The Panoply of Love

Altai Mountains - PC: Aaron Springston

Every day we hear more truth. Every day we see that money has become the most important thing in many people's lives, and we witness where it has taken them. Every day another person is shown to be a wolf in lamb's clothing. Preachers and politicians are the expected charlatans, as they are so publicly blatant in their use of words to manipulate their flocks. But occasionally we see a seemingly sweet woman, or someone who should be the finest of our community, showing their true colors. Today I heard about a white supremacist group, a statewide organization, which features a local deputy as one of its prominent members and organizers. In the same organization was a woman from the big city who is a nurse. She has since retracted her affiliation with this militant, bigoted group of people. These are the sort of uncoverings which assure me everything is going to be alright. No matter what horrors people are perpetrating on others, they will become known, and while we must witness the nasty workings of these vicious minds, we can also see those who rise up to meet the hate with love. We are finding out how adamantly we must love in order to overturn the ingrained attitudes of centuries. And we know we can do it, because we've been practicing a long time. I have a vision of Sean Connery as King Arthur rising up shouting, Never surrender! Let us go forward with joy and wisdom, facing whatever challenges are in our path. Namaste...

"Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity."  Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 571:18

A New Way of Living

photo by Aaron Springston

This is a time of rapid change in thought. Most everyone I know senses something important in the air. I notice myself doing things differently without planning a change. Think about it! Aren't you evolving into more You? We're doing things we never considered possible in the past. A good friend, who is a veterinarian, is allowing herself to communicate with animals on an entirely different level than when she started her career.  I know a woman who gardens and is experimenting with talking to the deer and other animals who want to eat her vegetables. We are all waking up to new ways of living -- or is it old ways of Being? When I allow my beliefs to take a rest, the world I see and experience is one of common ground amongst everyone and everything. We are not different, you and I. We may have convinced ourselves that the material differences we see in each other make us separate, but look past all of that to your heritage as a child of Love. Let go of preconceived notions about how things are or should be. Let's allow ourselves this freedom of thought -- and see where it takes us!

“When will the ages understand the Ego [note capitalization], and realize only one God, one Mind or intelligence?” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 204:19-20

I Worried

John Gibson, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church where we record services for their website, built today's inspirational talk around this Mary Oliver poem. It has found a place in my head and heart...

I Worried

"I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.”

Of Hamilton and Mickey Mouse ...

I hope everyone had a fine 4th of July, whatever you did. Our special event for the day was subscribing to the Disney Channel to watch Hamilton. Wow, wow, wow! We only watched half of it, as it's close to 3 hours long (yay!), and will finish tomorrow. But what a production, what a presentation, what a concept to educate the masses and pique the curiosity of the people of these United States! This is the type of thing which, I trust, will bring us together, enabling us to get past the petty differences and great divides. And if that doesn't work, I would suggest we all sit down and watch some old Mickey Mouse cartoons! Following our amazement over the Broadway production, we were knocked out by the 1936 animation and fabulous story lines in these old cartoons. If laughing with these characters can't bring "we the people" together, nothing can. So I'm going to advocate mandatory watching of great cartoons as a cure-all for what ails us! Take some time to enjoy life, laugh, and love each other. We're all in this together -- really, truly!

"Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 66:13

Truth is Knocking at the Door!

Fireworks in the Snow
PC: Aaron Springston

Fireworks. Decades ago when I was a child, we would look forward to 10 or 20 firecrackers (which we would light with fear and excitement), a sparkler or two apiece (my personal favorite), and then an adult would set off a Roman candle for the big finale. We celebrated the freedom we believed our country was founded upon, and went to bed full of expectations of good. Now, in 2020, I am hearing fireworks crackling (illegally) all over town the night before Independence Day, and I am pondering what became of the simpler celebrations from decades ago. Everything has gone the way of fireworks: too much, too soon, too long. Our values have shifted into the high gear of hyper-materialism, and I see our excessive consumption of fireworks as a perfect example of what we have done with everything. We thought there was an endless supply of gasoline, so we began owning and driving multiple vehicles more and more miles every passing year, until we had superhighways built all across our land, constantly filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Our grocery stores ballooned into obscene orgies of processed foods and plastics, highlighted by sugar and caffeine drinks in a poisonous-looking array of colors. I think we all long for a simpler, more honest way of living. And we can have it! On this day of Independence, let’s celebrate the re-inventing of our country. America has always led the world with its innovative thinking, and now is the time for us to do it again! 

"The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page VII:13

New-Old Idea

Piney Creek Garden
Berryville, Arkansas

“When we traded nature for concrete, we destroyed our soul.” I heard this in a documentary series called “Broken Bread”. This show highlights people who are working to change the way we think about food. In many parts of our country, the only nearby places to buy food are convenience stores or liquor stores. The question was asked: Why are we normalizing the fact that fresh food is not available nearby? One man in Los Angeles says, “You don’t have to be a critical thinker to figure this out. Plant vegetables!” And so he has done this in vacant lots and areas which would usually be given to grass. He even has banana trees! By doing this and allowing others to pick what they need, they are being empowered to grow food in their own small spaces. This, dear friends, is exactly what the “new world” looks like: seeing ways to bring us closer to the earth and each other and acting on them! Building community through food is a great way to begin. 

"As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to 'where the young child was,' -- even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light, chasing away the darkness of error." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 191:8

A New Earth