It's the Little Things

 

I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the little things, the niceties in life, the abundance of having enough. The simple joy of being pain free, having enough to eat, a roof over our heads, a steady income, pets, friends, and so much more. Our library system is such a blessing every day, but particularly in times of need. I hope everyone knows how beautifully our libraries have risen to the emergency we’re facing in our country. Our local library recently upgraded their web site, making it easier to find what we’re looking for — or even what we don’t know we want! — walking us through the process of reserving books, movies, audiobooks, magazines, and then picking them up outside the structure in a safe and easy way. The abundance in our lives is astounding! And I am grateful...

"Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:25

Peace on Earth

 

I did a quick search on "peace on earth" and found many interesting things telling us how that is going to occur. So I went to quotes about this topic, and I share a few with you. Happy Day After Christmas to One and All!

"We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate - thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."

 Maya Angelou

​"​Peace is our gift to each other.​"​​ ​Elie Wiesel

​"​Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.​" ​John F. Kennedy

​"​There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity.​" ​Elise M. Boulding

​"​Every year at this time, an important phrase marks the season: peace on earth and goodwill towards men. It's so common we sometimes forget about what it really means - that we strive for a world without war, a society where we respect and help our neighbors, a place where we protect and uplift our most in need. This isn't a phrase we should live by for one day or one month. It's a set of values that must bond and motivate us every day.​"​​ ​Dennis Kucinich

​"The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress." Mary Baker Eddy 

Happy Christmas to You

art courtesy of Carol Dickie

Many of us are missing our usual family/friend traditions this year. The quote I've posted here by Mary Baker Eddy brings me peace in solitude, as I hope it does you. Also, below that is a link to our local Celebration Choir video. Eleven singers and one accompanist hope you will join us virtually in this musical worship service, including reading of the Nine Lessons. Happy Holiday to everyone!!

"I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth's appearing." Mary Baker Eddy

 celebrationchoirar.square.site

Backward or Forward

photo credit: Richard Quick

In my younger days, I enjoyed horror stories. Stephen King was a favorite because of his exceptionally good writing and his insights into the psyche of the psychopath. I was fascinated by the awfulness of it. Going hand in hand with that fascination, was my desire to pollute my body with substances which seemed to be fun, but ultimately were not. Over the last three decades, I’ve given up these things one by one, some more readily than others. I’ve been thinking about the horrors of the political scene as we’ve watched it unfold over these same decades. It has culminated in a particularly intense awfulness at this point, and I have no desire to partake of its emotional rollercoaster. While it seems wise to know what’s going on, I’ve begun to question even that. But I go back to the old statement attributed to a wise person: I only want to hear about the problem as an identifier; after that, I only need to think about it to find solutions. As of today, I reaffirm my conviction to do this. I wish you peace in whatever way you choose to do good!

"The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 547:25

Feel the Peace, Be the Peace

 

art courtesy of Judith Griffith

As we near the end of a momentous year, I'm hoping we can all hold our thoughts to higher ideals: peace, joy, love, harmony, unity, truth, justice, and goodness of all sorts. When listening to the Nine Lessons performance by our Celebration Choir, the reading which touched my heart was from Isaiah, when we are assured "the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox..." This exemplifies the gentleness all living creatures have within them. People are part of the animal kingdom, and I visualize us remembering this beautiful fact. Choose something which brings you peace and focus on it each day. Let's keep our thoughts and actions in line with the universe's perfect harmony, feeling the pull of compassionate peace guiding our way, and sending Love out to the world. Namaste...

"Eternal Truth is changing the universe. As mortals drop off their mental swaddling clothes, thought expands into expression. 'Let there be light,' is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 255:1

The End of an Era

photo credit: Richard Quick

The end of the Mayan calendar, the end of an era; the Age of Aquarius, the opening of our minds. We humans have moved through fear-based times filled with superstitious myths and rumors, and a new day is upon us! Truly, I feel as though we're poised at the precipice of something clean and new, don't you? What are we learning from all of this? I think we're finding out what's really important, what fills the emptiness in our life, what we've always needed but been afraid to admit. I've witnessed some people become angrier, sadder, more violent. I've also witnessed people growing into the loving beings they truly are, but had previously been afraid to claim. Whatever we truly want to be, now is the time. Let's throw caution to the winds and listen to that still small voice within which never steers us into trouble. Follow it, never fearing where it will lead.

Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

“It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,

talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of

God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give other people

permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

Truth or Illusion?

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

We live in a world where there are many laws to protect us, such as wearing motorcycle helmets and seat belts in cars. Yet the items we find in our grocery stores are filled with chemicals and other things which can barely be classified as food. We are told to use pesticides on ourselves, our gardens, our pets, even though the rates of autoimmune disease and cancer climb steadily. Yet I truly think there IS a spiritual solution to all the things which seem impossibly horrible. I'm not suggesting we hide under the covers and pretend everything is alright, but rather that we recognize the difference in spiritual truth and material illusion. This reinterpretation is similar to what we do when looking down train tracks and seeing them come together, appearing to end, when we know they continue. The proof before our eyes is terribly convincing and it takes a bit of thought, perhaps study, to understand why it is an illusion. Remember how long it took for humankind to realize they would not fall off the edge of the world if they got in a ship and sailed towards the horizon? There seems to be much to fear when we look out at it, but when we look inward we hear truth in the silence. We are nearing a tipping point and every thought is important. Keep up the good work!

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:24-28