National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week

Published on by lindseybiggs2 Comments

This week is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week in the United States.  At our Christian Science Reading Room, in downtown Bend, we have a poster for members of the community to sign up to pray about this issue.  The statistics say that 160,000 kids stay home from school because of bullying, and that it has led to suicide (www.pacer.org).

 

This got me thinking that there really can’t be any victims in God’s kingdom.  God’s children are not and cannot be controlled by anything but Good, divine Love.  When we see and recognize God as the source and creator of all, we see that creation can only be good and reflects and possesses God’s divine nature.

 

I listened to a Sentinel Radio program (February 2010) where a boy in England applied the Truth found in the Bible and Christian Science to a bullying situation at school.  A boy was bullying him, quite aggressively, each day in class.  At first he didn’t know what to do about the situation, but after talking with his parents they decided to pray to love this boy and see his true spiritual nature.  The boy telling the story said he knew this other boy had to be a child of God, too, so he tried to look for qualities the boy expressed, which had their source in God.  He started noticing qualities this boy exhibited in different settings such as intelligence or his sense of style.  Soon this boy’s thought was transformed to see that this “bully” really was a child of God and had wonderful qualities and talents that he expressed.  Well, the whole situation was transformed in about a week and they became friends.  I love this testimony of healing, which was given so eloquently by this child.  A real spiritual transformation took place in him as he replaced the “counterfeit” view with the spiritual view and understanding of who God is and the spiritual nature of His creation.

 

All of God’s ideas, including children, reflect God’s qualities; these qualities are love, compassion, gentleness, unselfishness, confidence, and righteousness.  Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, has this definition for “children” in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “CHILDREN. The spiritual thoughts and representatives of Life, Truth, and Love” (p. 582).  There certainly isn’t anything sinful in that definition!

 

So how can anything unlike God be a part of His creation?  It can’t!

 

So, what is this appearance?  Simply an “aggressive mental suggestion” that God’s spiritual, perfect man is not all there is, and that we are not all protected by God’s powerful Love.  This is false!  And as we bring about awareness, shine a light on this subject together, we can join hands and take a stand that goodness, harmony and brotherly love are natural and normal.  Unselfishness is what we are really about.  And we are humble and meek allowing room for others to grow.

 

These “bullies” have every right to know that they are children of God, too.  They don’t need to feel insecure or unclear about their identity.  Each of us has a perfect identity from God full of all the intelligence, talents, and qualities that we need.  We are absolutely adequate and have infinite capabilities from our Creator.  And we fit in perfectly with God’s creation.  There is enough room for all of us!

 

As adults we have to exemplify this ourselves.  We certainly can’t “bully” each other’s politics or businesses or families, and then expect kids to get along well at school.  We are included in this harmonious atmosphere that we want to see kids embodying.  I was at a kid’s soccer game recently and was surprised to hear the parents misconstruing the actions of other parents on opposing teams, and parents not respecting or being courteous to one another.  What value system and example do we set forth for our children?  Mrs. Eddy states in the book previously mentioned, “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you” (p. 571).  Panoply is “a complete suit of armor” (dictionary.com).  We are wrapped up in the armor of Love when we see and know only Love is going on, when we see the spiritual, perfect view of man that God created, and when we know how loved and cherished we are by divine Love, our Father-Mother.  Then human hatred doesn’t reach us; it cannot reach us!  This might be hatred that is targeted at us, or the temptation to hate someone else.  We can be totally shielded and protected by dwelling in the atmosphere (in thought) of Love.  Perhaps this is why Jesus said,

 

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:” (KJV, Matt 5:44,45).

 

The Message says, “Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you” (Matt 5:48).

 

We can see and know each person’s identity as a spiritual child without any aggressive or insecure blemish in him or her.  And we can hold to who we are, as a child of God, totally protected and safe from any “bully”.

 

If you like the testimony about the boy shared above, there are many more at your local Christian Science Reading Room published in the Sentinel and on the Sentinel Radio program, on kids praying about bullying and finding resolutions.

 

Unity of Our Human Family

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This week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson is called “Doctrine of Atonement”.  It has wonderful ideas about our oneness with God, good, and our unity with all of God’s ideas, man.  I found myself praying today for a sense of unity and peace between all religions, that we may work together realizing the same hopes and desires and seeing them fulfilled.

I had the privilege of working with an organization called Interfaith Youth Core founded in Chicago by Eboo Patel, an Indian Muslim.  He has a very inspiring and spiritually activating book called Acts of Faith.  There are wonderful ideas in it about the need to work together, to break down the barriers of ignorance and fear, and to get to know and support one another.  What he has found in his work with youth in interfaith groups is that each one’s faith is strengthened, not lost, through getting to know others in conversation and service.  Those who aren’t of a particular faith have also joined because they have perceived the need for religions not to be divided against each other.

The Christian Science Organization (CSO) at Northwestern University has sponsored an interfaith panel the last 2 years.  It has been very successful and well attended.  They had a sponsor from Christian Science and from these different faiths: Baha’i, Catholic, Hare Krishna, Buddhist, Islam and Evangelical Christian.  It was a joy to sit together and hear about everyone’s beliefs and faith, and realize we are more similar than we may think – all wanting universal harmony, health, balance and order.

The Bible says, “Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace” (Contemporary English Bible, Eph 2:14, 15).

Isn’t that beautiful!  The Christ gives us the true sense of God, of who and what God is and of God’s will – health, happiness, peace, and abundance for all creation as well as unity and brotherhood – and the true sense of who we are, God’s eternal image and likeness.   Spirit, God, made us in His/Her/It’s own image, therefore we are made in the image of Spirit, the image of Divinity.  The diversity of Spirit’s creation can be perceived through culture, race, and religion but these aren’t dividing lines or boundaries.  Each one of us is a whole and complete spiritual creation including masculine and feminine qualities and we reflect all of the infinitude of God.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (KJV, Gal 3:28).

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, defines the Christ as universal, “the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death” (Science and Health, p. 332).

Yes, we have to come out from any materiality (or sin) and this is what enables us to live spiritually and gives us all of God, Infinite Spirit’s radiant blessings.  The Bible Lesson points out that we can’t go it alone.  We have to walk with God to be successful.  And walking with God enables us to more lovingly support each other in true brotherhood.

Mrs. Eddy also writes, prophetically:

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.” (Science and Health, p. 340)

Wow!  That one infinite God, good, does a lot, clearing up all of our problems as a human race.

Malachi says, “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother…” (KJV, Mal 2:10)

We can go forward with the spirit of love, patience, meekness, and humility in learning about one another – appreciating, respecting and being considerate.  We don’t need to be ignorant or fearful of each other, but can go live in love, peace, and faith in and an understanding of God, good.

Our Relationship With God

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Each of us has an unchanging, permanent relationship with God.  God loves us, nurtures and cares for us, and supplies all that we need.  The Bible says, “God is of purer eyes than to behold evil” (KJV, Heb 1:13).  God is pure Spirit, divine Love, who is all intelligence, goodness, and perfection.  God is ever-present and constant in our lives.  In fact, God is our life.  God is Life itself therefore Life is free, infinite, spontaneous, and not bogged down by worry and fear.

Generally, every evil suggestion that comes to our thought is a lie about our relationship with God.  And being aware, or conscious, of this relationship naturally destroys the lie, which dissipates fear with peace and love and an assured sense of harmony.

When we feel our relationship with God, we can’t feel anything else.  We only feel the love, peace, joy and dominion that God is imparting to us each moment.

Mary Baker Eddy describes God as Mother, and coined the phrase Father-Mother as describing God’s whole nature.  She recognized God as Love and thus described God as representing Mother Love that we each know and feel in our hearts.

By constantly communing with this Mother Love in our heart and thoughts throughout the day, we are able to shield any evil suggestion or fear of limitation, ill-health, or lack.

Our relationship with God becomes the most important thing to us, which follows Jesus command “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30).

The Book of Deuteronomy has many references to this:

“love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway” (Deut 11:1).

“love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days” (Deut 30:20).

“I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it” (Deut 30:16).

This is really a protection and blessing to us.  It keeps us safe because it guards our thought, our life, our motives, and the direction in which we walk.  It in turn blesses everyone around us.  “…All whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited” (Miscellany, Eddy, p. 210).

When we feel secure in our relationship with God we are kept safe, prosperous, fulfilled and satisfied.  Our relationships are effortless and harmonious because we have all the happiness and completeness we need in God.  Our bodies work more concordantly because we recognize God as Life and therefore the source and cause of our health.  And when we are on the pathway with Him/Her we can never be sick or lack what we need.  We have more fulfilling work because we are about our “Father’s business” (Luke 2:49) or our Mother’s business in this case – the business of loving and giving, of expressing our Mother Love.  “…Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt 10:8).

So let’s start each day with our relationship to God – with our Mother Love – and see how that blesses our day and everyone around us.