Tag: conflict resolution

The Grace of God

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

birds-112083_640I’ve been cherishing the topic of the grace of God, lately, in my prayers.

Grace is a word used in Christian denominations and it is also a universal quality that belongs to everyone.

In addition to thinking about grace as the unrequited love of God, I also like to think about grace as humanity exercising, or expressing, divine Love.

Exercise involves activity. How about trying to exercise divine Love—or grace—with every thought: at work, in taking care of kids, running errands, etc?

This is no easy task. The self-justification, criticism, judgement and opinions of the carnal mind, or evil, slip in. Even when I consciously make it my objective to fill my consciousness with grace and have that motivate me for the whole day, these sneaky thoughts come in (as the Bible says, the serpent— a metaphor for evil— is sneaky and cunning).

We need to always be on guard and defend ourselves from these negative emotions and thinking, which would pull us down and try to spoil our good motives and thoughts for the day.

Grace is potent and valuable! It can elevate, heal and resolve any situation! No wonder evil would try to come in and take away those moments to feel graceful.

Thoughts and actions that are graceful also feed and replenish the body, giving you health, freedom and energy! They counteract sickness and fatigue.

Paul wrote encouragement to the new Christians in Rome: “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom 8:37 NIV)

Community prayer is so powerful! Let us all pray that we can preserve grace and express divine, unselfish, unconditional, beautiful love in all that we say and do (and think about one another).

 

Liking v. Loving

Published on by lindseybiggs1 Comment

I had the wonderful realization last night that I don’t have to like everyone, but I do get the privilege and have the ability to love everyone. While it might seem easier to love the people that we like, Jesus shows us how to go deeper.

He said, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

This makes me think of Jesus disciples being in one big love fest where everyone gets along and no one has any conflict. However, we have evidence in the Bible that some disciples found it hard to get along. I like to think that even if we don’t like someone we can still have the humility and unselfishness to work together, as Jesus’ disciples did. And we have the spiritual understanding to know that each individual is made in the loving image of God.

In a way, this way of loving each other is a lot simpler than trying to get human personalities to blend. It goes straight to the divine, to the Truth and spiritual state of things. It frees me from even wasting time trying to get human personalities to match up when I can go right to the true idea and get to know each one as the son and daughter of God.

Reblog: Counteracting hate

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

This article really helps me see how to pray about the global issues that are happening.

Counteracting hate

A Christian Science perspective: When different groups of people are accused of hate and intolerance, and violence erupts, how can prayer contribute to healing?

By Melanie Hahn Ball  (Reblogged from CSMonitor.com)

What can dedicated spiritual thinkers do to uncover and repudiate the underlying cause of violence? Recent events in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen have prompted many questions regarding security, hate speech, and religious tolerance….

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, offers clear, intelligent ideas on how to focus our prayers during times of upheaval and violence. Comparing malicious hatred to a serpent, she described what motivates violent acts not as individuals but as evil – masking itself as person, place, or cause. She wrote: “The serpentine form stands for subtlety, winding its way amidst all evil, but doing this in the name of good…. It is the animal instinct in mortals, which would impel them to devour each other….

“This malicious animal instinct, … incites mortals to kill morally and physically even their fellow-mortals, and worse still, to charge the innocent with the crime” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 563-564). Read more