Pause & listen

A favorite poem says “Shepherd show me how to go…”. Recently, when trying to quiet the mind so I can fall asleep, I pray: Shepherd, show me how to listen.

Listening is an activity and requires quieting one’s own will and stilling the human mind to be receptive to the divine Mind communicating quiet, calm, confident, peaceful ideas.

These ideas lead up to their divine Source; they take us higher to behold spiritual views (mentally and spiritually) and feel refreshed by this communion with a Holy Presence.

The poem continues: I will listen for Thy voice lest my footsteps stray…

We can strive to maintain this conscious communion with God throughout the day. Even while you are in a conversation, you can listen for divine Mind to communicate the words and ideas for you to share. If you feel your mental, spiritual footsteps beginning to stray, take a timeout to center yourself and bring your focus back to Good.

This also demands spontaneity and flexibility. It’s pretty hard to move a boat with an anchor down. Being open to new ideas will assist you to feel Divine Presence moving you through the day as naturally as a river current moves above the rocks in its way.

(The words of the poem mentioned are by Mary Baker Eddy.)

Everyone is in the exact right place

Recently, my husband and I contemplated the possibility of moving. We explored different areas, schools, etc. However, after doing the research, we reached the conclusion that we are happy where we live and we are in the right place for us.

This led me to the spiritual conclusion that everyone is in the exact right place for them. God places us where we need to be through inspiration. “Love inspires, illumines, designates and leads the way.” (Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, http://bit.ly/15AJ8nx) God tells us when to move, where to move and it blesses everyone. If God hasn’t told us to get going, that means we need to be right where we are.

How comforting to know that we are always in the exact right place!

Praying when shopping

One way that I utilize prayer is to know what to buy and when to buy it. Pray has helped me make right purchases at the right time and has also saved me from unproductive shopping & useless transactions. Prayer saves time & money.

I’ve learned that nothing in God’s kingdom is wasted. And that something isn’t a waste if there is a right motive behind it.

One definition of economy is:
the management of the resources of a community, country, etc., especially with a view to its productivity (dictionary.com)

Everything in God’s creation, or what I think of as the Kingdom of Heaven, has value. There are no worthless or unproductive ideas. Therefore everything in our experience can be useful and productive. This saves us from the unsatisfying cravings of commercialism (or buying things just because we like to shop & spend money). It also saves us from being too tight with our money and hoarding it. Neither of these tendencies can occur when we have a spiritual perspective.

Here’s an example:
Last year I decided I wanted an eReader. However, intuitively I knew it wasn’t right to buy one. I still explored the possibility and researched all the eReaders that were out there. Nothing fit the requirements that I wanted in a device. I continued to want an eReader but decided to be obedient to my intuition and be patient and see how things worked out (even though I really wanted to know WHY I couldn’t have one). Well a few months later patience paid off. A new eReader was released on the market that had all the features I wanted. And I knew it was the right device for me immediately. It was given to me as a Christmas gift by my family just a few weeks later. I was saved from making a wasteful purchase that wouldn’t have met my needs. And it was a perfect gift for my family to give me, which I have continued to enjoy and use a lot.

I’m sure we’ve all had experiences like these where we follow our intuition and things work out. This intuition, or divine guidance, is speaking to us ALL the time. Listening to it and being obedient is a skill we can cultivate and practice more and more each day.