Lifted Above Complaints

I was recently asked to commit to not complaining for 21 days in a row. Sound easy? It could be easy, except you will probably discover that you are complaining a lot more than you think. I have. And, if you do complain, you start over at the beginning at Day 1.

What is a complaint? If you make a statement about how the U.S. government is dysfunctional, is that a complaint? You might say it is just a "fact". If make the statement internally or overtly with emotion, I think you can be sure it is a complaint. If you feel despair or annoyance when you make a statement it is a complaint.

I am enjoying the challenge. Some days I wonder if I will get beyond Day 1. But, I have faith I will. This morning I saw someone driving a hybrid car slowwwwly. I thought, often people driving hybrids drive so slowly. (I like hybrids just fine, by the way.) Then, I realized that that thought was a complaint and I could correct it. I didn't have to label drivers that way. Better, I didn't have to feel annoyed at all. That was a healing moment. See how the negativity can fade from our lives? Living this way seems to me to be Jesus patterned.

This morning a young woman gave me a ride from a repair shop to my work. I could tell she was upset. I asked her if she was getting the opportunity she wanted at work. She snapped back, "No. In fact they are going the other way." She poured out how rough things are, that her work is cutting back on hours. I shared with her that there was a plan for her and periods of winter are not bad because they ready us for spring periods in our lives. I shared the idea of not complaining for 21 days with her and she really liked it. Christly love impelled me to tell her that we could pray about it together. Her face lit up. She said "Thank you. You don't know how much talking today meant to me." A few years ago, I had complained when I couldn't get a ride to work from the repair shop because it had snowed 1". I had felt bad about that. Today, we both felt blessed by God's love. This was definitely a healing moment for both of us.

Won't you consider committing to not complaining for 21 days in a row?

Out of the Fog

I read a true story about a man who was canoeing. He got into a fog and could not see where he was going. He was LOST. He didn't know where to go. The thought came to stand up. What a stupid idea to do that in a canoe. Well, he gingerly stood up and he found out that the fog layer was now below him when he was standing up. He would look out over the fog, see where he needed to go, then sit down and paddle. After a while he would have to stand up and take stock of where he was and where he was going again.

I think this of describes our situation well. We really are the child of God. That's a fact. But, we get confused and think that we are puny humans. We believe what we see and see what we believe. In that state of mind we are in a dream state, which says we are separate, vulnerable, hurt. But that's the fog. Remember, in Genesis 2, a mist came up and obscured the earth. Then all sorts of problems started. As the image and likeness of God-good we are not lost, separate, vulnerable, hurt, grieving. To get out of the dream you can feel

1. I am the spiritual child of God. That's who I really am.
2. I am not a hurt dove. Evil is not a person, place or thing. It is not any of them. It seems so real, it hurts until you can see through what it is presenting.
3. I am standing up in my canoe, getting from God and Christian Science what the landmarks of Spirit are. And, I am heading, towards Truth, which is God-good. Then, I'll relax, stand up and get my bearings again.
4. I will find peace and healing.

You Measure Up

God whispered these messages

1. Everything can change - it's all thought. (Explanation - Truly nothing exists without the thought behind it.)
2. Consider the source! (If it's not from Me, you don't have to tangle with it.)
3. You are not attached to struggle and struggle is not attached to you.
4. You measure up!

In God's eyes, you measure up. To God, you are not lacking in any way. You are not lacking in ability, confidence, clarity or anything else.

If a thought is not from the Creator, Spirit, Mind, then it lacks intelligence, substance - there is no animating Principle to it. So, no matter what it is, you can see through it. As the Bible said, anything not made ... was not made. So, with confidence, you can feel the clarity and confidence of Christ.

True Self

Christ is your true selfhood. Jesus Christ was the Messiah. In the Bible a truer translation is Christ Jesus. It was his anointing, his title. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is within you. He also said that you are the light of the world. This is a universal truth. In yoga last night, the teacher was talking about how your body is full of light. This light expands and fills the room. It fills the building, the city, state, world, universe. That light that is everywhere is the true idea of God. Jesus saw know limits to the power and awareness of God. It is universal.

Christ is the human and divine coincidence, divinity embracing humanity. Therefore, what God sees in you and knows about you is Christ. I have seen this at work before. I have seen middle-aged ladies connect with criminals behind bars. How? There was a connection between them, the presence of God. The cool thing about Christ, is it is the connection because the Christ (true selfhood) in you recognizes and bonds with the Christ (true selfhood, true idea of God) in them.

American theologian Mary Baker Eddy wrote "[Saint] John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration, — reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God."

Christ is your connection to God. I am talking about Christ as the divine influence in your life. Where Christ is, healing is taking place. Nothing that comes into contact with Christ leaves unhealed. Christ uncovers evil, arrests it, destroys it, dissolves it. Christ as the full presence and activity of the one God brings us progress and freedom.

Step aside and let Love have Her day. Before you step into a room, step aside and let the real you step into the room. Watch what happens.

Eckhart Tolle says:

"If you can recognize illusion as illusion, it dissolves. The recognition of illusion is also its ending. Its survival depends on your mistaking it for reality. In the seeing of who you are not, the reality of who you are emerges by itself."

This is so true. I ask, why do we accept things that are false about ourselves and others so readily? This is your God's day. God's life of freedom and health is your life of health and freedom.

Feel that today and let it prosper in you.

American theologian, Mary Baker Eddy said this: "Man, governed by his Maker, having no other Mind, — planted on the Evangelist's statement that "all things were made by Him [the Word of God]; and without Him was not anything made that was made," — can triumph over sin, sickness, and death."

Earthquake and Tsunami

I have been praying about the earthquake that struck Japan this morning and the resulting tsunamis. My Bible fell open to Ps 16, which reads "Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge." I am praying that for everyone in the Pacific region.

I am pondering the following:

Divine intelligence governs all creation perfectly and with perfect assurance. One of the names for God is Principle, which describes how God is the law-maker. Principle therefore is a law of good, a law of Love. This then mean that God and God's power is a law FOR good. I am reminding myself that God does not share His power and authority with anyone. Let's bring thought into harmony with these divine facts. Natural disasters are not natural. They are not from God. As it says in I Kings 19, God was not in the earthquake, wind and fire.

God's Action

Did you know that God is walking, acting talking, harmoniously and unencumbered? God's action is the Christ declaring Truth's Truth on your behalf.

Sickness, no matter how slight or bad, is a misconception of God. Jesus showed us how to remove the misconception. He said you can only serve one master. That is why we refuse to give our consent to disease. We recognize what Jesus did, that Our Father is benevolent and takes away disease. We recognize this when we become aware of divine Love and Love's presence to the exclusion of sickness.

Step aside and let divine Love have her day. Rely on Her wisdom and see what kind of day you have.