us.

A few years ago I started looking at the Ten Commandments as a promise that we will not do the wrong thing, not so much as a condemnation but as Love's expression always making the right choice. Now I can look at the Beatitudes, included in the third section, paying special attention to the use of 'shall'. We will be blessed, it is inevitable.  We shall inherit the earth. We shall be filled. We shall obtain mercy. And the most wonderful of all... we shall see God.

When I work with 'Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God' I like to use all the synonyms. They shall see Principle, God's law of ever-present good. They shall see Mind, understand that there is only one Mind doing all the knowing and what God knows is perfection. They shall see Truth, honesty being expressed, Truth overcoming error and lies. And so on with Soul, Spirit, Life, and Love. Especially Love. They shall see Love filling all space at all times under all circumstances.

 Today I will keep my thoughts in line with 'shall', knowing that God's promises are kept, His love for me (and everyone else) is ever present. It is not optional and nothing can stop it. I can expect a day filled with blessings.

Are you feeling blessed today?

This week's Bible Lesson is a good reminder to be alert to all of God's blessings. Are you feeling blessed today? Did you wake up grateful and expectant of blessings....or did you wake up dreading something or someone? Will you stop midday and thank God for the morning's blessings...or will you tune out at lunch time? Can you look back at the end of the day and see the good that poured out for you and others?

In her daily devotional, Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes as part of today's entry, "The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot afternoon. Or it can be as startling as cold water being thrown in our face. How many of us go through our day parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in a river of abundance? Yet make no mistake about it. The Universe will get our attention one way or another - with a sip or a splash".

A sip or a splash. In what is known as the Sermon on the Mount Jesus spoke about that state of being blessed. Some like to substitute the word 'happy' in those Beatitudes. Be-attitudes. The attitude of being happy as we see that we are 'the man whom Thou hast chosen, and causeth to approach unto Thee'. God has chosen each of us and draws us to Him like a parent wrapping a child in a hug. Happy are the ones who 'know the joyful sound'. (Hello, My darling child. I love you.) Is your day filled with joyful sounds and compliments...or complaints and arguments and criticisms?

We are blessed and happy when we understand that God forgives all our mistakes, heals all our diseases, comforts the sorrowing, and redeems our life from destruction, crowning us with love and tenderness. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Blessings.

Happy are those who are pure in heart for they shall see God. (Principle) (Mind) (Soul) (Spirit) (Life) (Truth) (Love). That certainly makes me happy. Blessed

Go through the day today basking in God's love and appreciating all the blessings that He is pouring out on you and yours and everyone. Look for blessings. See how many you can become aware of. Make a list. Add to it all day. Read it over before you go to sleep tonight.

How can you not feel blessed?

To Bilbo, Frodo and Sam with love

I do not remember the first time I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or how many times I have read it since or watched the movies. A lot. My favorite character is Sam, who quietly supports and loves Frodo unconditionally and faithfully, always seeing a bright side to their situation. Fantasy is my favorite genre and I've read lots and lots of it and always love the dwarves, the elves and the Hobbits.

But I would not choose to be dwarfish in my approach to life. They live in the caves and deep underground, content not to see the sun or climb the mountains. Valleys can be beautiful but I would like to think I am always walking through them, onward and upward, in my spiritual journey. It can be very depressing to stay in darkness when one could be high above the clouds. So I remind myself daily to go up higher for the best view of Jerusalem. Rouse myself from the list of chores waiting. There will be time for reading the latest fantasy novel but first things first. Today we woke to a 4" blanket of snow. Just beautiful. The 'grands' are still on winter break but the parents went back to work today. So I will be keeping them busy as I also straighten up the house, put away a bit more of Christmas, put together a big pot of vegetable soup, make this week's batch of bread, etc.. Each task offers an opportunity to uplift thought about what I am doing. To commune with God. To express patience and gratitude.

The dwarves are industrious, producing quality craftsmanship. The elves are skilled hunters, weavers, defenders of their territory. Those Hobbits are just home bodies content to nurture their gardens and fill their larders for the many meals they enjoy daily. There is something fun about all of them and they have enriched my life over the years, bringing me much happiness as I read about them. But it does not compare to what I have gained by my study of the Scriptures and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. My whole life has changed since I started that journey and I believe I am a better person for it.

So today I will take care of the house (very Hobbit-like). I will enjoy preparing the soup and bread as I find ways to encourage the kiddos to play with their new toys and stay away from electronic screens (very dwarf-like).  And I will find time to just stop and admire the beautiful views of our snow-covered neighborhood, and especially the wild bird gathered around our feeder (very elf-like).

I will strive for more mountain-top time, and bask in the warmth of my Father Mother God's love. I will life well and not be afraid to climb higher as I do the work my Father has given me, knowing I am fully supported. Good always wins. And sometimes it is the smallest and least likely one who gets the victory for all.

Pick up that 'couch' and carry it yourself

I noticed something in this week's Bible Lesson that I had not thought about before. It was in the story of Jesus healing the man who was palsied or paralyzed. That man apparently had lead quite a sinful life and was suffering from his actions. But he had friends who dearly loved him - unlike the Prodigal Son whose so-called friends abandoned him. These four guys cared so much, were so determined that their friend get his healing, that they refused to be shut out from the source of that healing, Jesus.

So this man had been carried, who could not walk on his own, and set down before the Master, in front of the huge crowd gathered to listen to Jesus preach. The crowd included scribes and Pharisees who did not believe Jesus was the promised Messiah. They were further incensed when Jesus addresses this man, this sinner that they probably were familiar with, and tells him his sins are forgiven. We are told earlier in the Lesson that Jesus came, not to judge, but to save, and this is exactly what he was doing for this man and for his faithful friends.

He tells the man to 'arise'. Lift up that thought of the person you thought you were. Discover your true identity as the beloved and pure son of God. Come up out of the paralyzing thought that you have made poor choices, turned away from God and your loved ones, and must remain in this condition. One wonders how many others may have looked upon that man and thought or even said, 'serves you right, now lie there and deal with it'.

Jesus continues. Take up thy couch.  You who have had to carried by your friends, pick up that stretcher and you carry it away from here. You won't need physical therapy to reverse the palsy, you don't need time to recover from this. Get up right now and pick up that couch. Take control of your choices and actions. Lean only on God.

And he finishes with the directive 'go into thine house'. Go home. Now that may have been a further proof that all was forgiven and he who had been staying with his friends after choosing to be apart from his family could now return, as had the Prodigal Son. Or in an even higher sense, home could be consciousness, our spiritual awareness of who we really are as the very image and likeness of God, good. Change your thought about your status.

The man does as he is told and Luke tells us that he went his way rejoicing, glorifying God. One would like to believe that he will now live a better life and sin no more.

How encouraging to think that no matter what it is that might try to hold us captive or make it seem that we are unable to make any progress, divine Love can lift us up and set us on our way healed. Christian Science shows us how to heal both mind and body, as we understand the Principle in action on our behalf. God is with us. Always. Under all circumstances. The Christ is present and accessable, not to judge and punish, but to heal and save. That should send you on your way rejoicing.

Cradled obscurity

As we move closer to the start of a new year what are you anticipating, what unfolding of good do you expect to see, and what fruition of your prayers? How are you nurturing the 'new ideas' in your life, your family, your career, your church activities?

We all saw the world's view of the arrival of Jesus as told in the Nativity story. Many homes and places of worship set up scenes of the holy family welcoming the Christ child in the stable and later the arrival of the Magi who had travelled far to honor the new king. It may have been a gift of grace that there was no room at that crowded inn so the birth could take place in privacy in a quiet setting. Is that how you are nurturing the things you have been praying about? Have you set a new cherished idea in 'cradled obscurity' where it can be lovingly cared for and protected? Many of our demonstrations have humble beginnings as we pray for a clearer understanding of God and our relationship with Him as He very image and likeness.

As you look ahead to 2014 are you embracing a new thought about yourself, your family, your marriage, your job, a relationship, an opportunity to serve church? This may be a time for that 'cradled obscurity' as you quietly protect and nourish that spiritual growth. Let it have a humble beginning with your daily commitment to see it come into  being. Let's have a spiritual concept about it, a spiritual conception of what it stands for in your life.

As things move forward with this new idea, pray daily to see it 'grow and wax strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and grace. Let it 'emerge gently',  not necessarily slowly, but gently. There is no need to force growth. Let those roots go deep to support it.

Considering all Mrs. Eddy struggled with and overcame to write Science and Health and see it published, all she did to establish her church, giving us the Manual for guidance, and launching a world wide movement she named Christian Science, think about the humility she had to say that God had been 'graciously preparing her' for her accomplishments. She always put her hand in His and trusting His guidance and direction.

May each of us move forward in 2014 in our own spiritual growth, welcoming and nurturing the new ideas that come to live with us. May we cradle them and watch them grow strong in spirit and grace. May we feel graciously prepared for what lies ahead. And may we express gratitude in our thoughts and actions with joy and gladness.

Is your 'inn' full?

One of the most telling sentences in the New Testament, one that has always resonated with me during the busy holiday season is...there was  no rom for them in the inn. This couple, the wife heavy with child, has just completed an arduous trek from their home in Nazareth to the city of Bethlehem in accordance with a decree from Caesar that everyone was to be taxed. They travelled slowly because of her condition and by the time they arrived, all available rooms had already been taken. How did they end up in the stable? Perhaps the harried inn keeper took pity on them and offered the only place he could. In retrospect, it might have given them the most privacy at this most precious of times. At any rate, I suspect his was not the only inn that they had approached and perhaps they just couldn't go any farther.

What tugs at my heartstrings is that question...have I made room in my 'inn', my home, my consciousness, for the needs of others at this holiday season? Am I remembering why this is such a sacred time? Amid all the shopping, baking, wrapping, sending of Christmas cards, attending the 'grands' Christmas programs, keeping the radio on the station playing only Christmas music...all of those things a valued part of the holiday...have I paused often enough to listen so that I might hear the angels singing?

I have always  loved the details of the Nativity. It is interesting that Mrs. Eddy wrote in Miscellaneous Writings on page 374, "It is most fitting that Christian Scientists memorize the nativity of Jesus." She loved Christmas and wrote about it often. In one Christmas Sermon, beginning on page 164 of that same book, she says, "The vision of the Wisemen, this spiritual idea of the Principle of man or the universe, appeared as a star."  Our Bible Lesson this week is filled with references to light.

I shared with someone another way to work with the Bible Lesson and its references to 'light'. Not only is our thought illumined and uplifted as we grow in our understanding of God and our relationship to Him as beloved children, but our whole outlook is more 'light' and cheerful, not at all dark or depressed or anxious. We move through the holidays with a light and joyous step.

Christmas time is a reminder for me to make sure I am always putting God first, choosing to see good all around me and in everyone I meet. Making room, pausing, listening to angels sing, and looking up to see the star. All the rest will fall into line, the gifts purchased and wrapped, mailed off in time to those far away. The baking will be fun, writing the cards a time to reflect on friends and friendship. The moments at school and in church sacred. I don't ever want to lose the joy of the Nativity story amid all the hustle and bustle and preparations. My 'inn' should always have room for prayer,  one more quiet moment with God to express my deep love for Him and for His son.

Merry and blessed Christmas to you and yours.