Category: Identity/healing the past

Light and joy restored

Published on by lindseybiggs4 Comments
Photo by Lindsey Biggs

I was reminded by a post on a discussion forum of the normal childlikeness that has been restored to me through my study of Christian Science.

One of Jesus Christ’s radical acts and statements is to be childlike.

This may seem contrary to what the world tells us about needing to be cynical, judgemental, analytical and critical. I haven’t met many children expressing those qualities! Have you? 🙂 So isn’t Jesus telling us that childlike qualities are a natural part of adults (politicians, school teachers, Olympians), too?

In my practice of Christian Science healing, I see children have such quick physical and emotional healings. They are so receptive and quick to change their thinking from bad to good about any situation. They have such an inherent sense of the goodness of the universe, before they are taught otherwise, that tells them that goodness is natural to their experience.

“Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should become men and women only through growth in the understanding of man’s higher nature.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 62)

Some teenagers fall into the temptation of depression, cynicism and despair. It seems like the light, innocence and happiness disappear from their experience.

But my own experience has taught me that those spiritual attributes – the spiritual sense of being which involves hope, faith and love – are never lost. It’s like a dark cloud is covering up these beautiful qualities, but, just like the sun, these natural good qualities are still there, always shining brightly even if we can’t see them for the moment.

I re-discovered my relationship with God and what it means to be a child made in the image and likeness of my Father/Mother God in my twenties. There was a lot of darkness that had taken root in my thought in my teens and had lasted for several years. The darkness would mock the light shining around me and continue to hide in its false self-perpetuated existence.

God had always told me there was another way, and, finally, a deeper sense that I had the right to be free as God’s child broke through. I was inspired to read the 4 gospels in the New Testament straight through, which I hadn’t done before, along with Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I admired the fearlessness of Jesus Christ, and I wanted that fearlessness for my own life, too. And I was comforted to read from the discover and founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, that the works that Jesus did and taught others, which enable one to be fearless, are still possible and happening today.

She echoes the Biblical sentiment here: “Christian scientific practice begins with Christ’s keynote of harmony, ‘Be not afraid!'”

What a relief! Through consistent spiritual study of the Bible and the texts of Christian Science, the darkness vanished from my thought.

When the light shines in our consciousness, the darkness disappears. I know we have all seen examples of this in our experience. I’m just so grateful that this Truth is true. 🙂

God’s “pruning” of our lives

Published on by lindseybiggs3 Comments


When I first started gardening the idea of pruning was intimidating to me. How do you know where to prune? Doesn’t it hurt the bush or tree?

Now, I’m amazed at how pruning works. It’s like saying, “Nope, that’s a dead-end ” and the shrub or tree will then grow in a new way. It doesn’t stop or limit growth because new growth is always happening.

God works a similar way in our lives. God lovingly shows us where the dead-end roads are in life so that we can avoid wasting energy going that way. These dead-end roads consist of materiality – material living and thinking – such as a love of money, looking to material possessions for satisfaction, looking to a human being to complete us, looking to a human body to tell us how happy and healthy we are, and comparing ourselves with others to determine how successful we are. These are just a few but there are many dead-end roads we may discover.

Christ Jesus advised, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

When you prune a shrub, you are helping the shrub to fulfill its purpose. You probably planted the shrub for a reason: to help create privacy or to cover something unattractive or just to have something lively and pretty to enjoy. Whatever the reason is, pruning – and starting early on – will help the plant grow into something beautiful and useful.

God’s pruning of our thought takes a way thoughts and desires that would be harmful to us and others so that we can have productive, beautiful and useful thoughts. These thoughts are then expressed in right actions and exemplified in our lives.

Marriage

Published on by lindseybiggs6 Comments


People say that marriage takes a lot of “work”. That sounds a bit daunting. I’m discovering that marriage is a “witnessing of each other’s spiritual identity.” The “work” is because relationships hold up a mirror and show us where we need to grow.

Marriage is witnessing that your spouse is the loved and cared for child of God. When we look to man as the source of fulfillment, or perhaps to keep us from feeling lonely, or to satisfy all our hopes & dreams, we are disappointed. There will come a time when that person is not around or too busy or simply incapable of fulfilling your hopes and dreams. In these moments we have the glorious, healing opportunity to turn to God, divine Love, and realize we have never been alone; we have always been tenderly cared for by our Father/Mother God who is satisfying our hopes and dreams right now because She made them in our heart.

Each month there is a something special read at my church. For me it is such a blessing and a guiding light in my relationships. I pray with this passage each morning as prepare for my day. It’s called “A Rule for Motives & Acts” and it goes like this:

Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church. In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness. The members of this Church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing or being influenced erroneously.

As I meditate on this each morning it gives me stillness and humility to take through my day. It helps me see that my will isn’t the “right” will; my unsolicited advice doesn’t encourage someone else’s new discovery; my judgement doesn’t heal others; looking down at someone doesn’t enable them to rise up; and influencing someone doesn’t help them turn to God – the source of all true guidance for that individual.

I humbly pray and strive to express this “rule for motives and acts” more in my daily life. And it alerts me to see that marriage can be “attacked” by these harmful characteristics; if entertained, they can uproot the seeds of joy, hope, patience, and unselfishness that have been planted in marriage.

Here are some closing quotes that have helped keep me spiritually grounded in marriage:

Soul [God] has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul [God].

Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.

Mutual compromises will often maintain a compact which might otherwise become unbearable.

Kindred tastes, motives, and aspirations are necessary to the formation of a happy and permanent companionship.

Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man.

All the quotes shared in this post are by Mary Baker Eddy; they can be found in her main written work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.