Binding Up The Broken-Hearted

Yesterday, I wrote of my friend in the hospital and her lack of interest in living. ​Last night at bedtime, I was ready to practice “tough love” on ​her, saying whatever necessary to break the spell ​o​f ennui she had sunk​en​ into. Low and behold, first thing this morning I got a call from her sister ​telling me ​that the hospital called and sweet Jane is ready to start physical therapy, ate breakfast, and she wants ​to take a shower! When I visited her this afternoon, she ate the watermelon I brought ​to her ​and was delighted with the body care products​ I spread over her bed. We shared good memories and talked about possibilities for her future. My gratitude is deep for the ability to show her gentle Love rather than tough love. She knows she might pass on, but is willing to live moment-to-moment, doing whatever is necessary to feel good again. Hallelujah!!

“If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 295:5-15

Angels Entertained Unawares

photo credit: Christine Panas

Some of us thrive under adversity. Something seems to “kick in” and we look for the possibilities which are waiting on the other side of a closed door. I’ve mentioned my friend in the hospital who seems to have lost the will to live. The pandemic brought isolation, and so she stopped helping others — which she was very good at doing! Her son passed away and she sank into depression. When her best friend from forever left this earthly plane, she fell deeper. Now, she lays in a hospital bed and refuses the help they are attempting to offer. She’s turned her back on friends and family, and most everyone is feeling hopeless. Tomorrow is my turn to visit her and it’s time to remind her of some facts: she lost a son, but she has another who needs her. She lost her childhood friend, but she has many more who care and are dismayed at what is happening with her. On my drive to the big-city hospital tomorrow, I shall open my heart for words to say, to know what she needs to hear, to open her to that which seems to have closed. I wish to give her the joy I felt today when spending time with the Berryville High School Choir, which is practicing for a performance at Carnegie Hall next year. Having the privilege of being their rehearsal pianist lifts my thoughts above the fear so prevalent all around us. And I am grateful.

“’Now’ has no meaning to the ego. The present merely reminds it of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past. The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is over, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. It dictates your reactions to those you meet in the present from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality.” ACIM Chapter 13:IV:5

“The circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:27-30

Infectious Joy

Jean & Doug at Crystal Bridges

I heard someone say something which I haven’t heard in a long, long time: Misery loves company. Is that why so many of the conversations we hear center around disease and inclement weather? Yikes! I suppose it would be too rude and counterproductive to tell people why this way of existence is not conducive to happiness. But what I can do is to feel joy -- and scatter it!! -- even in the face of any suffering thought which is brought to me today. And no, this won't be a laughing-in-the-face-of-sorrow type of joy. This will be a gentle joy, a quiet joy, sent out in true compassion, born from the acknowledgement of divine reality. We know that joy loves company, too. Let's see how infectious happiness can be!

“The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 509:24-28

Falling Straight Into Love

photo credit: Mickey Finefield

In the early 1900s, people flocked to Eureka Springs for the healing waters. Thousands of people in need found their way here, as they still do today. People are drawn to our town, often without knowing why. I love watching the transformation as people's thought​s​ change from focusing on their problems to relaxing into solutions. To varying degrees, we are all realizing that true healing comes when we release our beliefs in things and open ourselves to feeling and understanding the presence of Love. When this is our only desire, when there is no other need or want, new perceptions become visible and viable. Often it takes extreme conditions to cause us to seek the understanding of our unity with God. But isn't it sweet when we skip that step and fall straight into Love!

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 560:11-15

Still, Small Voice of Peace

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

What is the real world? While we think we are seeing the real world — with all of its pain, sorrow, fear, and horror — we are not. The unreal world, which is reported on the news and purported to be reality by those who scoff at anything unseen to human eyes, is not the reality of spiritual creation. After years of believing that this world of duality will in some way bring us peace and happiness, most of us are ready to release that perception and see with purer eyes, looking beyond illusions toward the true substance of Life as created by divine Mind and interpreted through divine Love. Looking past the chaotic thoughts presented through outside sources, I want to listen for the still, small voice of peace which is always present within mySelf. 

"Certain moods of mind find an indefinable pleasure in stillness, soft, silent as the storm's sudden hush; for nature's stillness is voiced with a hum of harmony, the gentle murmur of early morn, the evening's closing vespers, and lyre of bird and brooklet." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Christian Science versus Pantheism Page 3:8-13

True Identity

Eureka Springs Parade - PC: Richard Quick

A Course in Miracles tells us that the body is a communication device; that it is a tool to be used and then laid aside when its use is over. In this world, we have mistaken the body for our true identity. If we no longer see our body as either good or bad, but rather as a totally neutral thing, it can be realized as what it is in truth: an extension of Love. A dear man reminded me today of something a mutual friend said about Love: there is no unconditional love, only Love. If there are conditions, it’s not really Love! Today I shall think of my body in this way, too, without conditions and limitations, but only as the Idea it is!

“Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.” Marsha Havens - Science & Health Page 477:20-22

Friends

 
I spent the afternoon with a friend who is in the hospital. She has lost the light in her eyes, so I read Mary Oliver essays to her, with lots of long pauses and occasional recounting of times we have shared. My heart swells with the Love I feel for this wonderful woman. Before I left to visit her, another old friend, Kriste-lee, artist extraordinaire, came by my house for an unexpected visit. We hadn’t seen each other in almost two years, other than a brief chance meeting in a public setting. Seeing these women with whom I’ve shared Life was uplifting and, also, a cause for much introspective remembering. Our time together is precious, dear Friends. I cherish you…

“Love never loses sight of loveliness. its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:3