| Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche, CSB Christian Science Practitioner & Teacher |
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 This post was published online by the Christian Sentinel and can now be read on the JSH online website. Don't forget this blog is for you! Your questions and ideas that you would like to see addressed in future posts will be gratefully received! You may also wish to visit my: WEBSITE HOME PAGE TOP OF MAIN BLOG PAGE LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT  Good news! This post is now been published on CSMonitor.com. You can go to the link to read it on their site. But I will keep the links to the articles that take you deeper into the subject available here.
Soul-mate. worthy of my love, contact, a gift to each other  Retitled as "If the weight of the world seems overwhelming", this post appeared in the Christian Science Monitor on February 9, 2012. Here are the links from the original post
problems, out of control. little prayers  One afternoon I was rooting around the kitchen for a snack and discovered my husband's secret stash of Oreo cookies. There was a reason he had hidden them. I had a tendency to eat up all the goodies before he could have any. So when I found them, I was kind of mad. I took six of them and popped them in my mouth, one after the other, thinking, "There! Serves you right for trying to hide cookies from me!"
Well, the next thing you know, my husband's car pulled into the driveway. I was horrified. You know Oreo cookies. They have a distinct smell and are a little dusty to eat. So there I was - reeking of chocolate and a real mess - thinking, "Oh, God, I am caught. Please help me!" It wasn't my best prayer. But it was the best I could come up with under the circumstances...  Who hasn't experienced major direction shifts in life? Most of my moves have been voluntary. Occasionally they have occurred under the stress of circumstances not of my choosing. But as for my move to France, I happily arrived six and a half years ago. Now, however, I am going back to the US because the time has finally come for me to empty out and prepare to sell my former home. Everything in it will have to go. It is time to move on.
As I prepare for this next adventure, I am happy to find a colleague's blog on the subject of "moving on". Marta Greenwood writes, "I was doing some house clearing and wondered how many other things cluttered my life—things I no longer needed and could get rid of, even though many of them revived happy memories and ideas, and would stay in thought as a blessing. There was just so much stuff! I realized as I got rid of most of these things that they were making me move on to live life in the ever-present now. For me, the lesson was such a deep one: 'Release them and move on. You will remain in a place so rich with God’s love that you cannot possibly miss the items you’ve given away...'  A blog reader asked why some healings through prayer take longer than others. I will respond from the heart and from my own experience, which is the only way I can see to answer such a sensitive, and often angst-filled, question. A few months back someone asked if I thought healing through prayer is going on as readily and rapidly as it did in Christ Jesus' day or even a hundred years ago. This prompted me to list for myself, on paper, every major healing I have had. In the end I had quite a number - from walking pneumonia to broken bones to a growth in one breast. In all, there were 53 major healing events listed. I left off the small stuff - the bouts of flu, or colds, or family arguments - that evaporated quickly after prayer. Although I suppose a healing of a bad cold in five minutes, for example, could rank as a fairly influential healing...
 I am happy to say that this blog post has now been published by the Christian Science Journal and has been made available to read online. I have kept the keywords and links found in the original blog for your reference here. And the photos! because they really do make a post fun.
anger lust greed sloth gluttony envy pride  What is the common line to be crossed between hope and the achievement of some goal? Very often there is a need to give our consent. Notice, I didn't write "get the consent of others". The front line in the battle for progress is always within the precincts of our own inspired thought. "The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible," says Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. (Mary Baker Eddy, p.199)
To consent is to permit, approve, agree, comply or yield. Forward movement on a project, a relationship, a career move, or any other subject, often involves a bit of all five...  Sunday is my day to pray about immigration. I believe that it is in the heart of prayer that dormant potential is awakened, prejudices are softened, and genuine change begins. What to do about the "stranger within thy gates" (Exodus 20:8-10) is an age-old question. The Ten Commandments were initially addressed to a growing, migrating Jewish tribe. "The stranger within thy gates" was mentioned in the Fourth Commandment, which instructs that everyone within our territorial midst - from our families and those under our roof, to the face in the crowd - would now receive a blessing under the new law. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates” (ibid.)
 Godwords. That is what a colleague, Kim Korinek, was talking about on her blog a few days ago. She said, "Just about everyday, I list a handful of defining words about God. For a time, understanding God didn't really appeal to me. I didn't see the connection with the great I AM to my daily life - of having friends, enough money to cover rent and other necessities, and of school and work. But slowly, I came to realize that it is our concept of God that gives us the parameters of our world view - that our world is as big as our God..." I have a similar practice. Each morning when I wake up, before my feet touch the ground I give myself a few moments to pray. This first prayer of the day is totally God-centered and allows me to consider God's infinite nature in some fresh, inspired way. I ask God to give me a word, a name, a "Godword" to help me take my understanding of God deeper and farther than before...
 It was my turn to drive when a friend and I were passing through a high hilly area on a road trip in Great Britain. Let me set the scene: I was a new driver, driving on the left side (that is the wrong side of the road for an American), on what could only be considered a one lane passage way with a sheer drop-off to nowhere and no shoulder in this section for pulling over. Rounding a blind curve, probably driving too fast for the road conditions, we were confronted with a flock of sheep crossing the road and a large truck barreling head on towards us. There was nowhere to go and no way to stop to avoid a collision...
 This post was published online by the Sentinel and renamed as "Enough with the Griping!" It is available to be read on the JSH online site.
 I believe death to be only the experience of the observer. For the one actually going through a change or transition from one phase of existence to another, there is an uninterrupted continuity of living that is invisible to the human eye, but discernible to spiritual sense.
I, like many, have lost those I have loved. Each time it has become more imperative to develop the spirituality that not only allows me to survive the initial feelings of personal loss, but also to discern what is actually happening through my spiritual sense. Spiritual sense alone gives the necessary evidence that, in fact, all is well and will continue to be progressive for the one I have lost sight of. Only through spiritual growth have I been able to move on from the riveting images imposed through a false belief that death is an actual end of life... To read the rest, Follow this link to the full post on jsh.christianscience.com, where it has been republished.  Me, back in my lecturing days. Many years ago I developed symptoms of laryngitis during a weekend of constant speaking engagements. Saturday, I lectured six hours nonstop in a noisy environment. It seemed to put a strain on my vocal chords. I couldn't make a sound on Sunday morning and I had another important presentation to make at three in the afternoon. As I often do when confronted with crises - health problems included - I turned to the prayer system of Christian Science for help.
The Christian Science method of prayer involves spiritual reasoning that follows very closely the elements included in the Lord's Prayer that Christ Jesus gave to his followers. Each prayer is original, unfolded through inspiration, and starts with understanding God's true nature as Love, Life, Spirit - our true and only Father or Source. It hallows the Christ as the link, or divine message of good, that brings to humanity the capacity to heal and be healed. It takes a look at the true nature of God's creation, including man, as spiritual reflection, and of God's will of good for all on earth and in heaven...  Are we just powerless little specks on the face of Infinity? Do we determine our destiny or does fate determine what we are? And do the planets figure in somewhere? Or are planetary pulls a question of our own belief and consent?
Not so many years ago I was plagued by my horoscope. Not only was it often on the money, it was often lousy news. Predictions of relationship problems, failed business deals and health issues regularly popped up under my sign. And I was sick of it. SERIOUSLY – did I really want a head’s up that a real estate deal was going to fall through on the day we were to firm up a contract?... To read more, follow this link to the full article as it is republished on jsh.christianscience.com.  When a first grader made a passing remark to his Sunday School class about suicide, his teacher couldn’t imagine that the remark had any real weight of conviction behind it. So, it passed by with only a brief response. The following week when the child brought up the subject again, it was once more dealt with lightly at first. But the teacher discerned that the boy was reaching out for help. Throughout the next week she prayed for guidance on how to meet the needs of everyone in the Sunday School class, including this boy.
The next Sunday it became apparent that this child, whose mother had recently passed on, was becoming more and more convinced that his own death would reconnect him with happiness. The depth of his yearning was surfacing. The teacher prayed to hear and respond to the Christ, the spiritual idea of God that heals. A great way of thinking of the Christ is, "..the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to man speaking to the human consciousness." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p.332) She wanted to give the child an answer that would go beyond temporary comfort over the loss of his mother so the teacher turned her attention to listening for the Christ - the divine message that would meet the need...  Coat Of Many Colors Performed By Dolly Parton, Written By Dolly Parton
Back through the years I go wonderin' once again Back to the seasons of my youth I recall a box of rags that someone gave us And how my momma put the rags to use There were rags of many colors Every piece was small And I didn't have a coat And it was way down in the fall ...  I was recently asked: "How can I separate matter from spirit when I pray?" My response for today would be -
If you are asking how to lose sight of the problem in order to see the spiritual reality - health and harmony - when you pray, you can ask yourself: What is the subject of my prayer? Is it to know God better as Life, Truth and Love? Or, am I simply trying to escape a problem? How often do we say, 'God, I have this situation here..." And then off we go into a torrent of questioning and pleading with God that is centered on the problem. Healing prayer - or perhaps I should say the prayer that results in better health - involves a spiritual understanding of God, an inspired look at God, that sheds spiritual light on any situation. It isn't that God comes to our problems, or even needs to know our problems, in order to heal them. The sun doesn't "know" the need of the plant in order to meet it. The sun shines and as plants are exposed to the light - turn towards the light - their needs are met. God is always the subject of healing prayer...  How does a child experience himself and the world? Christ Jesus once set a young child in front of his disciples and said, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4, KJV.) I used to think that Jesus was saying there are spiritual benefits to seeing oneself as a small, insignificant fish in a big pond. But is that really how a child sees the world? Rather, doesn’t a child's perspective start with what he knows of himself as he looks outward? ...
 I know of a woman whose great hope was to learn to teach piano to children so she could support herself and live an independent life. It never happened. Things were tough – health problems, family issues, etc. had her pretty much backed into a corner. Then, at 45, she began to write a book on a subject that was suddenly burning in her to share. Her book was her baby. She saw it as God-given. She poured her all into her writing and it was a sort of rebirth. From that point on, she successfully helped others to find their own potential and to thrive against all odds. She wrote in that first book, “I hope, dear reader, I am leading you into the understanding of your divine rights, your heaven-bestowed harmony..." ... |
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I have practiced Christian Science professionally in some form since 1979. But my journey with Christian Science started in a Sunday school where as a young child I was taught the Scriptures and some simple basics of Jesus' method of scientific Christian healing. A significant experience at the age of twelve opened my eyes to the great potential of this practice. After impaling my foot on a nail, I prayed the way I had learned in Sunday school. Within moments the pain stopped and healing began. By the next morning the wound had disappeared completely. Having experienced the great potential of Christian Science, there would be no turning back. |
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