Finding Blessing in What Appears to be a Thorny Situation

Recently, a business situation that I thought had been resolved a couple of years ago, came undone and needed re-working.  The day I learned of this situation, I had been contemplating an arresting statement in the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:

"Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence"

"Hrrumph!", I thought when I learned of the business problem, "If God [the Divine Mind] is really the only cause, why do these problems come up?"  I was frustrated and almost doubtful that statement was true for me at that moment.  But then I thought, "If that statement is true, I should stop feeling annoyed and be alert to understand and witness what God is working to accomplish." 

This new perspective replaced my frustration with a sense of calm expectancy.  I knew that God, Mind, was only capable of doing good and blessing His creation.  So if God was the only cause, the only result could be a blessing. I mentally put the problem in God's hands and was actually curious to see how God was going to resolve the situation.  Within a day I was led to take some steps in a new direction that unexpectedly and quickly solved everything.  Even better, the new solution left me in a better position than I had been in before the problem came up!  The thorny situation proved to be a blessing!

You can learn more about God's identity as the Divine Mind in Eddy's book.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online or purchased from major book sellers.  The book can also be read, borrowed or purchased at any Christian Science Reading Room.  The Reading Room in Evergreen Colorado is located at 4602 Plettner Lane.

Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Pandemic!  These are frightening times and people are struggling to cope.  How can an individual respond to the Coronavirus pandemic?  Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer, spiritual thinker and discoverer of Christian Science has a unique explanation for world crises in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  She writes:

“This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. ...”

Breaking up of material beliefs?  The nothingness of pestilence, want and woe?  These assertions might seem fantastic, except for one thing – Eddy proved them by hundreds of healings (See Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Warneck) and she was merely following the example of the all-time master-healer Christ Jesus (see The Bible).

So beyond providing practical care for those effected by the virus, what can an individual do in these times of turmoil?  In her book, Eddy advises:

“… those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.”

You can learn more about Christian Science in Eddy’s book.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online, bought at any major bookseller, or read, borrowed or purchased at a Christian Science Reading Room.  The Reading Room in Evergreen Colorado is located at 4602 Plettner Lane.

God's Power and Willingness to Care for Us

 “Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man’s entire action?”  

For several days, I had been contemplating the above statement by the Christian writer, Mary Baker Eddy in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  She made the statement in reference to the Bible account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John, Chapter 11), but her point is that the divine Mind (her name for God) forever maintains all of us under divine government and care.  Later that day, I experienced for myself the divine Mind’s power and willingness to hold us intact in our perfect state and govern our entire action.

My wife and I were driving on a 4-lane, undivided highway.  It was snowing and the road was covered with a thin layer of wet, heavy snow.  As I was passing a truck, our car suddenly started drifting to the right and it appeared that we would strike the side of the truck.  My wife shouted, “God is our Life!”  This was her way of reminding us of this idea that we are always under God's care.  I appreciated her immediately bringing this truth to focus in our thought.   I calmly steered to correct the car's movement, but then the car started sliding the other direction, to the left.  A truck was coming toward us in that lane!  I corrected the steering again.  We passed safely between the two trucks, regained control of the car, and proceeded on down the highway.  I have no doubt of the power and willingness of God to hold us forever intact and to govern our entire action!

You can learn more about God and how to experience God's care in your life.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online or purchased from major booksellers.  You can also read, borrow, or purchase the book at any Christian Science Reading Room.  The Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado is located at 4602 Plettner Lane.

The Source of Blessings

The news reminds us daily of bad things going on in the world.  Good is also going on daily, but that good seems to be reported less frequently and with smaller headlines.  As we celebrate Thanksgiving in America this week and give gratitude for the good we have experienced this past year, take a moment to consider where these blessings came from.  People often ask why bad things happen, but why does good happen?  Is it luck or coincidence?  Is it a result of hard work or family heritage?  Can you count on good continuing to happen?

Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian leader, wrote in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"Spirit blesses man, but man cannot 'tell whence it cometh'.  By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and the sinning are reformed.  These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science."

Eddy's assertion - that good is an effect of "one universal God" (Spirit) that blesses man - points to where we can look for answers to these questions about good.  You can learn more about this God, the nature of good, and how to bring God's blessings into your life from Eddy's book.  Read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase it from major booksellers.  You can also read, borrow, or purchase the book at the Christian Science Reading Room at 4602 Plettner Lane in Evergreen, Colorado.

Ghosts and Our Health

Does Halloween, the season for ghosts and other imaginary beings, have something in common with our health?  Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer, wrote in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

“Disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in the dark. … As frightened children look everywhere for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the right one.”

Halloween ghost-stories are all in fun, but fear of and suffering from sickness is no fun at all!  According to Eddy, public announcements about disease - such as news headlines about flu season appearing in local papers and grocery stores advertising free flu shots - may not be as helpful as intended.

Eddy discovered that the cause, occurrence, and spread of sickness have an overlooked mental component.  Ignorance of the mental cause of sickness and of the divine healing power our Heavenly Father bestows on us, causes us to fear becoming sick and to look solely to material remedies to regain and maintain our health.  According to Eddy, this fear of sickness and dependence on material means for health are just as misdirected as the belief in ghosts.  The last 100 pages of Eddy’s book contain accounts of people healed by looking for relief in the spiritual way she pointed out. 

Check out this “treat”ment for yourself.  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures can be read online or purchased from Amazon.  You can also read, borrow or purchase the book at the Christian Science Reading Room located at 4602 Plettner Lane in Evergreen, Colorado

Responding to Package Bombs

The recent spate of package bombs in America is disconcerting to all.  Healthy debate is a good thing.  Attempting to harm those you disagree with is always wrong!

What can a thoughtful person do to defend themselves and their community from such evil?  Mary Baker Eddy, a woman who advocated the practicality of a spiritual approach to solving problems, advised in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good.  Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.  Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.  The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity."

To learn more about how to bring a spiritual approach to your safety and problem solving read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase it from major booksellers.  You can also read, borrow or purchase it at the Christian Science Reading Room located at 4602 Plettner Lane in Evergreen, Colorado.

Rights and Freedom We Can All Agree on Protecting

Currently in the United States, much thought, energy, and emotional anguish is focused on the selection of a new justice to the Supreme Court.  The candidate, Judge Kavanaugh, is being exhaustively examined to learn his views of our Constitutional rights, including the right to life, the right of a woman to control her body, the right to own a gun, and the rights of the executive branch of the United States.  Politicians and citizens are contentiously debating these important issues with one another.

 As I considered these rights and the political and legal process for defining and protecting them, I was reminded of some even more important rights and an entirely spiritual method and power for their protection and enforcement.  Speaking of her discovery of Christian Science a few decades after the Civil War in the United States, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

“The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of this new crusade sounded the keynote of universal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledgement of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ’s divine Science.”

The rights of man as a Son of God!

The fetters of sin, sickness, and death stricken!

Freedom won, not through warfare or political debate, but through the law of Christ!

It is inspiring to consider these rights and methods.  These are rights we can all agree on protecting!

You can learn more in Eddy’s book about your rights as a Son of God and how to win your freedom through Christ.  Read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase your own copy from Amazon.  You can also read, borrow, or buy this book at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado 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.