casting our net

I love this story. Jesus had reached adult life, he had gone to John to be baptised and then on into the wilderness to be tempted in preparation for his ministry. Now, he began to lecture and to gather students. We know Simon Peter and his brother were devout because they had already been disciples of John the Baptist, who then directed them to this new teacher. Even early in his work, Jesus attracted crowds. And on this day he was by the lake of Gennesaret. It must have been mid morning as the fishermen had finished their night work and were sitting on shore, cleaning out their nets. Jesus asks Simon Peter, who was still aboard his boat, to push out from shore and let Jesus speak to the crowd. So we know Simon Peter must have been sitting near him as he spoke. When he was finished, he asked Simon Peter to launch out into deeper water and let down the nets. Now those were large and cumbersome, just cleaned, so this was no small request. It would require faith on the disciple's part to be willing to lay them all out again, especially in daylight, when the nets were visible to the fish. But, impressed by what he had heard, Simon Peter obeyed, and now the nets were so full that he needed to call to his partners to come help him bring in the catch. It was enough to fill both ships.

As I thought about that, it occured to me that these men were part of an operation involving multiple boats and men. Their catch would have been important to the people of their town, who might have gone hungry without it. It was their livelihood and would have meant no income for the fishermen that day, and possible no food for their own families. Quite a few people were then provided for with this unexpected bounty.

It was time for Simon Peter and the others to consider a career change, becoming fishers of men. Prior to this event, Jesus had been a guest at Simon Peter's home and healed his mother-in-law. One wonders how the news was recieved that Simon Peter was abandoning his profession to follow this new teacher. But the text of the gospel indicates that they forsook all and followed him. Physically followed him as he began to visit other towns and taught in their synogogues.

This must have made a big impression on them and would be a reminder when Jesus met up with them again after the resurrection, for they had again toiled in vain, having returned to their old profession.

Every year I do a personal metaphyical study. One year, as I prayed, it came to me to study this idea of 'casting your net'. It was when the whole internet thing was affecting so many people, around the time I had gone into the full time practice of Christian Science and was about to put my name in the Christian Science Journal, a publication read world wide. One thing that has surprised and delighted me on this spiritual journey is the way people find ways to ask me about Christian Science and healing. I have become a fisher of men. And I love it. This is what Jesus instructed his followers to do....heal.

I thought about how those fishermen took care of the nets. At the end of their fishing they pulled them out of the water, removed the fish and then once on shore spread them out. They would have inspected them for holes and cleaned away any debris or weeds. Not a bad idea as we start our day. Check the state of your thinking, know there are no gaps in good, no empty spaces, a perfect design in place. There needs to be time devoted exclusively to Bible study and prayer for oneself. We need to be willing to devote as much care and attention to our spiritual wellbeing as we do to our chosen profession. And not be surprised when others are drawn to us seeking this light.

Go in peace.

three 'steps' on your spiritual journey

This week's Bible lesson contains a familiar statement that has been illumined in a new way for me. I just love it when that happens. The Bible is so amazing. Layers and layers of meaning that continue to inspire and guide us in practical ways.

Here is the sentence that lit up for me in a new way. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23) . Three steps to take on our spiritual journey. Many times when I have read this first one, deny himself, I took that as a sort of withholding of something, a sense of doing without. But this week I am applying that in a new way; set aside the material view of myself, deny that self. Deny reality to those things that are not a part of my true identity. Balance that out with affirmations of what is really true about me instead.

The second one, take up your cross daily, always seemed to indicate accepting something as a 'cross to be borne'....but...here is the insight that really lifted that one. In ancient times many of the people were nomads, no fixed building as home, traveling with tents. This phrase can also be interpreted as 'take up your tent peg'. They held their tents in place with ropes tied to a cross-shaped peg. In the morning, they would pull those out of the ground as they prepared to move forward. How about making a commitment to 'pull up your tent peg', be ready to move away from what is holding you back or tying you down.

And that 'follow me'. When I was little the snows could get pretty deep during our New Jersey winters. My dad would lead the way down the sidewalk and we would literally follow in his footsteps. How comforting to think the Our Father in heaven is doing that for me today. Clearing the path. Showing me what steps are safe to take.

So today I will resolve to deny those limiting claims about myself and affirm instead my loving, loveable, and lovely reflecting of God, good. I will take up my 'tent peg' and expect to grow today as I move forward through prayer. And in moving forward, I will follow the Master in healing work.

Not a bad way to start the day.

Go in peace with your tent peg.

prisms and magnifying glasses?

As I prayed for someone who is experiencing vision problems the word 'magnify' came strongly to mind so I looked it up in the dictionary. It means to cause to appear greater with the use of a lens. It also means to glorify and praise. That lead me to several Bible verses; Ps 34:3 "O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together" and Ps 69:30 "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving". When I turned to the hymnal I found references to Mary's song of praise given in Luke 1:46 "My soul doth magnify the Lord, sing all in glad accord!", "I magnify and bless Thee, for faithful is Thy word.", and "I magnify and bless Thee, for Thou hast made me whole." (Hymn 153)

Turning to Mrs. Eddy's writings I was interested to see how often she paired magnify with prism. A prism is a transparent form, usually glass, that separates white light into the spectrum composed of seven bands of color. Seven is often used to mean completeness. (As I mentioned yesterday Mrs. Eddy gives seven synonyms for God in the glossary) Binoculars contain a pair of prisms. The faces of the prism reflect the light rays internally so that an upright non-reversed image is seen. Great metaphysical implications. Here is what Mrs. Eddy wrote in a Message to The Mother Church in 1901: "Divine Science is not an interpolation (to explain the meaning of something) of the Scriptures, it is redolent with health, holiness, and love. It only needs the prism of divine Science, which scholastic theology has obscured, to divide the rays of Truth, and bring out the entire hues of God. The lens of Science magnifies the divine power to human sight; and then we see the allness of Spirit, therefore the nothingness of matter." And in Science and Health; "To mortal sense Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow. When understood, it is Truth's prism and praise. When you look it fairly in the face you can heal by its means, and it has for you a light above the sun, for God is the light thereof." (page 558)

So today, despite our rainy weather and dark skies, I will be thinking about prisms and the light of understanding. I will pray with the seven synonyms and magnify that application as I praise and glorify Our Father. I will be seeing the non-reversed image of man as the exact reflection of God.

Go magnify in peace.

seven tools to help you pray

Science and Health includes a glossary that contains spiritual interpretations of Bible terms. The defintion for God includes seven synonyms that can be used when praying; Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth and Love. I often work with a thought from the Bible or from Science and Health substituting these other names for God. This morning I was reading the Watch Prayer given my Mrs. Eddy to the readers of The Mother Church in 1902. It begins; "God, good, reigns! There is no other mind".

So my prayers today will revolve around working with this sentence and expanding it by using the synonms. To reign is to prevail or dominate. For example, Principle, or the laws of good, reign. That means that the laws of God are in operation today for each of us. There are no other laws that can affect us, influence us, or change what God has prepared for them who love Him. Mind, or divine intelligence, reigns. There is no other mind but God's, doing all the knowing and what He knows is the goodness of all He created. That is the mind I reflect as His image and likeness. Because Mind is always present I can never be absent-minded or forgetful. I can always knows just what I need to know at every moment. Soul, or the spiritual senses, reign. Vision, hearing, feeling are qualities of Soul so I reflect clear sight, sharp hearing, true beauty,and happiness. Spirit reigns! My true identity is spiritual and substantial. I have an unblemished identity as God's very image and likeness, and so does everyone else. Life reigns! God is always expressing Himself so my life is full and whole and good, filled with right activity, strength, vitality. Truth reigns! Only what is true about God and His creation can be expressed in my life today as honesty in how I deal with others and how they interact with me. Love reigns! That means I am loved, loving and lovable.

You get the idea. Try doing this for yourself and the things you are praying about. Keep it simple or expand on it This is your time with God.

Go in peace times seven.

Be grateful for the fleas?

Years ago I read a wonderful book by Corrie ten Boom. The Hiding Place told of her experience in a concentration camp during the Second World War. Her whole family had been turned in to the authorities for hiding Jews. They were sentenced to share their fate. Corrie and her sister were put into a dormitory/warehouse with about 300 women. It was hot, crowded and infested with fleas. One day, frightened and frustrated with things, Corrie challenged her sister, who seemed to stay upbeat and confident; "Give me one good reason to be grateful!" Her sister replied quietly, "We are together". That made her think. Her sister went on to say that they had a unique opportunity to share the gospel as, despite their treatment when they arrived, she had been able to hold on to her small New Testament. Corrie grumbled: "Well, alright, I guess I can see what you are saying. But I refuse to be grateful for these fleas!"

Corrie survived that experience and became a successful writer and lecturer. Many came to hear her talks. One day, a man stayed afterward and asked to speak with her. With tears in his eyes he begged for her forgiveness. He had been one of the guards in that camp. She could honestly tell him that she had forgiven him long ago. As they talked, she asked if he could explain one thing that had always puzzled her. All those years, when so many women were being abused by the guards, no one had taken the women from her building. "Oh," replied the man, "that was because of the fleas".

How many times we are working our way through some situation and it is so hard to stay confident, trusting inGod's care. It is hard to be grateful before the fact. Yet that is what Jesus did many times. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health; "The very circumstances, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares". I've had many times when those angels spoke so clearly to me and I was given the grace to listen and obey.

Go in peace...with gratitude.

Like the Eagle

Our Bible lesson this week, Soul, spells out pretty clearly the difference between what we behold with the material senses and what spiritual sense tells us. These senses are a way to see how we perceive ourselves. How we feel. Many people turn to Christian Science for healings connected with sight, hearing, and feelings. The lesson also brings out strength and beauty as natural reflections of Soul.

One example given for beauty and strength is from Isaiah 40: 31. And it specifically mentions eagles. I did not know much about their lives until I researched it a bit in a book, Strange Scriptures that Perplex the Western Mind. Here is what I found.

The eagle lives to a very great age. As he grows, his beak becomes so long that he can no longer eat. Then he flies away by himself to the top of a cliff where he pecks and pecks on a rock until his beak falls off. Another one will grow in its place, but while he is without the use of it, he loses his feathers because he must fast. Once the new beak has grown in and he again can take food, new feathers start growing. Now he appears to be a young eagle, and soars forth in his new covering with youthful beauty and strength. I see so many interesting ways to look at this spiritually.

When a problem has hung on persistently, we might feel that our only recourse is to go away on our own to pray about this. Sometimes it can feel like beating your head against a rock until deep prayer and quiet, undisturbed listening leads to the answer we need. Then the 'hardness' falls away. We might need to 'fast', keep our thought as pure as possible, shutting out negative thinking, making some mental adjustments, changing how we feel about something...or someone. As these changes take place, we can gradually get back to a more normal routine. The beauty of this kind of regeneration is that it takes place in mind and then is evident by the changes in the body or the situation that was so troublesome to us. We feel refreshed, strong, and confident. And with any healing there should be sincere gratitude.

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah

Soar in peace.

lessons from a chambered nautilus

August was my favorite month as a child. I was blessed with a full and happy childhood growing up in New Jersey. My Aunt Juanita had a beach house large enough to accomodate all the relatives and we spend most of August there. To this day I love early morning walks along a beach, even along the Gulf of Mexico now that I am in Texas. Or along the California coast with my son Matt. It was a quiet time when everyone else was sleeping and I could stroll along the tide lines looking for gifts from the sea.

That is also the title of a book by Anne Morrow Lindberg. She divided her life into phases and compared them to the sea shells she found during a two week spiritual retreat on an island. One chapter referred to the chambered nautilus. I have a small collection of books about sea shells and this month my room is decorated with an ocean theme. I don't have an actual chambered nautilus shell but I went to our local rock and gem shop and bought a fossilized ammonite that had been cut in half and polished. It looks much like I image the nautilus shell to be.

What makes this creature so inspiring to me is the way it grows and develops. As it develps it's everexpanding spiral, it seals off the previous chamber that it has now outgrown. Before it does that, it pushes out any debris that may have accumulated. Each section is then watertight and filled with air. This gives bouyancy. The more chambers outgrown, the greater the bouyancy. I'd like to compare my own spiritual growth to that. How important to discard any old wrong thinking or left over hurts or disappointments. Any memories that cause pain. Why entomb that weight to impede my ablility to be uplifted and upheld. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." Divine Love works with us to forgive, to love more and fear no ill.

Float in peace today