 Faith Bass Darling is a fascinating main character in a recent novel that I read (Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale, Lynda Rutledge, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, 2012). She is a very wealthy woman who becomes convinced that God has told her that "her time has come". She decides to have a huge yard sale selling everything she owns, in order to be ready. Everything! Without a single bit of regret. Imagine emptying your house of long-cherished belongings. Recently, I did just that. Not because I believed my "time has come." I don’t share Mrs. Darling's belief that God, who is Life, has anything to do with death. But the time had definitely come to accept my daughter’s invitation to live with her. My husband had passed. She and my other children, were eager for me to make the move. So I did. I sold my house, but I didn’t have a yard sale. Instead, I had a happy time giving away loved possessions to my children and grandchildren, without a single regret. You might think that getting rid of absolutely everything would have been stressful. But it really wasn’t. Why? Because I wasn't trying to figure out my next steps by myself. I was convinced that I would know what to do and when to do it as I went along. I understood that God, in whom I live and move and have my being, is the divine Principle of divine good, unfolding good for me. God always knows the next step and when to take it in His revelation of good. This was a lesson I learned from a youngster named Morrie. Unlike the fictional Faith Bass Darling, he was a real little boy who lived in Colorado in the 1890s. Morrie trusted God's perfect timing. He had lost his mother's coal shovel, and he knew she would need it the next morning. It couldn't be found anywhere. Later in the day his mother found him in his room, unusually quiet, and asked him what he was doing. He replied, "I'm praying.” She asked: "How are you praying?" "You said I must find that shovel so I'm praying for understanding," he replied. "Will you pray out loud so I can hear it?" she asked.  This was his prayer: "God is my understanding. He knows all things, and whenever I quit trying to know for myself, then I will know, because God knows". After his prayer, Morrie went outside to play. Later, his mother asked if he had found the shovel. He was surprised and said, "Why mama, you must wait till the time comes, and not try to know for yourself.” Early the next morning he came running in to his mother, saying, "The time has come; here it is." He presented her with her the shovel. (Christian Science Journal, Jan. 1890) I think Morrie’s story shows that he must have felt something of his life inseparable from divine Life, God. Christian Science teaches that God imparts His understanding to us at all times. Morrie expected to know what to do to find the shovel, and he waited for it to be made known. No stress or fuss or fear. And the shovel reappeared right on time for his mother to use it. God is omniactive Life. His understanding, knowing. expressing, reflecting, manifesting, revealing of good – of all the good that God is – is present in the details of our daily lives. The emptying of my house and sharing of its contents happened without a hitch in just a few short days. I learned in the process that ridding oneself of things and moving to another State does not imply an end of good. God's goodness continues to provide all that I need in just the right way for my present circumstances. My sense of home – and of being at home – is full and complete. Best of all, I know that at any point as my journey continues, I can quietly pray for understanding and, like Morrie, I can "try not to know" for myself. God is a caring guide, leading us all into a fuller sense of divine Life and of all the good that life includes. To be sure you don't miss something,
you can have new posts delivered to your email inbox. Simply subscribe in the sidebar. And if this post is meaningful to you, it may also help others. Please share! You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  What can you do when someone's unfair, unkind remarks cling to your thinking like a spider's web? Sticking like glue, unkind words can mess up one's peace of mind. Worse, they tend to give rise to indignant, defensive, self-righteous mental responses. They can keep us busy ruminating, making us miserable, solving nothing. I spent some days just like that. I had all kinds of mental conversations with someone who had hurled hurtful remarks at me. I mentally told her off, making it clear that I was right and she was wrong. It didn't help. I was simply feeding the hurt feelings. One day, while looking out my bedroom window, I noticed a dead leaf stuck to a spider web on one of the clapboards of my neighbor's house. Every time I passed by the window, I found myself checking to see if the heavy rain or strong wind had managed to dislodge that sad looking leaf. Nope. The strength of a single thread of spider web held it captive. Spider silk is widely regarded as the strongest natural fabric on earth, at least half as strong as a steel thread of the same thickness, and much more elastic. So it looked like, once caught in the web, that old dead leaf was really stuck. And so it would prove to be for a couple of months.  I likened my situation to that stuck dead leaf. Glued to hurt by a gossamer thread of unkind words, I was caught and getting nowhere. But as one who practices Christian Science, I eventually realized I could do something about this. I didn't need to stay stuck. I remembered the message Jesus gave to his disciples at the crucifixion: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do". (Luke 23:34) As I prayed about Jesus' words, I considered that this dear one possibly had no idea that her words had so disturbed me. And even if she did know, there was no real power in the sticky thread of the hurtful words. Christian Science teaches that the Christ, or God's spiritual influence, is the only true communicator. The real connection between God's children is through Christ-love. Nothing else sticks. It occurred to me that simply knowing this would allow me to forgive. And that is just what I did. I could then see the whole dispute was a sham. God's children aren't really in conflict. We were both innocent, loved, and loving in God's eyes. We are His own creation under His control. The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote of error as "deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth [God], which sweeps away the gossamer web of illusion" Science and Health, 403. That is what I had been suffering from - the sticky false belief, or error, that my friend and I could have anything but love pass between us. That gossamer web of illusion was swept right out of my thinking. I was free. And the next time I looked, the leaf was gone. The spider web on the clapboard, too, had lost its hold. Kay Olson is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in the US. She welcomes your comments on her post below. If you would like to be in touch with her privately, she is happy to hear from you at kayolson@mindspring.com. To be sure you don't miss something,
you can have new posts delivered to your email inbox. Simply subscribe in the sidebar. And if this post is meaningful to you, it may also help others. Please share! You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  "O gentle presence." How many times I've thought of those words. They open a poem written by Mary Baker Eddy, Mother's Evening Prayer, which begins: O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour, Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight! Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight. (Poems, 4) “O gentle presence” are words that affirm that God is with us. Now. Forever. I experienced this presence in a powerful way last year. It was the evening before a Memorial service for my husband who had passed on the week before. There were last minute decisions to be made. Some of our extended family had decided views that conflicted with mine. Sitting alone in the family room, I was mulling over the issues thinking I didn't need this problem. I heard my daughter in the next room gathering pictures from photo albums, making plans to frame them. This was one item of minor contention – whether, and which, photos should be displayed. After a short period of ruminating, a tender quietness suddenly settled over me and enveloped the room. I felt a palpable presence that could only be divine. I knew it was God's gentle presence making me calm. Peace reigned in my heart. I felt it. I sat very still in wonder.  Suddenly, all the preparations and decisions were irrelevant to me. All I wanted was to hold onto this divine presence. All that mattered was this feeling of God with me. I encouraged my daughter to go ahead with her plans, assuring her that everything would be fine. This peace stayed with me throughout the service the next day. And, of course, the display of family pictures was perfect, pleasing and comforting to everyone. The peace, joy and power of God’s presence is the Christ, God's action of revealing Himself in unmistakeable ways we can understand, giving us just what we need, bringing healing. This divine presence doesn’t come and go. The Christ is always here with us all, all the time bringing peace and joy and power. To be sure you don't miss something,
you can have new posts delivered to your email inbox. Simply subscribe in the sidebar. And if this post is meaningful to you, it may also help others. Please share! You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT LISTEN TO A COLLECTION OF MY "YOUR DAILY LIFT" 2-MINUTE PODCASTS  What grandmother isn’t delighted to help care for her newborn grandson? When my daughter asked me to help her with her new baby, I was a delighted grandmother! I had visions of holding the little one in a rocking chair, singing lullabies, putting him over my shoulder and patting him on the back. There was just one wrinkle in this happy scenario. When I arrived at my daughter’s home, I was greeted by a very large, very black dog. And, as I soon discovered, a very ill dog. My daughter and I hugged each other and she introduced me to Eli, an adorable, plump little boy, and to her dog, Pneuma, a not so adorable, skinny dog. Very soon I had many opportunities to rock Eli in the rocking chair, pat him on the back, and change his diapers. It was fun! … but then there was that dog.  Since my daughter and son-in-law were taking some college courses during the day, it was up to me to care for baby and dog while they were away. Pnuema refused to eat. He also, I discovered, tended to spit up on the floor from time to time. I had not bargained for dog clean-up duty. So I just covered those spit-up places with paper towels for my son-in-law to deal with when he got home. I tried to get Pneuma to eat by putting some candy in his dog food. Maybe a little sweet taste would tempt him. Not so much. He walked away from his food dish. Then I woke up. I realized that the trouble was not in the dog. It was in me. Instead of loving the dog, I was resenting him. I had been deceptive, trying to trick him into eating. I had selfishly left the clean-up duty to my son-in-law. And I was leaving this loved pet out of my prayers. This had to change! I vowed to embrace him in my daily spiritual study and prayer, and I began changing my attitude.  While I rocked the baby, I patted Pneuma on the head and my compassion for him deepened. I filled his dog dish with his favorite food and left it up to him to eat or not. And, I cleaned up after him, much to my son-in-law’s relief. As I opened my spiritual guide-book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, I remembered it had something to say about the Bible term wind (pneuma in Greek). It is defined, in part, as that which indicates “the movements of God’s spiritual government, encompassing all things.” (p. 597). It was a nice, sunny, breezy day so I grabbed a blanket, Pneuma, and the baby, and went outside to sit under a tree. I wanted to feel the gentle breeze and to ponder the spiritual meaning of wind (pneuma). I thought, God’s government surely is harmonious, orderly and just. It is perpetual and uninterrupted. It embraces each of us, governs all of us. I thought of Pneuma the dog as God’s perfect, spiritual creation, completely in His control. I felt a wave of assurance that all was well.  The next morning, when I came downstairs, Pneuma was standing in front of the dining room window, the sunlight filling the room. He looked like one of those scrawny, dying cows that one sees in photos of drought or famine. I thought: “Humph, that’s just a picture of death. It is not dog!” In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus taught his disciples to heal with “Yes” and “No” thoughts – that is affirmations of God’s true creation, and firm and forthright denials of what has nothing to do with God’s good creative work (see Matthew 5:33-36). My prayers did just that. I recognized and affirmed the perfection of Pneuma as under the perfect control of God, and I saw perfectly clearly that disease had no part of God’s idea of a dog. Pneuma began to eat that very day. He quit spitting up and quickly returned to normal health. God loves every part of His spiritual creation. And when we reflect the love of the divine Love that is God, we become witnesses to pneuma, to the powerful healing government of God, that leaves no one and nothing out. Did this get you thinking? Please share it!
And for a full-text version delivered to your email inbox, you can find the subscription box in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIND LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT  Don’t like the weather? “Wait a minute”. Capricious weather? "Mother Nature is at it again!" Hurricane? "It’s an act of God”. Nature and God often get a bad rap when it comes to the weather. That line about Mother Nature is kind of a joke, but many believe God is actually responsible for dangerous and destructive events. Although, some do reject that belief. One Southern governor refused to sign an emergency relief bill until a reference to a damaging storm as an “act of God” was deleted. I cheered! How can one think about the weather when it is imperative that weather be good for a garden (rain), for a parade (sun, but not too much), or for an outdoor wedding (perfect will do, thank you!)? It was the latter that consumed my thought when we were planning a wedding for our oldest daughter. It was to be held in the city’s beautiful Rose Garden. At one end of the acre of roses, was a delightful gazebo that was just right for the refreshments. At the other end, a fountain gurgled into a little pool. The wedding party would stand nearby. Three violinists from the Symphony orchestra would provide music.  It was a perfect plan, except for one thing. There was no alternative place for guests in case of --- rain! Every day a month before the wedding, we found ourselves checking the weather report, sometimes twice. We thumbed through the Farmer’s Almanac. We were consumed with the subject of weather. One day, it occurred to me that we were taking the “weather temperature” the way a worried mother would treat a child. Up til now we had always tackled our challenges through prayer. Why not this one? So we turned the TV weather reports off. We put the Farmer’s Almanac back on the shelf. As we prayed, we weren't thinking about controlling the weather; instead, we began to think spiritually about what God does for His creation, beginning with the Lord’s Prayer: “…. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…”. Our prayers affirmed God’s will as good, always good, and always here – on earth – caring for us and for everyone else. We expected our daily lives to be more “heavenly” because we were open to His good will. We loved knowing that harmony is His law and is never interrupted.  Our prayer brought out unselfish motives, too. We wanted the farmer to have the rain if he needed it on the wedding day. We wanted parades and picnics to have the sun and warm breezes to make their day perfect. And, it was ok to expect our outdoor wedding to be rainless! When the day arrived, I stayed with these ideas. Some friends went with me to set up the refreshments in the gazebo. It was great fun. Then, I looked out. It was raining. I thought “I don’t believe it”. And, I didn’t. I knew that God's will alone is for good on earth as it is in heaven. So, we continued to prepare for guests, went home and dressed, returned to the garden, and waited.  As the first guests arrived, the rain stopped. The sun came out. The rain-drop studded roses sparkled. Strains of Beethoven and Mozart filled the air. The wedding proceeded.
It was heavenly. Refreshments were served. Then, as the guests waved goodbye... .. a gentle, sprinkling rain began to fall. “My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain, my words arrive like the morning dew, like a sprinkling rain on new grass, like spring showers on the garden……. Respond to the greatness of our God! (Deuteronomy 32:2,3 The Message, Eugene Peterson)  It is election time in the United States. Speeches, platforms and debates are filling the air waves, heating up Twitter and providing loads of fodder for opining with Facebook friends. While now might be a good time to discuss policy ideas, too often feathers become ruffled and the discourse becomes personal and ugly. So how can we think (and speak) about politics and politicians in a healthy and productive way? Many years ago, during an election season, a neighbor invited me to a meeting in support of a local man running for State office. I don’t recall how we got into it, but we were apparently on opposite wave lengths, politically speaking. I said something she didn’t like and she became very angry. In fact, she stomped out of my kitchen and slammed the door on her way out of the house. My heart sank. I loved my neighbor. She was a good friend. I couldn’t have her leave so angry. So I ran out after her, threw my arms around her, and said, “Our friendship is worth more than a political point of view!” Her anger stopped cold. She hugged me back. And that was the end of it.  It is important to be informed and aware of the important decisions our leaders make, to support righteous government, to think and pray deeply, and to participate in the democratic process by voting. But knowing who, what and how to support when it comes to politics, requires spiritual discernment and a willingness to lean on Jesus’ prayer - “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Giving the spiritual sense of Jesus’ words, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth God is omnipotent, supreme.”
Although women did not yet have the right to vote, in reply to a number of requests for an expression of her political views, Mary Baker Eddy was quoted in the Boston Post, “I am asked, ‘What are your politics?’ I have none, in reality, other than to help support a righteous government, to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself.” She also believed that people who were entitled to do so should vote, and that “in such matters no one should seek to dictate the action of others.” (Boston Post, November, 1908.) Imagine if we were all to follow that inspired example, what a difference it could make.  “Sell what you have and give to the poor...and follow me.” Now, this is a Radical Act! It was Jesus’ recipe for the man who wanted to be assured of eternal life. But it also relates to another Radical Act of Jesus: "To live abundantly." Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." When Jesus suggested the man sell all his stuff, he didn’t take it very well. It must have been a shock to consider losing all his possessions and, then, to give money away. Although he was promised "treasure in heaven", maybe heaven seemed far off. So, he walked away. (See Matthew 19:21) But surely, Jesus didn’t intend for the man to become homeless and hungry. Perhaps he perceived that the man cherished things and money more than he valued a spiritual outlook. Maybe the radical move to let go of his material possessions meant to leave a material way of thinking and living for a spiritual standpoint that would open him to spiritual and tangible abundance. I think the third point of Jesus’ instruction is really the key: “Follow me.” The way I see it, when we follow Jesus - his teachings and his way of living - we have everything we need. And more. We have abundance. We learn what eternal life is. And we learn to live that life now.  Eternal life isn’t an endless extension of material living. It is everpresent spiritual life without limits. It is heaven on earth, available right now; and we can find it by clearing away the mental and material clutter that distracts us from our genuine spirituality. Of Christ Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy - Discoverer of Christian Science - wrote, "Understanding the nothingness of material things, he spoke of flesh and Spirit as the two opposites, — as error and Truth, not contributing in any way to each other's happiness and existence. Jesus knew, 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.'" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 356) I recently asked myself, if Jesus asked me to do what he asked that man to do, would I? Or would I walk away? My husband and I live in different states and have been taking turns living in my house and his house. More and more, we stay in his house. One day, thinking about my empty house, a tiny thought skittered by, “Maybe you should sell your house.” I pushed the thought away. “I love my house!” The tiny thought became more insistent. And, I began to see how sensible it was. So, I made the decision to go ahead and list it for sale. Then, an insistent thought loudly clamored, “Since you have a full house here, you will have to sell, give away, or trash everything you own.” Was I ready to get rid of all my possessions?  While thinking about that, another thought gently flittered to me: “Are you living with your possessions now, or just thinking about them?” Of course, I was only thinking of them. I could give my children whatever they wanted, sell the rest and still think of them. Now, the house is listed, the children have their names on the things they would like to have, and I see there will be opportunities to give to the poor. All this is well and good. But what has me really excited are my prayers to more radically follow Jesus - to live and love more generously, to cherish my spirituality more than material thoughts and things, and to live my abundant, eternal, unlimited life every day. Kay Olson is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher. She contributes regularly to this blog and is loving the summer project on Time4thinkers.com: Radical Acts of Jesus.  If you are interested in this, or other Radical Acts we're focusing on this summer, check out these links: 1. BE childlike. 2. BEFRIEND lepers, prostitutes, “undesirables.” 3. CAST the beam out of your own eye. 4. CHALLENGE Pharisees. 5. DO GOOD to people who hate you. 6. FEED the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter strangers, visit prisoners. 7. FORGIVE 70 x 7. 8. HEAL the sick, cast out evil, raise the dead. 9. LIVE more abundantly. 10. LOSE your life to find it. 11. LOVE your neighbor as yourself. 12. MULTIPLY loaves and fishes. 13. SEEK the kingdom first — don’t worry about food/drink/clothing. 14. SELL what you have - give to the poor. 15. TAKE up your bed and walk. 16. TRAVEL without a wallet. 17. WASH someone’s feet. 18. WALK on water. Love it? Please share it for others to enjoy.
Let's work together to share the love. Also, if you aren't yet a subscriber, a full-text version of the blog can be delivered to your email inbox. It's easy to sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE READ MORE BLOG POSTS FIND A LIST OF MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT  Some years ago, when I was teaching Sunday School, one of our lessons included the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. The students wondered: “Why did Jesus do this, anyway?" Well, he had met his disciples for an important meal and they had neglected to wash his feet. This was a natural, hospitable act in those days of sandals and dirt roads. Feet could be very dusty in dry weather and muddy in wet weather! After their meal together, Jesus kneeled down in front of his students and began to wash their feet. You can imagine their discomfort. Their Teacher, not a servant, was on his knees performing this menial duty! When Jesus finished the washing, he asked: “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and you are right for that is what I am. So, if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master, an employee does not give orders to the employer. If you understand what I am telling you, act like it, and live a blessed life. (John 13:12-17 New Living Translation, The Message.)  Did we understand what Jesus was telling them? I decided we could try this out for ourselves. The following Sunday, I carried a large bowl and a towel to the class. The students were wide-eyed. One of them said: “Not my feet!” She decided, though, that she would go outside with the rest of us and watch the proceedings. I washed their feet and they washed mine. Still, they were puzzled. Jesus taught that we should follow his example but we weren’t seeing any foot-washing going on in our community! Should we be doing this today? If we got on our knees and began to wash our friend’s feet, they would think we were crazy! Finally, we came to the conclusion that Jesus’ example was one of humility. Perhaps he was asking his followers to see everyone as “dust-free”. In other words, we should understand that each of us is a child of God. We are equal in His eyes. After all, each of us walks on the same ground - each of us has the same relation to God - and each of us has the same need of Christ, the spirit of God. So, I just washed my husband's feet. I simply asked if I could, and he said yes. At first, he thought I'd lost it! But then he loved it. What he might not have known is, I have been seeing him as dust-free for a long, long time. The foot bath was just a tender way to say "I know who you are, and I love you." Kay Olson CSB is loving blogging on the Radical Acts of Jesus that are part of a summer project on Time4Thinkers.com. Kay is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Pennsylvannia, USA. Click the following link if you are interested in reading up on this, or one of the other 17 Radical Acts being practiced this summer. Love it? Please share it for others to enjoy.
Let's work together to share the love. Also, if you aren't yet a subscriber, a full-text version of the blog can be delivered to your email inbox. It's easy to sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE READ MORE BLOG POSTS FIND A LIST OF MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT  Jesus once said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24) He also said, First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” (Matthew 7:5) I think this emphasis on what we see and how we judge problems before our eyes can make a huge difference when it comes to healing the sick. A little girl hurt her arm while playing on the school playground and was sent home. When her dad tried to care for the injury, she said, “Daddy, don’t see what you are going to look at!” This little girl attended the Christian Science Sunday School and had been learning about God as Spirit, the only creator, and of His only creation as spiritual. She intuitively knew that the injury had nothing to do with her true and perfect spiritual selfhood as God’s child. While he cared for the physical injury, the dad saw, or understood, that his daughter’s spiritual, God-created selfhood, was untouched by evil, hence there was no basis for harm. The Dad was touched by his daughter’s faith and understanding. No doubt, this influenced his own prayer, and healing quickly followed.  Mary Baker Eddy placed a lot of importance on what we look at when praying for healing. She wrote, "The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? hen you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 248) Further on she used Jesus’ example to show us a way out. She explained, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.” (Ibid. 476) I have seen, time and time again, that Jesus' approach to healing – looking for and seeing the perfect likeness of God – is quick and effective. Once, when my son was a teenager, an unsightly growth developed on one of his fingers. He asked a doctor to check it out and was told that it was unusual and would take a long time to heal. My son thought he could get faster results from prayer and decided to approach the situation from the spiritual standpoint of Christian Science. We prayed about his spiritual identity as God’s child untouched, unseen and unmarred by evil. Shortly after, one evening my son was teasing his sister. In the process, he bumped his finger which began to bleed a lot. Grabbing a towel to clean up, I thought that the scene I was witnessing – of teasing or of bleeding - couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Spirit, God, or with my son, His perfectly formed, well-behaved child. As I prayed, I no longer saw what I was looking at. I bandaged his finger and made sure he was OK, and I left with my husband to go to a long-planned dinner engagement with friends. I continued to pray to see only what was spiritually true about my son. During the dinner, our friends’ phone rang and it was our son. He couldn’t wait to tell us the strange growth had simply dropped clean off! He was healed. Kay Olson CSB is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Pennsylvania, USA. Her blog today supports “Radical Acts” on Time4thinkers.com - a summer program, online and ecumenical – encouraging and supporting the practice of 18 of Jesus radical statements to his followers. You can click on this link to find out more. Once you do, we hope you will join in. There are some pretty amazing things being shared by the radical actors! This blog helps spread the good news of healing prayer.
Every "like" and "share" blesses untold numbers. Thank you for visiting and for sharing when you find something that touches you! Also, if you aren't yet a subscriber, a full-text version of the blog can be delivered to your email inbox. It's easy to sign up in the sidebar. You may also wish to: VISIT MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE READ MORE BLOG POSTS FIND A LIST OF MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT  I expect most of us have, or have had, a habit. A habit is a settled, a regular tendency or practice. Sometimes habits are good and sometimes they are not so good. Unhealthy habits can become ingrained to the point of taking over no matter how hard we might resist. So, what can we do to overcome a bad habit? Jesus gave a good example in his parable of the prodigal son. This young man had a problem with self-indulgence and overspending. One day he hit a low point. Degraded, without funds, hungry and desperate, he had a sudden awakening. Jesus said that he “came to himself” – that is, he woke up from self-absorbed thoughts and behaviors and sought refuge with his father. (See Luke, chapter 15) Of course, Jesus used this parable to teach an important lesson. We can all turn back to the one divine Father, to God, whose open arms welcome every repentant child and who shows a way out of the desperate corners we sometimes place ourselves in. I once had a bad habit of nail-biting. It became an annoying way of life for me. I had chewed my nails for as long as I could remember. I wasn’t hurting anyone else with this habit but I wasn’t very attractive to look at while I was gnawing away, and neither were the fingernails! When I was little, my grandfather tried to help me stop. During one visit, he put tape over my fingernails. But, undaunted, I soon chewed through the tape. During another visit, he polished my nails with an awful tasting liquid. I managed to put up with the taste and the nail biting continued.  It wasn’t that I was deliberately trying to be disobedient. It just seemed I couldn’t help it. As I grew older, I would make attempts to defeat the problem. But, the minute I started reading a book, watching TV, or going to the movies, I would find my fingers rising to my mouth and I was chewing again. And no human will – not mine, not my grandfather’s – could stop it. The time came when I began to get serious about overcoming this habit. By then I was a grown woman with six children! But as a new student of Christian Science I realized that I could turn to prayer for problem-solving. I remembered a certain Bible verse, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” (Matt. 25:21) When it came to mind, I prayed, asking God to show me at least one little thing in my life that I could be faithful over. I saw this as a way to be more in tune with God. Then I thought, “Stop the nail biting.” This message seemed to me to be guidance straight from God telling me it wasn’t necessary to be trapped with an unpleasant habit.  I knew I couldn’t stop the nail-biting through will-power. I now saw another way. I could “come to myself” like the prodigal son and turn back to my Father. I could be faithful over what I did with my hands, as a form of mindful worship of God. In fact, I was being called on to replace an old bad habit of nail-biting, with a new and good habit of being faithful to God by waking up to my true and good self. I don’t remember much about the thought process that followed this insight, but I do remember feeling very confident that I could stop biting my nails as an act of faithfulness to God. Not long after this, I was riding in the car with my husband. I remember my fingers rising towards my mouth and then, suddenly, they stopped. I was aware of God’s palpable, gentle presence with me. God’s goodness completely enveloped me. My hand dropped into my lap – and there it stayed. The 40 year old nail biting habit ended that day. So what was that presence that enveloped me in the car? What is it that prompts one to suddenly come to oneself after indulging a bad habit for a long time? I believe it is the Christ, the divine message of God, revealing God's goodness in action and reflected in His creation. The Christ has the ability to rouse us from mindless evil to a conscious awareness of God’s present goodness and our ability it express it.  It can be so reassuring to remember that the Christ is perpetually present. There is never a moment when we can be disconnected from divine good, never a time when we are without God’s help. Like the father in Jesus’ parable, our divine Father’s open arms are ever-ready to welcome us when we turn towards Him with a heart willing to change. Breaking bad habits involves more than an adjustment of attitude and behavior. Waking to a better sense of ourselves as God’s good creation, we can form new habits, good habits, that reflect our spiritual, liberated selfhood as children of God. Kay Olson is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher. You can reach her at kayolson@mindspring.com.
 "Nothing happened." Who hasn’t felt at one time or another that their prayers have not been very fruitful? That the time spent in prayer seems to have been of little use?
Take a minute and think about how the trees, the bushes, the grass, appear in winter. Nothing seems to be happening. If you didn’t know better, you would think that the leafless tree, the flowerless bush, the greenless grass are dead. However, during those long cold winter months, living is going on in the tree and the shrub and the grass.  It had been a pretty busy time. We moved with our six children from the North to the South, and were living in a large apartment complex until the sale of our former house was completed. Try that with six children and a dog! Yup. It was busy. But it was also an adventure.
The apartment complex was new and attractive and living there was kind of like living in a college dorm. Even better, our patio doors overlooked the swimming pool and, now that we were in the South, we had a lot of opportunity to swim. As busy as I was with moving and family, I was also beginning to take calls from people seeking help through prayer to solve their problems. Until I could find a downtown office, I put a desk in the corner of my bedroom for a quiet place to study and pray. The Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, were my textbooks for healing prayer.  I bet you remember this little ditty: “Sticks and stones may break your bones but names will never hurt you.”
My folks repeated that saying to me whenever I was called names. As catchy as it is, I didn’t find much comfort in it. Sometimes names and words can hit you like a shot in the heart. They can stick in one’s memory, too. I still remember the day my brother called me “bow-legged”, and that was in the first grade! Christ Jesus thought words were important. He firmly rejected calling people by names that, today, we might not consider so bad; but to him they were pretty offensive. One word was raca, an Aramaic term of mild contempt meaning good-for-nothing. He declared it even worse to call someone a fool.  A few days ago, my husband and I opened our newspaper to a troubling story. The front page featured a picture of an old, ratty, dirty, dilapidated school bus sitting in the middle of a ragged, muddy field. Two children, a 10 year old and 5 year old, had been found living in the bus by themselves. I thought, “Those dear children – I hope they are being cared for.”
Then I remembered a conversation I had with someone many years ago. I was walking across the parking lot to the grocery store when this complete stranger approached me. She just wanted to tell me how much she admired the colorful jacket I was wearing. I thanked her for the compliment and was ready to move along when she suddenly grabbed my lapels, looked directly into my eyes, and shouted with great urgency, “Pray for the children! Please, pray for the children!” She held on so tightly that I quickly promised that I certainly would do just that. Finally, she let me go and walked away. I hurried into the store.  Who hasn’t heard this? Play by the rules in sports and you’ll play fair. Play by the rules of the road and you’ll be safe. Play by the house rules and you won’t get in trouble!
During a lecture tour to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand, I learned how important it is to play by the rules of my church. I was thrilled to take this tour. I’d always wanted to visit these countries and now I would have the opportunity to share with others the subject dearest to my heart – Christian Science. I felt really prepared and things were going along just fine as I went from city to city. People were really interested and glad to have an opportunity to have their questions answered. Some misunderstandings came to light and were corrected. I was feeling pretty good about everything except for one thing. Many of my hosts would invite me for refreshments and mingling after the lectures concluded. As kind as they were to want to offer a reception for me in appreciation for my coming so far, I really felt compelled to go back to my hotel and be quiet, to ponder the ideas shared in the lecture and to pray for all those who came. But I didn’t feel comfortable excusing myself from the company of my hosts. So I stayed for the social part of the events. 2/10/2012 Show me - a guest post by Kay Olson, CSB The host welcomed his visitors by saying, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you.” Although they were glad to be invited to dine, there was a certain tension in the air. Everyone sensed it.
There had been some disputing* between them on their way to the supper. They arrived on time, but there was something amiss – something still lingering in the air. It was a customary kindness to wash the road dust off the feet of one another upon arrival. But this time no one made a move to do it. So the host stepped forward, taking over the duty himself. He poured water in a basin and, one by one, washed the feet of each guest, wiping them dry with a towel. (See Luke 22, NIV)  I love to think of myself, and everyone, completely God-gifted with every needed thing. He imbues his creation with spiritual qualities, wisdom, spiritual intuition. After all, the “very good” in Genesis 1:31, that God proclaims His creation to be, includes all that good stuff! It is perpetual and equally bestowed on each of us.
I needed to remember this one day when I was thinking anything but! I had just arrived home after a lovely time with my daughters-in-law. We had enjoyed visiting with each other at the Pineapple Tea Room. It was in a neighboring town and, while I really loved having “high tea” with them, I was not crazy about driving that far. On this day, after walking into my house, I realized I didn’t have my purse with me. I thought “I must have left it in the car.” Out I went to look. I looked and looked. Not there. I went back into the house. Maybe I set it down on the kitchen counter without thinking. Nope. I called the tea room. They kindly looked all around – even looked out on the sidewalk. Not there.  I had just walked into the kitchen with an armful of groceries when I noticed my husband hanging up the telephone. He looked serious. I put the groceries on the table and he turned to me with these words: “Your brother died. He had a heart attack.”
I sat down at the kitchen table and kept thinking, “I don’t believe this.” Then, came a quiet thought: “Don’t believe it”. I thought: “This can’t be true.” Another gentle message came: “You’re right. It isn’t true.” I stayed with these thoughts for some time. I took them deep into my heart. I lived with them during the next few days as my family and I made arrangements for my brother’s funeral.  Most have heard the axiom: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I had heard it but didn’t pay too much attention to it until something happened that made it come alive for me. When I was a teenager, I was invited to a special dance by a young man who belonged to the church where I was a soprano soloist. I didn’t know him very well, but he was nice – and so handsome. So, I accepted the invitation. We arrived at the dance and immediately joined the others on the dance floor. I soon found out that my handsome partner was a terrible dancer!
As I sat on the sidelines during a time out, another young man from the same church made a beeline for me. I thought: “Oh, no. He’s going to ask me to dance!” He was definitely not high on the handsome scale. All I could think of was Ichabod Crane. Sure enough, he asked me. The music started up again, and off we went to dance. Was I in for a surprise! He waltzed me across the floor like I was Ginger Rogers. He was a fabulous dancer and made me feel fabulous, too. At the conclusion of the waltz, I decided he was actually pretty good looking! |
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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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© 2011-2023 Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche, CSB. All rights reserved. Pages updated 2 December, 2022.