Colorado Wild Flowers - Love Notes from God

My son and I were hiking in the mountains of Colorado.  The sky was clear and blue, the towering mountains were inspiring, and the colorful wild flowers were profuse and beautiful.  As we hiked along, I thought about a statement in the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  The author, Christian writer and healer Mary Baker Eddy, wrote:

"The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity."

Hieroglyphs are a form of writing with symbols.  What could God be writing?  I like to think of flowers as love notes from God that say to us "I love you!"

For many people, such a note may seem unlikely or incomprehensible.  "God loves me?  How?  Why?", they may ask.  To recognize and feel God's love, it helps to know God.  For me that day, I was feeling God's love in my gratitude, not just for this beautiful day, but for the protection and care I'd felt the previous day.  Through my own carelessness, I had taken a hard fall from my mountain bike, but I had immediately felt the assurance that God was caring for me.  Although the initial symptoms were alarming, I had maintained a calm poise and rested confidently on this assurance of God's love.  Subsequent x-rays showed that there were no serious injuries and now, today, I was enjoying this wonderful hike with my son.

You can learn more about God's love for you in Eddy's book. Read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase it from Amazon or any major book retailer.  It is also available for sale or study at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado at 4602 Plettner Lane.

Fire Prevention and Mental Climate Change

Living in the mountains of Colorado, I am very aware of the need to prevent and protect against wild fire.  I've cleared brush away from my house and used fire-resistant building materials when ever possible.  The current prolonged, dry, hot weather, which has created dangerous fire conditions in much of the American west, is suspected to be at least partially due to climate change.  While thinking about these issues - fire protection and climate change - I came across a statement the writer Mary Baker Eddy made in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures".  Referring to Biblical accounts of people escaping harm from fire, she wrote:

"Holy inspiration has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace; while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion."

What states of mind are able to nullify the action of flames?  A clue is found in the Glossary section of Eddy's book, where she gives spiritual definitions of material things.  Spiritually viewed, Eddy saw fire as an expression of man's mental climate.  Her definition of fire reads:

"Fire.  Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; affliction purifying and elevating man."

Eddy's spiritual insight has led me to extend fire prevention efforts to my mental realm.  I'm working to trim away fear and remorse and dig up and remove lust and hatred from my thinking.  I'm purifying and elevating thoughts about myself and others without waiting for mental or physical fire to promote this spiritual growth.  The results?  I can't claim that my physical fire protection is improved by these steps (though perhaps it is), but I definitely see a change in my mental climate!

You can learn more about spiritual fire protection and mental climate change in Eddy's book.  Read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" online or purchase it at major booksellers such as Amazon.  You can also read, borrow, or purchase the book at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado located at 4602 Plettner Lane.

Protecting Our Security and Freedom in a World of 3-d Printing

The current controversy over an individual’s right to publish blue prints online for producing a gun with a 3-d printer raises important questions about issues everyone cherishes – safety and freedom.  While courts, legislatures, and voters all have a role to play in deciding this issue, it’s worth considering the larger question of what ultimately insures our security and freedom.  Can we find real security if changes in technology give anyone ready access to instructions and capabilities for manufacturing guns, bombs, or other destructive devices?  Can we permanently protect our freedom if laws can swing back and forth with each change in political control?  Can we trust our government and our fellow citizens to know and do what is best for our country?

Mary Baker Eddy, in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures", points out that we can trust in the forces that will ultimately shape our society.  She writes:

“The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking.”  

In the statement above, Eddy uses the term “Mind” with a capital “M” to refer to the divine Mind – God.  In her writings she explains that although security and freedom can seem precarious or threatened by the swings and extremes of the human mind, these desirable conditions are protected and promoted by God, the divine Mind.  She writes:

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfills 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.” 

You can learn more about the divine Mind and how it protects your security and freedom.  Read "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" online or purchase it at bookstores such as Amazon.  You can also read, borrow or purchase this book at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado at 4602 Plettner Lane.

Finding Freedom of Movement by Knowing More About God's Government

My husband and I had hiked to a beautiful mountain lake.  When we started back down the trail to our car, I found it painful to walk.  What could I do?  There was no other way to get down, but to walk.  That week, I had been thinking about a statement by the writer Mary Baker Eddy in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that was applicable to this situation.  She wrote:

"Whatever is governed by God is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life."

I thought about what life represented to me.  I knew that this life as created and governed by God included qualities like flexibility and freedom.  As I contemplated these ideas and completely focused on God and an awareness of God's government and care, my freedom and flexibility of movement returned.  I enjoyed the rest of the hike and returned comfortably to our car!

You can find out more about how God governs your life in Eddy's book.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online or purchased from major booksellers such as Amazon.  You can also read, borrow, or buy this book at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado at 4602 Plettner Lane.