The Olympics from a spiritual perspective

Shining like Stars
by Heather Hayward

from the Christian Science Sentinel June 11, 2012

When a member of my family took part in and actually won a national ballet competition at the tender age of eight, her reaction was simply: "I didn't do it. God did!"  She had glimpsed a wonderful spiritual truth that echoes the words of Christ Jesus, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30).

The youngster's pure expression of divine qualities was evidenced in her performance that day. Loveliness shone from her as she proved her understanding of the principles of discipline, grace, and precision. Her moment of triumph was very special at that point in her experience.

This related in serveral ways to the thousands of athletes who'll be competing in the Summer Olympics. The joy of participation and the honour of representing their countries will be a rich reward for the concentrated preparation, perseverance, and sacrifice each one has made. However, they'll need to be wise about the cult of personality that dominates the media at such times. Great attention goes to the winners, while the rest scarcely get a mention and quickly become no more than "also-rans".

Obviously, in sporting competition we can't all be winners, though in other aspects of life the word winner can be more broadly interpreted. But that's where the phrase "personal best" comes into play. It offers a yardstick for those who may compete brilliantly - certainly at pivotal moments - yet may not reach the rostrum. There's nothing to stop any of us from achieving or improving our "personal best".

 Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish virgins who were to attend a wedding banquet points to the importance of  planning and readiness in tackling events of all kinds (see Matthew 25:1-13). And the ballet, mentioned earlier, provides just one example of the role of concentrated preparation, including fitness training. In school examinations, too, going over the work is key, and brings its own rewards.

I recall a time when I first began to take singing lessons and found myself participating in a local comeptition. I was a complete amateur in an open adult class in which everyone was expected to perform the same song. It was my first public solo performance, and I was very apprehensive. My husband and I prayed together, as we'd done for our three daughters, who'd participated successfully in the dance, drama, and music sections of the same festival. And we were strengthened by the knowledge that prayer in Christian Science "enhances (one's) endurance and mental powers" and gives one "an ability to exceed (one's) ordinary capacity" (Science and Health, p.128).

I felt calm, and was aware of the comforting presence of divine Love. By the time I opened by mouth to sing in front of a large audience in a lofty hall, my fear had melted and, surprisingly, I enjoyed the whole experience. I'd made a massive leap forward in confidence and in understanding more of God's ever-presence and power.

I was grateful that in the adjudication I received a good mark that compared favourably with the marks obtained by more experienced singers.

From then on, my confidence and ability to speak and perform in public developed by leaps and bounds, and I never looked back. I can't help thinking of a hymn by Irving Tomlinson in which he wrote, "As stars in their courses never contend,/ ...So God's loving children in concord remain" (Science and Health Hymnal, No. 236). For me, that confirms that no one can take from any "star" his or her ability to shine and succeed in any challenge, be it a job application, the purchase of a home, or a pbulic performance in any sphere.

In effect, there really is no competition in any endeavour except with our belief in our own ability. Understanding God's unfailing presence and power, we can shine like stars wherever we place on the finishing line. The joy of participation transcends any fierce determination to be first past the post. Our love for the activity of expressing God's goodness is its own reward. Nothing can stop us from doing our best for Him - at all times!

Heather Hayward is a Christian Science prectitioner and teacher. She teaches in London, and divides her time between London and Hampshire, England.

Man up to real Manhood

TMC Youth's website, time4thinkers.com recently featured this article as a blog.
BY GORDON MYERS

A shirtless model on a billboard. A bumbling loser in a sitcom. A callous businessman, or the suave guy who gets all the girls. If you ask the media, this what manhood looks like in the 21st century: cool, powerful, and ruthless, or stupid, hapless and helpless.

You might roll your eyes and say, Yeah, but the media stereotypes women, too.  What's the big deal?  Well, the big deal is that stereotypes of any kind limit and undermine. And we're seeing the effects of that: While women's education rates continue to improve, each year we see a disproportionate decrease in the percentage of boys who graduate from high school and attend college. Also, young boys are four times more likely to be prescribed "sit still" medications such as Ritalin and Adderall.  Worst of all, world suicide rates showcase a whopping 80 to 90 percent of all suicides are committed by men.

While I'm not blaming the media for the problems men are facing, these statistics have definitely made me take notice. I don't want to stand by as either gender is forced into a certain box or made to feel unworthy.

So what's a spiritual thinker to do? For me, the starting point with this problem - as with any challenge I face - is God. In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy defined God as Father-Mother - that is, as incorporating and expressing both tradtionally masculine and traditionally feminine qualities. In other words, both the male and female are necessary. Both types of qualities are worthy because they originate in God. And in spite of society's contention that men and women are from different planets, the nature of God as Father-Mother unifies the masculine and feminine. Instead of the genders being at war, in God we find complete harmony between "male" qualities and "female" qualities.

All that might sound a little "out there" given the things we see in our own offices or communities. But we have to start somewhere. "What is the model before mortal mind?" Mary Baker Eddy asked in Science and Health. "Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering?...Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your expereince the angular outline and deformity of matter models" (pg248).

You could think of that passage another way: What you see is what you get. Right now, the "model before mortal mind" is a pretty bleak picture of manhood. And right now, that's definitely what we're seeing play out. Politicians who are unfaithful. Or inept guys who can't even boil a pot of water without help from their female counterparts.

The good news is that changing begins with each of us. It begins with our individual models -  the version of manhood we choose to embrace, and the version we choose to hold to, no matter what the rest of the world is offering up. Here's one version according to Eddy: "The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth" (Science and Health,pg517).

As a guy, I love this definition - and not because I think it means that I have a corner on these qualities! What it tells me is that manhood cannot be obsolete or undervalued, because it's a part of God's character. And this definition of manhood sets a positive standard for masculinity. Intelligence, creativity, productivity, and honesty (or commitment to Truth) are masculine qualities, and as I express those qualities more purely, I'm expressing my masculinity.

Does this mean that only men are smart, creative, and honest, while women are not? Of course not! In the same way, Eddy followed that passage up by saying, "The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love". Does that mean that women are livley, energetic, social, caring, nurturing, and loving, but men are not? Again: No! We each incorporate both sets of these qualities in our complete expression. But you  could say that if I'm expressing nurturing qualities, or loving ones, I'm expressing my womanhood. And that's OK! Guys can express womanhood and women can express manhood. That's the beauty of those qualities being united in God.

In Christian Science we learn that men and women are not created as two incomplete halves of a whole, but rather as the full expression of divine goodness and Love, already complete and perfect. Eddy wrote, "The masculine mind reaches a higher tone through certain elements of the feminine, while the feminine mind gains courage and strength through masculine qualities (Science and Health, pg57).

How do we conquer the stereotypes that threaten to divide and demean us? As that passage reminds us, by being undivided ourselves. Each of us has the right to claim and express our manhood and womanhood. And as we let our own light shine brighter, that naturally helps free those around us from anything that would inhibit their complete individuality. That model of unified manhood and womanhood can and must bless men and women alike - and our our world at large.

Goordon Myers is a Web developer in Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Prayers for Syria

I had the privilege of travelling to the beautiful, ancient city of Homs several years ago, loving its Roman waterwheel, still turning, and the gentle way its residents milled in the city centre, greeting friends, engaging in conversations over outdoor cafes - all the ways you would expect to see people enjoy a sunny day.
Now a tragic picture is unfolding. Protests against the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad are being violently suppressed by government forces.  Secret pictures and videos smuggled out in the most difficult of circumstances document this.  Shelling of the city has killed hundreds of Syrians.  At least four journalists have been among the dead.  Only by the end of the week were the wounded allowed to be evacuated.
What can those of us far away from the violence do to help?  We can pray deeply to know that even in such war-torn circumstances, God's law of divine Love is protecting its creation.  The founder of the Monitor, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures", what the action of God - also called Truth, Life and Love -  is doing in spite of what the senses see: "Truth has no consciousness of error.  Love has no sense of hatred.  Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God" (p 243).
Just as light annihilates darkness effortlessly, by being itself, the truth destroys a lie once it has been exposed.  The lie here is that individuals are motivated by such ambition, brutality, and cruelty that they will go to any length to protect their own position.  The truth is that God is ever in control, and God's sons and daughters can never be out from under the protection of this divine Love.  Why?  Because each one is made in the very image and likeness of God, as the first chapter in Genesis declares: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." (1:26).
The implications of being the image of divine Love, God, are true for every single one of us.  That means that a regime that looks determined to stay in power is also ultimately subject to this government, as well as those who appear to be the victims of such an imbalance of military strength.
The writer of Hebrews makes an astounding observation that has the feel of an eye-witness who has experienced the truth which he describes: "For the word of God is alive and powerful.  It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.  It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.  Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable" (Hebrews 4:12,13 New Living Translation).
Government representatives may try to reason with the Assad regime, but only God, infinite Mind, can provide the kind of searing truth that cuts through all beliefs and goes to the deepest core - to the heart - that deeply knows what is the difference between right and wrong.  Nothing can interfere with the laserlike reach of infinite Mind, God.  Nothing can resist the power of light to illumine the dark corners of thought that need transforming.
God, divine Love, is operating right now in Homs, as it is in other trouble spots in the world, bringing protection and safety to its citizens and making the way clear for its government to resolve whatever needs resolution to return to a life of peace for its citizens.  God is in charge, regardless of what the headlines claim.

The Christian Science Monitor
'Prayers for Homs'
by Madelon Maupin / February 29, 2012

Finding Solutions to Our Daily Shortages

With shortages seeming to be everywhere - in our own personal finances and employment, as well as our national, even global resources, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and afraid.  But there are practical solutions that many people are using to meet their immediate needs - spiritual solutions.  Read an article that shows how a family accessed these unlimited sources, that can't be taken from us no many what the economic environment.

Supply and demand - perfectly synchronized
by Janet  Clements

Unexpected expenditures for the month - and for the foreseeable future - were putting pressure on the house budget. As I calculated my income and my outgoings, I frantically realized that I could no longer be a stay-at-home mum. I needed a job yesterday! Before the children came along, I worked full-time as a graphic designer, but put my career on hold to raise my family.

I had to find an employer who could use my skills and coordinate with the hours that my two small children were at school. My needs were specific and I didn't know where to find that perfect fit. My initial reaction - to panic and start a frantic job search - was tempered with the idea to quiet my thought through prayer.

Right away I was filled with gratitude. I recalled a time when my husband and I had only $25 left in our bank account. He had been laid off from work and we were expecting our first child. He'd been looking for a new position for weeks and hadn't found anything. We had just enough money for some groceries.

With other bills to pay and the extra expense of  new baby on the horizon, the situation looked bleak.  As we prayed, we both saw that my husband had a wonderful supply of skills and good work ethics. All these qualities had their source in God, good. Not only does God impart good to man (meaning both men and women) but through His law, He also unfolds opportunities to express that goodness constructively.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote about thin in Science and Health: "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear."

Knowing that man is never separated from opportunities to express God, my husband was guided to go to his university's outplacement office, where he saw a posting for a job that fitted his experience and abilities. Within days he was working at his new job.

As I remembered this experience, I asked myself, "Isn't that same law of supply and demand in operation for me now? If the need is now, the supply is now; such is the nature of divine Love."

I saw that all the skills and qualities that I express are really evidence of divine supply. This supply is the open handed, spontaneous abundance of God's love graciously pouring forth goodness. Love's bounty is as continual as a flowing river. It is the nature of divine Love to provide everything needed for our well-being, and this includes useful productivity.

I understood that demand isn't depletion, but rather proof that all the infinite goodness that divine Love is pouring forth has a purpose and is appreciated and utilized. so all the qualities that God gives me to express are needed and useful.

Because supply and demand are both of God, Principle, they have to be in perfect balance. There can't be a supply without a demand or a demand without a supply.

The Bible says it so well: "For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that is at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there my be equality."

How beautifullly supply and demand are perfectly synchronized by God's law! As I prayed further, I saw that finding the right job didn't need to be circuitous. There was no need for wasted motions of running here and there looking for work.

Armed with joyous gratitude that I would be appropriated directed, and that both supply and demand are of God and in perfect balance in my life, I felt ready to go forward in the job search.

I made only one call, to a published company. They said they weren't really looking for anyone with my skills, but would be happy to look at my portfolio of work just the saem, if I wanted to go in the next day.

This was the one company I was guided to call - and they weren't hiring. I was tempted to doubt the direction been given as the result of prayer, but instead said, "Yes, I'll be there tomorrow". I had enough trust in God to follow through.

When I arrived the next day, there had been a company-wide meeting just a few hours before, in which a major restructuring was announced. Looking at my portfolio and seeing that I had experience in many areas, they said I was the perfect fit for a position that had just been created. In fact they needed my skills right away.

This was a beautiful proof that there is a divine, omniscient Mind overseeing, uniting, and synchronizing every aspect of being into one concordant whole that blesses all. 

The spiritual facts that guided me to that position are just as relevant for you and your loved ones. For now and always, the power and force of divine Love synchronizes supply and demand in such an all-encompassing way that each of us - you, me, everyone - is productive, fully supplied, and infinitely blessed.

from
 http://www.spirituality.com/
or contact Christian Science Reading Room Wollongong
csrr.wgong@1earth.net

Bullying - finding practical, spiritual solutions

Not only children experience bullying, but many adults have also found themselve facing this distressing situation. Are there practical solutions that don't involve resorting to reciprocated aggression and violence?  Absolutely, many people have found spirituality and prayer powerful weapons to arrest and solve this evil situation.

Lois Carlson, a teacher and practitioner of Christian Science in Chicago, Illinois, was the guest on this Sentinel chat called, "A spiritual defense against bullying." Lois has been in the full-time healing ministry of Christian Science since 1975, and has been a Christian Science teacher since 1991. 

FROM TAIWAN:  Kids are calling me something I really don't like, and sometimes I'm frozen with anger and left feeling deeply humiliated.  How do I pray about this?

LOIS:  You've helped us to idenify what bullying is - it's when somebody does or says something to you that makes you feel like you can't be yourself, and being afraid almost makes you feel like you're paralyzed.  The great thing I can assure you of is that right in the middle of the fire is a voice inside you, telling you that you are loved and you are safe, and that you are worth being known.

When somebody calls us something, or exaggerates some part of our body, or says things that are just so contrary to our spiritual nature as children of God, the good thing is that it doesn't change our spiritual nature.  We're still just as lovely to God, just as good and useful.  It is important that you pray about it before this happens again-if it happens again, since I would love to think that it could be stopped in its tracks right now.  When you pray about it, either before or after, ask God to help you hear His voice, because when God created you, He didn't just let you go like you were some balloon floating off into the atmosphere.  God holds on to you, and nobody can change who you are by saying something ugly about you.

NO LOCATION:  As a young girl I was bullied relentlessly at shcool.  Now, many years later I have a happy active life.  However, at times I still feel bullied-especially by other women.  I have a young daughter and wish to protect both of us from these attacks that seem to be so prevalent and even acceptable among women.

LOIS:  Your good life gives us assurance that the effects of bullying can be neutralized.  This bad, manipulative behaviour is really the exact counterfeit of a true sense of womanhood, which comes from God's great mothering.  Think of qualities like patience and intuition, of steadfast love, of nurturing care.  These are a very sharp conterfact to the aggression and belittling that we associate with bullying.

Painful periods in our lives will yield to the reality of God and His kingdom, which upholds and enforces creation in a way that we can understand.  Our Father-Mother God, the creator of the universe, never leaves us alone, never leaves us subject to the limitations and hatred of the carnal mind.

FROM GERMAN:  There are situations in which there seems to be a legitimate form of bullying.  For example, many superiors think they have the right to treat other employees disrespetfully.

LOIS:  That aggressive nature is not natural to man.  Man's purity, his goodness, his ability to love, can't be canceled.  And when I say "man", I'm referring to both men and women.  Just as we want the victim of bullying to know that something else is going on for himself, to protect him from attack, so we want the attacker to know that there's something better going on, so they don't have to act out the attack.

It's agony to be mean - it's agony to act in a way that's foreign to your own spiritual nature.  It's just like any other form of sensuality - it feels so entrapping because it makes you feel finite, when you've actually been designed to be this infinite expression.

FROM CHICAGO:  I've been picked on, insulted, and made fun of all my life.  How do I get my self-esteem back?

LOIS:  You have a right to revive your life according to the good that has happened.  A friend of mine who's a beekeeper old me that one worker bee only produces one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.  The tendency is to belittle what we do, and the good news is that you don't get your thoughts about yourself from other people - you get your thoughts from the majesty of God's love for you.

It's a very powerful prayer to ask God to teach you to know yourself the way He knows you, because He doesn't see you in terms of the cruelty.  He sees you in terms of your authority over the cruelty.  The tiny bits of good in your life are actually aligned to the divine Principle of all good, and that's what enables you to make your contribution to society, even if it's very modest.  It's just like, every raindrop counts, every ray of light counts, every bee contributes to the jar of honey!

To listen to the entire chat, go to cssentinel.com/chats/bullyingdefense.

This is an important topic that needs healing both for the individuals suffering from its effects and for society as a whole. We'd love to hear about your ideas on peaceful, healing solutions to bullying. 

Holy Purpose

"Spirit,God,gathers unformed thoughts into their propper channels,and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear." a quote from Science and Health with Key to the Scriputres by Mary Baker Eddy

God supplies all our needs - my experience

Last year I had an opportunity to understand and prove that God really looks after our financial needs. I have had opportunities in the past to prove this however, I had never lost the fear of my supply, work or money running out!

Last October, halfway through the month, after many expenses had been paid I discovered that again my money was again running out and vertually nothing was left in my account. In the past when this had occured, I would worry and stess about how I would pay for further expenses for the rest of the month. That month I had finally had enough of this state of affairs and I determined that I really needed to pray about this as it needed healing in my thinking. I reasoned that because God is all, always supplying my needs and those of my family there was no reason that we should go without and cut corners each month. I suddenly realised that I did not need to earn His care, I do not need to plead and beg for more good. I suddenly saw that the lack I was experincing each month really was due to the fact that I had accepted and actually expected my supply to either strech further but eventually to run out. I had without thinking been accepting a limitation. But if God is really all, all abundance, always supplying my needs as he supplies food for the birds, clothes the lillies (I thought of Jesus' words in the Bible where he talks about not taking thought for the next day, how God clothes the lillies etc  see Mathew 6 :25-34). I was driving at the time and it came so strongly to declare out loud in the car that I was not going to accept that limitation. I was not going to carry on believing that I was limited in anyway. I decided that my bank account and my supply was not going to run out because money is only the symbol of God's care and that in actual fact His care had never stopped! I was not trying to find a material means of fixing my situation but rather stand up to the imposition the lie that God's good was not available to me.This may have seemed an illogical thing to do but it broke my sense of fear and brought home the truth as taught to me in Christian Science that all we ever have to do is change our wrong belief about something - change a mental gear if you like. I clearly understood that God had always been sustaining me and my activities, all I had to do was acknowledge it and really understand this fact completly.

It was interesting what followed from this moment of spiritual clarity. That October became the first month that I actually did not run out of money, my bank account had money in it right up to pay day! I also refrained from being tempted to use my credit card or spend money unwisely . Two months later I was offered a part time job which I enjoy and has helped us finacially and within a couple of months my income had more than doubled. My husband was also offered a salary restructure out of the blue which enabled us to better cope with our weekly expenses. My bank account does not run dry anymore but of course the blessing is that I am fianlly free of the fear of 'running out' of things or running out of supply! God really does sustain us and I am so greatful for His wonderful care!