Get Your Sturdy Shoes Ready

Years ago, I read or heard Wayne Dyer say that we don’t need spiritual writings to teach us Truth; that we can find it anywhere, if we’re open to it. His words came back to me while reading last week’s local newspaper. Nicky Boyette’s gardening column ended with this: “Gardening is art, pure science, therapy, and a habit hard to break.” With many of us turning to gardening during the months of isolation, this seems particularly uplifting! If you’re feeling blue, plan your flower garden, patio garden, window box, anything which allows us to experience growth. Then I read Mary Pat Boian’s column which ended with these words: “It seems to me that in this solstice time of long nights, cold weather and unreliable tomorrows, we can feel noble knowing our worth is measured by our spirit, and honestly, isn’t that what Christmas is about? Or do we simply understand that we have to walk far to get somewhere special? Hope we all get sturdy shoes for Christmas.” Dear Friends, we’ve been preparing all our lives for waking up to the light, and I know we’re ready! 

“Mortal mind must waken to spiritual life before it cares to solve the problems of being...but when that awakening comes, existence will be on a new standpoint.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 556:26

Manual Arts Develop Thinking Skills

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Marsha and Crow at a show

"The manual arts develop the skills of observation, problem solving and hypothesis, while also creating a sense of the dignity of all labor and empathy toward those who perform it." These words from Doug Stowe, which he wrote in his daily blog, are echoing in my mind. Manual arts of all kinds develop skills which many modern-day activities simply cannot. There are parts of our brains which are not used by anything other than this translation of thoughts into things. As someone who learned to play the piano and type on a toy typewriter before I began formal education, I hold those skills as being responsible for the ease with which I and many others learned once we began school. There was a period of time I did not touch a musical keyboard for 12 years, and as a result I became quite dull. As a matter of fact, that's when I took up duplicate bridge, back in the 80s, when I realized my brain had slowed down appreciably. An intensive exercise of its capabilities brought me back to the point I didn't feel quite so incapable, but I don't think those synapses opened up again until I began playing organ and piano again in the mid-90s. To practice skills which cause the brain and hands to work together (cursive writing?) is an important part of our growth, one which I feel develops critical thinking skills, when combined with reading and discussion of ideas. Thank you, Doug, for bringing these things out for us to ponder and, hopefully, help others to understand!

"If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and architectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the gate, they at the same time shut the door on progress." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 142:11

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