The Gifts and Demands of Forgiveness

This is inspiration sent to me by Kathie.  I loved the thoughts and asked her if I could post it. So here it is.

(Hope others will follow her lead. Please send your discoveries. They will be helpful to someone else!    Thanks from Pam)

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After reading the healing of the man with palsy in the Bible Lesson, I had some new insights into the meaning and demands of forgiveness. Jesus said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” I love that he called him “son,” as this sounded like a loving term such as “dear one” or “precious child.”

But then he tells him to be cheerful. That seems so unkind and callous after such a loving greeting, for what was there for him to be cheerful about? Next Jesus tells him that his sins are forgiven. I looked up “forgive” in Rodale’s Synonym Finder and found it to mean “cancel; wipe the slate clean.” Now that is a great reason to cheer!

All the man had been educated to believe to be true about his condition was canceled. All thoughts of unworthiness, disability, restriction, or discouragement were permanently, immediately erased. In their place were expressions of infinite ability, health, freedom and joy. No longer was there any misperception or deception to interfere with his bearing witness to his innate, divine nature as the pure manifestation of Truth, Life and Love. He was free to go forward with confidence in God’s care.

Christ gifts us with the ability to forgive. We pray daily to God to forgive us as we forgive others, but do we trust that God can really do that, and that He will? And what about our part in forgiving? Can we truly “wipe the slate clean” of every unlovely thought we have ever had of others? Do we even want to? Are we willing to see our family, colleagues, neighbors, even politicians, as God sees them and as He made them?

As if that’s not challenging enough, we must include ourselves in this activity of forgiveness. We need to erase from our own thought any imperfect views we’ve ever held of ourselves.  Discordant thoughts, actions or experiences, even thoughts of mistrust in God’s loving care, need to be replaced with confidence in Love’s ability to provide us with all we need to live life freely, and fulfill His purpose for us.

As Jesus called the man “son,” we can feel that same Christ love calling us, “dearly loved, safe, precious child.” That man’s freedom is, in all ways, ours as well.

This should make us cheerful!

Find your Spiritual Sanctuary!*

How often do you take time to be all alone? With just you?

Do you enjoy your own company? You should. What amazing things might you discover if you quietly spent some moments with just you, yourself, regularly throughout your day? This can give the most value to your entire day, showing you your provision and protection. Your alone time can be your most whole time.

You are worth getting to know, and care for. (Being candid, no one really knows you better than you.) Do you keep the TV on, or eye the i-phone, perhaps so you won’t be alone with – you?

Is there tech interference going on, used as an excuse for, – being alone?

Time alone is inspiring. Clarifying. Informational. Sometimes it even takes courage to be willing. Yet you will soon realize it is reflective, precious, insightful. You may even find a renewed recommitment to your real purpose.

Time alone is never really alone. Moment by quiet humble moment, we discover our oneness with the divine,- divine Life, divine Love. Time alone really means being fully in the presence of God.

Here, in your sanctuary,* you’ll feel complete, worthy, cared for, comforted, strong.

Here, in your sanctuary,* you might challenge thoughts like:  How can I truly outgrow material beliefs if I am enamored of them? How can I grow spiritually if I am tuned in to, afraid of. or fascinated with matter?

Deep questions will arise. Deep fears are uncovered and can be acknowledged and addressed only when we are alone with our own thoughts. Only then can we be honest with our fears or fascinations, our weaknesses or worries.

Then we realize our thoughts, prayerfully poised, reveal Truth, give us strength, and naturally open us to new views and possibilities.

It is clear, however, that no amount of self-indulgence or material indulgence will bring us closer to God or give us the peace and harmony of Soul, that is, spiritual sense. And no fears or worries should displace our love for and devotion to God, good, Truth, Life.

We read this instruction about our sanctuary time. “To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent, that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error.” Science and Health, p.15.

I’d love to make a suggestion. (Try not to resist.) I would love to suggest that you regularly be brave, and turn off the tech, (whatever technology compels you most;  btw, the airplane mode is not just for airplanes!), and see what depths of Spirit and joy of Life flood in when you make space and place for this in your life. Answers to prayer come when you are alone with your own thoughts, and divine Love right there is guiding, guarding, providing, protecting.

Now here’s my challenge to you. Let’s do it together.

  • Let’s begin by finding moments in the morning, uninvaded by the day’s pressures or plans.
  • Let’s prepared our thoughts to receive messages from Love.
  • Let’s schedule time for simple spiritual contemplation and receptivity to God, good, without conditions, opinions, platitudes. In quiet thought, you can ask God questions. Post your concerns. But then trust Truth to guide you to answers and solutions in its own way.
  • Let’s allow some time carved out for a walk, a run, a drive, or just quiet time listening, praying, thinking, hearing, and feeling deepest gratitude to God several times a day. Really? yes!
  • Let!s find times throughout our day to open Science and Health for quiet instruction, or turn to the Bible for its promises.

Part of a wonderful Psalm offers, “How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. Pour out your unfailing love to those who love you; give justice to those with honest hearts.” New Living Bible. Ps. 36

We are always one with God. And the very best alone time we can ever have is realizing we are truly, really already in all ways, never alone, but all one, one with our God. Enjoy your time alone with God.
*Sanctuary: a place of protection; shelter.

To love God

To love God
begins with humility. (freedom from pride and arrogance)

To love God is to listen,
to be very
very very
still

and know, feel, Love’s presence
right here right now.

To love God, good,
gives us confidence, assurance;

we then need have
no fear of,
or worship, of others.

To love God
with all our heart,

we’ll have no
trust in, or worship of, matter
as the source of our good.

To love God deeply gives us pure peace.

Then we see our Father, the Father of all,
expressed in each one, everywhere.

Jesus loved this way. Always good to ask,  Do we?

Present good present now

Have you ever felt that a solution to a problem is just out of reach, somewhere just outside of your grasp?

Answers to our needs come when we begin to quiet our worries, stop the frantic, and simply expect good. Present good present now! Never withheld. Never unavailable to us. But right here, right now. Our all-good God is simply all there is, loving Her all-good creation. Each and every one. And that includes you!

Quieting thought, we expect answers. We listen with a calm that releases judgment, doubt, worry, concern. A divine sense overtakes those fears. Instead, this sense of the presence of God, all-good, divine Love, really does flood thought. Uplifts, guides, directs, supports, sustains.

We shift away from the daily digest on the plate of materiality.

Every answer that our heart needs, every relationship or financial discovery we require for harmony, will be found as we suspend the endless search for some solution outside our own ability of discovery.

Our spiritual inspiration impels us to give all our desire to understanding God and Her universe, to know and understand that it is good, purely spiritual, and that all good is ever available to each and everyone. Each one can feel God’s presence, loved, cherished, and cared for.

The less I look for that often unreliable outside fix, the more certain I am that right here in my thought I will find an intuition, insight, direction, or step I need to take. A healing truth brings me confidence I have what I need for healing. My answer often tiptoes in. Sometimes almost unseen. Then there’s light! And what fun that is.

Christ Jesus lived every detail of his life based on the understanding that the divine source is ever available, always present. It is the divine law of Life which is immediately good, immediately harmonious.

His view wasn’t about an outside “fix” Rather, deep within, he had the understanding and spiritual conviction of the absolute presence of the divine source of each and everyone. Healing is as available to us today as it was in the time of Christ Jesus. He recognized that there is no “out there out there.”

Even a glimpse that the eternal governing Principle of our lives is Love gives us a view that we can expect harmony and will see it in our experiences, in our lives, in our homes, in our world.

As we gain the understanding of what is available to us through our deep tender love for God, and the recognition of God’s love for His beautiful whole complete creation, we can and should always expect good.

Do you?

.

Your forever, always Valentine

(Thanks , Cindy)

On Valentine’s Day and every day, you are not alone, but All One with Father Mother Love;

One in the relationship of pure love, abundant supply, sparkling joy and steadfast being;

Awake in the knowingness of Mind, forever conscious of good,

Expressed in the somethingness of Spirit, limitlessly satisfied;

Moving in the infinite unfoldment of Life, eternally purposeful;

Held in the perfect government of Principle, uninterruptedly harmonious;

Gathered in the radiant embrace of Soul, perpetually cherished,

Forever being in Truth’s reality, safe, beloved, free,

Given not mere flowers, but the sprinkling of the stars,
as the heavens are laid out for you.

That’s true love!

Loving daily and completely

From Duffy

Jesus instructs us to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
If each of us lived this commandment each moment,

violence would be eradicated;

this world of “not enough”
would turn into a world of abundance.

Treating one another the way we wish to be treated
would end hunger, poverty and road rage.

There is always time to
feed our neighbor, help our neighbor,
and drive with consideration for others.

Living the divine law of Love would lift everyone to the highest sense of humanity. The act of loving our neighbor is one of the greatest gifts we can give to the world.

“Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.”
Science and Health, 454.

Love influences our lives.
Love makes clear while shining light upon us.
Love shows what is needed; specifically, entirely, always.
Love governs and guides our path.

My spiritual foundation comes directly from God, Love. Love is the source and creator of all there is. This Love is infinite and inexhaustible. I can never be without it and it does not run out.

So as we put down judgment, intolerance and self-righteousness, we pick up compassion, gratitude, forgiveness.

Love completely every moment.

Let Love shine on you and shine your light on all!

What seems to be bad, might just be good.

Posted by a friend

Amigo came into my life 32 years ago as an answer to a life long dream and a way to distract myself from the sudden passing of my dear brother. Amigo was in an ad in the local paper as an off the track thoroughbred appendix. Thinking I knew horses because I had loved them my entire life, I went to meet him. We went for a ride and I was hooked on this gangly youngster. Green broke, no problem! Or so I thought.

Amigo was delivered to the pasture boarding area I had chosen. He was put into a herd of over 40 horses. He loved it. I hated it. I couldn’t catch him! And, when I did, I found he was barely green broke. So, Amigo’s first lesson for me was patience and persistence.

Pasture boarding wasn’t going to work, and so, we moved to a ranch where we had an arena and smaller runs so that I could catch Amigo. From then on we had many adventures together in learning to trust each other, to be in the moment, to see the brightness of life, to love. Oh, the lessons I learned with that gentle being!

Never give up, no matter what, was a big lesson that Amigo and I learned together. After a divorce, my former husband announced that he was moving east with my daughters. It seemed to me that I had no choice. I was deeply distraught. Here I was thinking I had done the right thing in moving forward away from this marriage, and now I was losing my precious kids. And, to make matters worse, the very next day, I got a call that Amigo had been horrifically hurt and needed me to make the decision to euthanize him. Talk about bleak.

As I drove to Amigo, I turned my thought to God. At first, I was angry that I was losing so much when I was trying to do the right thing. Gently, the thought came, “What seems to be so bad, might just be good.” What? How could that be? But gently and persistently, I got the message to trust Love, and certainly expect good.

The vet who had been called was willing to give Amigo a chance and showed me how to care for his major injuries. Each day that summer, I drove the 60 miles round trip to care for him. Every day, I could see his love, trust, intelligence, brightness, and wholeness shine through. He walked and then he ran with great joy. Often, my daughter would help me care for him and she also felt this tangible sense of Love’s care. She decided not to move. What seems to be bad, just might be good, was true. More than the love of just riding him, Amigo and I found the love of Love.

Trust Love was a theme that Amigo and I shared. One day, while galloping up a hill way out in the forest, Amigo stepped into a large rodent hole that had just appeared on the trail that day. He pitched forward scrambling to upright himself, but instead landed on me, snapping something in my leg and slamming my head to the ground. I remember thinking “No! God is right here.”

Dazed, I turned from the ground to see Amigo staggering to his feet, along with my other horse, Cally. Both of them came right to me, nuzzling and encouraging me to get up. I tried but my ankle wasn’t working. Another gentle nudge from Amigo came, as the thought from God told me to get on Amigo. I don’t know how I got on, but I did. As I struggled to remain conscious, the angel thought kept insisting “There are NO accidents in Love” and “Trust that.”

I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get home. No one knew where we were. “Trust that,” I kept hearing, and with that thought, Amigo started ever so slowly heading toward home. Without guidance from me, Amigo and Cally carefully maneuvered the hills and creeks, getting me home to a neighbor who took me to my house. Within a week I was walking and then running, again, with great joy. That was Love.

See the light beyond turned out to be one of the greatest lessons we both gained in our journey together. Amigo and I often synced our hearts. We’d stand for hours together watching the sun set over his pasture, seeing the clouds drift by, feeling the sun warm our backs, gazing at the deer grazing with the horses, and just love life. We felt lifted and buoyed by those moments.

One day, Amigo made it known to me that he was ready to move on. We had spent the last few weeks trusting Love that life is eternal, a continuous unfoldment of good that is ever present.  We had shared that life is Spirit, free from the bondage of material life.

In the moments before Amigo passed, I turned to the light of Truth to see beyond the picture of a material Amigo. Amigo is always the finest example of Love, of Life. Holding to those true facts, I gazed out at his pasture to the lushness of the green grass and the sparkling pond.

With a great “whoosh,” I felt through my entire being a pure freedom, a limitless joy, and beautiful love, and saw Amigo gallop across his lush grassy pasture. Safe, free, and whole, he ran. No sadness, no separation, just the joy of life. The light beyond eternally spread, and thus, we kept on our journey together.

Today I intend to

This wonderful statement by Mrs. Eddy lent focus to a friend’s day. With permission,  I share this priceless, humble piece.

“Today my soul can only sing and soar. An increasing sense of God’s love, omnipresence and omnipotence enfolds me. Each day I know Him nearer, love Him more, and humbly pray to serve Him better.” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p.174)

Here is my intention:
*Today I will only sing and soar. (I will put off the sackcloth of self-pity and develop my father’s philosophy of, “I’ve never been happier or better” declaration.)
*Today I will increase my sense of God’s love by sharing kindness and gentleness with all I meet.
*Today I will increase my acknowledgment of God’s omnipresence by seeing only the presence of good. (1:10 Rule-For every one look at error I will take 10 looks at Truth).
*Today I will refute every foe with the omnipotent power of God’s Word!
*Today I will acknowledge that I am enfolded in God’s Love…and that’s all I need!
-*Today I will be grateful that I feel nearer to God because I have moved my thought nearer to Him.
*Today I humbly pray to serve Him with all my heart and soul.

Choose good as the real,- it is, you know!

Choose Life over loss.
Choose Truth over any lie.
Choose right over wrong.

Find health instead of sickness.
Find joy instead of sadness.
(It’s here, right here.)

Choose trust instead of fear.
Choose Love instead of judgment.
Choose strength instead pf weariness.

Choose the real of Spirit instead of unintelligent matter.

Your true spiritual sense
knows the real. And so knows what is unreal.

Know thar you know!

With each thought, you choose.

You find and choose the real.

Thought yields. You’re healed.

Why bother to dig deeper?

The answer to that question might be found by asking another.  Can I look forward to each day, excited to see what it brings? Or, is it possible that deepening my spiritual sense could improve  my life?  Well, the answer to both is, absolutely!

I have so loved the dedication required and the opportunities I’ve found in my life to learn what this Science gives me. I love engaging with the ideas in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures simply for the sake of those ideas! One of the greatest thinkers of this or any century, the author of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, knew the power of faithful dedication. She writes about it with succinctness, “Dedication to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.” (Science and Health, p 199)

This is not to say that there haven’t been needs, great and small, (some really great and some really small!) but in those times when things are going along pretty well, that’s the times I thunk I love digging into the Bible and Science and Health just for the charge I get out of new discovery! Because I don’t feel that life is about begging God to,solve my problems. I just want to know life as God shows it to me. This is fun and rewarding all on its own. No requirement except to let my search bring out a better me, more love for others through more love for God, divine Love, the wonderfully all-good  source of all creatuon! That’s a pretty phenomenal concept to explore!

It’s ok, actually it’s great, that this takes dedication and resolve to gain new insights and inspiration, because otherwise we’re pretty much going against the current of materiaism’s fast pace. To be certain of our place in all this takes backbone, conviction, and often simply calm, thoughtful reasoning.

Eddy observes, “Experience has taught me that the rules of Christian Science can be far more thoroughly and readily acquired by regularly settled and systematic workers, than by unsettled and spasmodic efforts.”  (Retrospection and Introspection. 87)  This such a good remonder that calm, quiet study brings rewards. Make a place for it in your day, and see its effects.

I write this because I’m hoping this viewpoint might encourage another who might wonder why even bother. We all want better, more fulfilled lives, lives not at risk with few answers. We want more confidence in every detail of our day, and we need trust in a power greater than ourselves.

By exploring new possibilities based on understanding the law of divine good, we’ll experience more selfless living, even more integrity, patience, love, and a trust that good is possible in every area of living and healing. As we are more spiritually focused, our days are more clearly defined and our purposes are strengthened.

Simply put, we’re just better people doung better things with our lives. That’s “why bother.”