One morning this past winter I was shadowing a twelve-year-old snowboarder boarder down the mountain. He was a blur of color and confidence as he sped down the slope. It was hard to decide which was more fun to watch: his ability and sheer athleticism, or his complete immersion in and obvious satisfaction with the snowboarder identity—from the baseball cap worn backward to the baggy pants to the overall aura of a preteen who knows he looks cooler than all the nearby teenagers eyeing him with envy.
But what if one is no longer twelve? And what if it’s not one’s place on a snowboard but on a corporate board, maybe with a corner office and access to the company jet, that largely shapes one’s identity? And then, poof, the job is gone. Or perhaps one has hung his or her identity not on a job but on a role like husband or wife or parent—and then unforeseen events suddenly disrupt the familiar routine. What then? … continue reading
In this short podcast John talks about how he learned to love himself – to recognise that he had his own unique ‘light’ to shine – and he describes the positive effect this had.
Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit. (Science and Health p475:8)
If Life is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embryonic, it is infinite. (Science and Health p550:21)
Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual. (Science and Health p468:12)
I had to learn humility the hard way! I was ice-skating with my granddaughter one evening. I am not a very good skater and I was doing my best to keep up speed and glide. At one point I noticed that the rink was populated with young people, and a little pride crept in that I was out there even though I am a grandmother.
Well, a few more turns around the rink and then down I went. My wrist was badly hurt.
My go-to in times of need has always been prayer. In this case, a wake-up call about pride was my biggest take-away from my prayers. After about two weeks, I could still not move my wrist. Then, one day in humble prayer, it came to me that all of us out there on the ice were children of God, expressing the joy, strength, and energy of divine Life. Our true nature is not defined by a certain age and personal abilities. Instead, it appears in our reflection of God’s qualities.
I was very humbled by this thought. In his book “Mere Christianity,” C. S. Lewis, the Christian apologist, refers to pride as “the complete anti-God state of mind.” It suggests the possibility of a selfhood or ego apart from God, the one true Ego. It is a way of thinking that denies the onliness and allness of infinite good.
Click here to continue reading, or listen to, this article by Elizabeth Crecelius Schwartz published in the Christian Science Monitor Daily. In it Elizabeth describes more of the thinking that then led to a quick and complete healing of the injured wrist.
An article from the Christian Science Monitor by Blythe Evans
When my children were in elementary school, they played soccer through a local sports program. Before each game, the coach would assign each child a player on the opposing team to “mark.” That meant to focus on and stay right with the player at all times, rather than meandering around the field of play. Sometimes the coach would even say, “Mark that player so closely you feel like you’re in their shirt! Stay right with them.”
The importance of this was not lost on the young athletes, and the better they each marked their player, the better the game went for them.
I think of this sometimes when I read in the Bible, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalms 37:37). Practically speaking, who is “the perfect man” we are to “mark”? How do we do that? And why should we?
Well, it is clear there is no perfect human being, so the “perfect man” must be a higher, more spiritual concept of man than we experience with our material senses. In fact, the teachings of Christian Science help us see that the “perfect man” is the spiritual man (meaning all of us) of God’s creating, made in the image of divine Spirit.
Blythe goes on to explain how this reasoning and spiritualisation of thought brought about a quick healing of her young grandson’s injured finger. She concludes by saying:
This doesn’t mean putting our heads in the sand when we or someone we encounter is not well or acting wrongly. Rather, we can silently affirm that everyone’s true nature is one of harmony, health, and integrity, because God, Spirit, is all good. Understanding this enables us to overcome illness or bad character traits, and to help others do the same.
In this 3minute podcast Tony challenges us to think about how we identify ourselves … are we right-wing, left-wing, moderate? Or do we identify ourselves in more spiritual terms. How we see ourselves has an impact on the quality of our lives.
A new 3 minute inspirational talk is shared each day Monday-Friday. To listen to more click on the Daily Lift tab in the menu above.
In this 3 minute podcast Andrea talks about how she learned to shift thought away from negative ‘What if …’ thinking and start to ask ‘What is the spiritual truth about this situation?’ She recounts how this kind of change in thinking brought about a quick healing.
Christian Science Canberra 