Divine love can dissolve past hurt

Family gatherings can be difficult times for many. How do you feel a sense of God’s presence and love during the holidays? God is the Source of each one’s individuality, so we can all know — spiritually discern — that we are each loved equally despite what may have gone on before.family-591579_960_720

Pure humanity, friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth a foretaste of heaven.1

Our identity, feeling worthy and loved doesn’t actually come from other people, although sometimes friends and family can beautifully reflect how worthy, lovely and lovable we all are. These expressions of joy and appreciation are natural and normal and are signs of God, divine Love’s, kingdom on earth.

Your kingdom come.
    Your will be done,
        on earth as it is in heaven.2

Relationships are a good opportunity to dissolve what Mary Baker Eddy calls the “adamant of error”: self-will, self-justification and self-love3 ; the old adage “my way or the highway” mentality; self-righteousness, which wreaks havoc on all of us; then of course there’s just plain old judgement.

Christ Jesus was the perfect example of living and expressing spiritual love.

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ wash-717812_960_720and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you…Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.4

God will bless you for doing them! God will bless you for putting off old resentments. God will bless you for being humble enough to be made new — in the likeness of God!

You deserve to express divine Love — not hold on to the past or limited views of others (that God is not knowing about them). Self-hatred is what makes us feel we are not worthy or loved enough to let go of hatred towards others! We are worth it! Let it go.

Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love. 5

Feel that unspeakable peace. It is God’s spiritual love wrapping you up and enabling you to move past hurt, condemnation, resentment. You are holy! You are free. You can feel that way by seeing others that way.

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1 Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 100
2 Matthew 6:10 The Holy Bible New Revised Standard Version

3 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 242
4 John 13 The Holy Bible New Living Translation
5 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264

Rejoice! Now we are the sons and daughters…

Inspiration — we’ve all had it and we’ve probably all felt like we lost it at one point or another.

Recently, I was going through a stint of feeling uninspired. After talking with a friend, though, I realized that inspiration is always present.  Remembering that I had been inspired before inspired me to see that I could feel the inspiration again — right now!

Inspiration is the result of God; Immanuel or “God with us”; it is the result of divine Love always wanting us to see Her and know Her. The “Holy Spirit” is the animating divine presence, power and activity of our lives. It is what makes us feel that we know (spiritually) even as we are known (spiritually).
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Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV)

The “then” is now! Now are we the sons and daughters of God! (I John 3:2)

When our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth, And our daughters as corner-stones hewn after the fashion of a palace; (Psalms 144:12 ASV)

We are those sons and daughters now — don’t accept anything lower. You are spiritual and you are at one with the divine Spirit — the Holy Spirit — leading, animating and giving you divine direction here and now.

We can not be separated from the spiritual understanding of who we are here and now.

You are loved! You are blessed! You are polished like a palace. Rejoice!

There is no fear in love

calendula-185322_640Is it possible to not be afraid? Can we live a life without fear?

Yes.

One of the things that attracted me to Christian Science, the systematic study of God’s laws, was the promise of a fearless life through an understanding of spiritual reality and a right relationship with Him.

Christ Jesus was someone who lived without fear. He loved. He healed. He told the devil to get behind him.

When he was in need of divine healing, he prayed. And we are told that angels came and ministered unto him and brought to him messages of comfort, love and refreshment that he needed to continue his work.

As I praying about the recent tragedy in Paris, I came across an article called “Polarize and conquer? How ISIS inflames anti-Muslim hostility.” This article brought out the root cause of these kinds of attacks. The article illustrates the mentality of extremes — a belief of sides warring against each other.

Does Infinite God see or know sides? Does infinity have an opposite? If God is all, is there anything to oppose him?

Praying effectively starts with God and knowing what God is seeing and knowing.

Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy, a woman who was an expert on prayer and healing.

More and more people are realizing that this problem of extremism can not be stamped out purely physically. We have to address the problem mentally and metaphysically, knowing that the Mind that governs humans is the Mind of God — full of grace, compassion, empathy, spiritual understanding, light and revelation. We don’t have to fall into the trap of reacting to erroneous ways of thinking. We can stand firm, together and unafraid.

Here is my prayer of affirmation for the purpose of healing:

God, good, is all. Spirit is all. Life is all. Truth is all. Love is all.
Man is spiritual and pure. Man is forever at one with the Life that lives him and the Spirit that moves and breathes him. It is natural for man to see and understand this. There isn’t an attraction to anything other than God, good. There is no lure of false pleasure or a false view of heaven, harmony.
Every human has the innate, spiritual ability to be ruled and governed by the Mind that is God, good. This is the Mind that was demonstrated by Christ Jesus to be pure, holy, loving, healthy, compassionate and strong. This Mind is not fanatical. This Mind is fearless.
God is life of man. God is breathing man. God is moving man. It is natural for man to love his neighbor. Thank you, Father-Mother God, for creating each of us in your image and likeness. Thank you for loving, blessing and guiding all us in fearless relationship with one another. Amen.