Reflections of Good

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photo credit: Kailey Jones

A good friend once called me and said she felt as though she had been punched in the face by God. Of course, I asked what she meant by this — as many different interpretations crossed my thought, mainly that she had awakened from the illusion! It turns out she had a toothache. So I immediately told her not to put that [expletive deleted] on God! We talked of definitions for God, specifically that we are the image and likeness of divine Love, and there is no way that this gentle Presence would ever punch us in the face. This particular friend is so receptive to Truth that she almost immediately felt better and has spoken with me often about the many instances wherein this new understanding has changed her outlook. What a joy it is to see someone open the door and not be afraid of the light!

"Man is, and always has been, God's reflection." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 471:17-18

Book Club in the Time of Covid

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Last fall, I was Zooming with my book club and Kevin was fascinated by the exchanges he overheard. He had always admired the books we read and how energized I was after attending one of our meetings, so when he heard us talking via computer, the journalist in him came to life and he wanted me to write an essay about our group, its history, and how the pandemic had affected us. I had forgotten our conversation and was happily surprised today to find these notes he made for me. He slipped the piece of paper into a stack of 2020 tax stuff I had in my desk. Since his passing two months ago, he is in my dreams almost every night, but seeing this note today brought him into the room as surely as if he had walked through the door! What a welcome surprise this was...

"Life is the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of Truth, and Soul is never without its representative. Man's individual being can no more die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for both are immortal." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 427:5

Let Them BE

 

                                                            

Someone posted this on Facebook today. It reminds me of my beloved friends. Happy Spring to each and every one!

"When you meet that person, a person, one of your soulmates, let the connection, relationship be what it is. 

It may be five mins, five hours, five days, five months, five years, a lifetime, five lifetimes.

Let it manifest itself the way it is meant to, it has an organic destiny, this way if it stays or if it leaves, 

you will be softer from having been loved this authentically.

Souls come into, return, open, and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons.

Let them be who and what they are meant.”

Nayyirah Waheed

Be The Ones

 

Art by Lucy Campbell  -- lupiart.com

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"May we raise children

who love the unloved

things - the dandelion, the

worms & spiderlings.

Children who sense

the rose needs the thorn

& run into rainswept days

the same way they

turn towards sun...

And when they're grown &

someone has to speak for those

who have no voice

may they draw upon that

wilder bond, those days of

tending tender things

and be the ones."

~ Nicolette Sowder

wilderchild.com

Follow and Rejoice

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Have you ever felt as though you’re walking through quicksand when going about your daily activities? I’ve been feeling that way for a few days and have observed that it doesn’t take long to sink into expectations of difficulties. At first, I decided I had reached the “anger” phase of grief, because it seemed everything irritated me and nothing felt quite right. Knowing that our outer experiences are a direct result of our innermost thoughts, I began an examination of mine. In much the same way as early spring days call us to weed our flower beds, I began to cull through my random thoughts and emotions, identifying and transforming those which caused me to feel bad. I returned time and again to a mantra which Mary Baker Eddy called the daily prayer: “Thy kingdom come. May the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me. And rule out of me all sin [anything which separates from Love], and may Thy word enrich the affections of all mankind and govern them.” Tomorrow may bring a different repetition to help me to keep thought in line with Love, but wherever I’m led, I will follow.

“Shepherd, show me how to go, o’re the hillside steep.

How to gather, how to sow, how to feed thy sheep.

I will listen for thy voice, lest my footsteps stray.

I will follow and rejoice, all the rugged way.”

Poem from Mary Baker Eddy

Words Matter

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I just read an editorial Kevin wrote in 2018 when he worked for the Elgin Courier in Texas. It's titled "We Print Facts, Not Speculation". This piece had to do with not knowing all the facts about a city official and some alleged shenanigans. He writes about times when people's lives have been ruined by speculation when a number of people know 10% of the facts and get together to speculate on the rest. He was always very careful not to gossip about anyone, and he learned those lessons from listening to his dad, who was on the local school board and many other community-centered committees and clubs. I will be posting the editorial in its entirety on Facebook tomorrow, but here's a snippet: "The thing that hurts, though, from a community perspective, is the loss of our presumption of good -- innocence. That loss is what drives what we now call 'fake news.'" One of the things Kevin strived to teach others was that words matter. He certainly has taught me this lesson, and if he had a tombstone that's what I'd put on it: Words Matter! 

"The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or superstiition appropriates no part of the divine vesture, while inspiration restores every part of the Christly garment of righteousness." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 242:25

Translating Misidentification

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photo credit: Aaron Springston

"Gut feelings" are often discounted as being invalid for any number of reasons. Some say they're nothing more than paranoid thoughts, others may think of them as wishful thinking, a few of us see them as reflections of divine Mind. I'm reminded today that we must reinterpret everything we see. Discord and inharmony can be changed in thought by re-identification and reinterpretation.  As an example, when we see train tracks coming together in the distance, we immediately reinterpret that into the truth of the situation. We know that those tracks aren't coming together and that it will not be dangerous to travel on the train which carries us toward that end. The metaphysical studies we've embarked upon are doing the same thing: teaching us to recognize misidentification and translate it into Truth. Love extending Itself is ​the ​correct interpretation. Translating erroneous thought is our job!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes: “Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”  Science & Health Page 393:12-15