This article, by Suzanne Riedel, was first published in the December 16, 2024 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
For ages, many have acknowledged that practicing peace and goodwill is fundamental to human life. A few examples of this come to mind, such as the 2023 Academy Award-winning short animated film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (based on a book by Charlie Mackesy). In the film, the mole asks the boy what he wants to be when he grows up. The boy’s immediate answer is “Kind.”
Human gravitation toward goodwill, or benevolence, is also explored in Charles Dickens’ iconic A Christmas Carol. In it, Ebenezer Scrooge’s hardened rejection of good is transformed as he eventually feels the true spirit of Christmas. In such tales, the takeaway is often that kindness and goodwill are innate to the human heart and prevail even when people’s opinions and beliefs are threatened. They are qualities that are basic to a peaceful, thriving society.
Click here to read (or listen) to the rest of this article where Suzanne proves that Love is not just a feeling but a divine force that heals both physical and relationship problemsat Christmas time and always.
For those who seek to know how to think and pray about conflict take comfort in these readings from the Bible (KJV) and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy on the topic: Love – the Only Response to Conflict.
Because everyone is God-created, it is possible to see that each individual is worthy of—and able to—love.
Burning, white-hot hatred. We know it when we see it—fueling wars, spawning deep political divisions. Most of us yearn to see hatred give way at least to tolerance—and certainly love would be the ideal. But how do we get there?
You might be thinking, “I don’t hate.” Or, “I don’t personally deal with hatred.” But as we take a closer look, we may recognize ways we do feel dislike, animosity, or even hostility. For example, are we neutral when it comes to politics? We might even find ourselves rationalizing these feelings because, after all, there seem to be reasons for them. …
Click here to continue reading, or to listen to, Deborah’s article. In it she describes how she managed to overcome a long-term hatred and how she now uses this understanding to help her bring a sense of peace to other areas of her life.
At the moment, it would seem that the world is politically quite polarised. In the media more attention is paid to the things that divide us than to the things that unit us. Sentiments are felt strongly resulting in divisions even within families. With US election fresh in thought and the expectation of an election in Australia early this year, this discussion is very timely. David and Mark share ideas on how we as individuals can support a genuine sense of unity and peace.
Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.
People calling themselves influencers seem to proliferate on social media nowadays. A quick Google search revealed that they are often people who have come to prominence because of their particular skills. Some were wildlife ‘warriors’, some were sports people, some musicians, and some seemed to be famous just for being famous. There were many!
This started me thinking about what it means to be an influencer. Are we not all influencers in some respect? When my son was in primary school, each year he was seated next to classmates who found listening to instructions and staying on task difficult. The idea was that my son, who was a steady and capable worker, would be a good influence on his desk-mate. I asked him if he minded this. He said that if he could help someone else achieve more or be more successful, then he was happy to do this.
When I thought more about this, I realised that all of us are exerting an influence in some form. I ask myself: Am I, like my son, accepting that the way I handle life can be an influence for good?
In our day-to-day lives dealing with routine tasks at work, in the family or the community our actions are not neutral. We are always contributing to the mental atmosphere for better or for worse. The way we handle situations that seem not to go smoothly can have a big impact on those around us. Our response when we think someone has acted thoughtlessly, or has inconvenienced us, influences the mental atmosphere. If we meet each of these situations with grace, compassion, forgiveness, generosity then we have been an influencer for good.
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science writes: Your influence for good depends upon the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. (p192 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures). This is an hourly – even a moment by moment – demand on each of us. This is how we too can be real influencers for good.
Contributed by a member of the Canberra Christian Science community.
The girl on my Instagram story was eating a special brand of crackers, and I was intrigued—not so much by the crackers, but by her toned physique and apparently charmed existence. On my next trip to the grocery store, I got a box of these crackers for myself. And when I ripped open the package to try them, I had to admit they were good … but they didn’t give me the girl’s “perfect” life.
Because really, on some level, that’s why I’d bought the crackers: I wanted to believe that following in that girl’s footsteps might get me just a little more of what she had—and what I didn’t. Of course, I knew rationally that eating the same food as some girl on social media wasn’t going to give me the life I was imagining. Yet … Click here to continue reading, or to listen to, this article.
This testimony was published in the July 15 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel. It is by a student who Zooms in each week to the Christian Science Sunday School in Canberra.
A few years ago, I heard something disturbing on the radio here in Singapore, where I live. Someone shared a scary experience they had been through, and the details frightened me. I didn’t know what to think. I was feeling overwhelmed by thoughts about what I’d heard, and my happiness started to fade. These feelings even affected my schoolwork. I decided to pray because I knew prayer could help me.
I started thinking about where my happiness comes from. (Click here to continue reading or to listen to this testimony.)
Christian Science Canberra 