"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
I was flying home from Denver a few weeks ago and I was looking out the window as the plane flew west into the sunset. It was so clear. I could see everything below me.
And then it occured to me: this is like God's view of things!
The "altitude" of God's vision is absolutely all-harmonioius - heavenly. He sees everything clearly. Nothing is hidden. He sees everything and everyone as connected, beautiful, and unpolluted. And He sees all His vast creation at once.
And God already sees His will done in us. He already sees us, with Him, in Heaven.
Showing posts with label The Lord's Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Lord's Prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The symmetry of the Lord's Prayer
There is a beautiful "cause and effect" symmetry within the Lord's Prayer, bracketed within two absolute statements of divine Truth:
Cause:
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One
Effect:
"Give us this day our daily bread"
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
Adoring the name - acknowledging the Adorable nature of God in our thought and action - is communion. It is what wakes us up to God's loving nature. It feeds us with our daily Bread of Life. And it is this Grace that gives us our daily (moment by moment) living experience of God. And this experience of God, Love, feeds all our deepest needs. Actively reflecting His Love, by feeding the famished needs of others, is our purest form of adoration.
Cause:
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
Effect:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.
God's kingdom is already come. It feels like we're moving through time and space to see and find solutions to problems, to demonstrate what's true, or even to find forgiveness. But God's perfect solution - His kingdom - is already come. It is always just an "awakening away" from being conscious within us.
Dreaming, it all seems like a process to go through. But Truth is the alarm clock. And Life insists on being lived. And Love stirs us to wake up. And this awakening reveals who we really are as God's perfect child: already safe, our needs already met, forgiveness already fulfilled by reflection: living our love of Love, His kingdom everpresent in our heart. Here. Now.
Cause:
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth God is omnipotent, supreme.
Effect:
"And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
And God leadeth us not into temptation but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
God's will is effortless. He has no opposition. God is all power. And that means His will actually is done in earth exactly as it is already done in heaven. What's more, we are enabled to actually know this, to experience God's good will for us here and now.
And we can be completely confident that His will for us is never evil. His will for us never includes temptations or trails or sin, disease or death. Why? Because "God is Love." His Love meets us right where we think we are (earth) as it is where we really are (in heaven). His omnipotent loving will for us is simply the awakening that we everpresent with Him. Always have been. Are now. And always will be.
And how is all this possible?
"Our Father, which art in heaven."
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious.
Cause:
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One
Effect:
"Give us this day our daily bread"
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
Adoring the name - acknowledging the Adorable nature of God in our thought and action - is communion. It is what wakes us up to God's loving nature. It feeds us with our daily Bread of Life. And it is this Grace that gives us our daily (moment by moment) living experience of God. And this experience of God, Love, feeds all our deepest needs. Actively reflecting His Love, by feeding the famished needs of others, is our purest form of adoration.
Cause:
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
Effect:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.
God's kingdom is already come. It feels like we're moving through time and space to see and find solutions to problems, to demonstrate what's true, or even to find forgiveness. But God's perfect solution - His kingdom - is already come. It is always just an "awakening away" from being conscious within us.
Dreaming, it all seems like a process to go through. But Truth is the alarm clock. And Life insists on being lived. And Love stirs us to wake up. And this awakening reveals who we really are as God's perfect child: already safe, our needs already met, forgiveness already fulfilled by reflection: living our love of Love, His kingdom everpresent in our heart. Here. Now.
Cause:
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth God is omnipotent, supreme.
Effect:
"And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
And God leadeth us not into temptation but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
God's will is effortless. He has no opposition. God is all power. And that means His will actually is done in earth exactly as it is already done in heaven. What's more, we are enabled to actually know this, to experience God's good will for us here and now.
And we can be completely confident that His will for us is never evil. His will for us never includes temptations or trails or sin, disease or death. Why? Because "God is Love." His Love meets us right where we think we are (earth) as it is where we really are (in heaven). His omnipotent loving will for us is simply the awakening that we everpresent with Him. Always have been. Are now. And always will be.
And how is all this possible?
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever."
For God is infinite, all power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Being delivered by recognizing Christ
To recognize a song, you have to have heard it before.
To recognize a face, you have to have seen it before.
To recognize Christ, means you already have a relationship to the Christ. Christ in already your heart.
And what is amazing, is that everyone is already capable of recognizing the Christ, no matter who they are, or what kind of life they've led. Everyone has an intuitive sense that awakens when you recognize something spiritually good. And that can only happen because the Christ is already within you, already known in your heart-of-hearts.
When Mary Magdalene (see Luke 7) barged univited into Simon the Pharisee's house to wash Jesus feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, and anoint them with perfumed ointment, she was proving this very thing. She recognized the Christ because that Christliness was already within her. Had that not been the case, she would have never acted like she did. Fear or shame or ignorance would have kept her out. But her impulsive actions acknowledged something that even the priestly Simon couldn't: that Jesus was the Christ. Mary knew it.
Her devotion and love of Christ was "Love being reflected in love" - her debts, her sins, being forgiven - forsaken - in the awakening of her native state, her original Christliness, her natural likeness to God. The tears she shed were her painful past being released in the joy of her awakening to her true relation to God. And she received the blessing that Simon missed, because "she loved much" because much was forgiven her. While Simon clung to his pride and position, Mary dropped her mistaken sense of self (ego) in her love for the Christ.
She entered that house - not as the prostitute (though that is all Simon saw) - but as the daughter of God. And to paraphrase Mrs. Eddy: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect [woman], who appeared to him where sinning mortal [woman] appeared to [Simon]. In this perfect [woman] the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct [Christly] view of [her healed and sealed her own Christly awakening].
Mary Magdalene continued to sit at Jesus feet the rest of her life. That was her true life purpose. She recognized the Christ because it was already within her, and she went on to live and to learn and to love much.
This Christ is also already within you. Right this moment. May you seek"...Truth, Christ ... like Mary Magdalene, from the summit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.
And may you recognize your own Christliness, be awakened by it, redeemed by it, changed by it, impelled by it, and in so doing, awaken that Christly recognition in everyone you meet.
To recognize a face, you have to have seen it before.
To recognize Christ, means you already have a relationship to the Christ. Christ in already your heart.
And what is amazing, is that everyone is already capable of recognizing the Christ, no matter who they are, or what kind of life they've led. Everyone has an intuitive sense that awakens when you recognize something spiritually good. And that can only happen because the Christ is already within you, already known in your heart-of-hearts.
When Mary Magdalene (see Luke 7) barged univited into Simon the Pharisee's house to wash Jesus feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, and anoint them with perfumed ointment, she was proving this very thing. She recognized the Christ because that Christliness was already within her. Had that not been the case, she would have never acted like she did. Fear or shame or ignorance would have kept her out. But her impulsive actions acknowledged something that even the priestly Simon couldn't: that Jesus was the Christ. Mary knew it.
Her devotion and love of Christ was "Love being reflected in love" - her debts, her sins, being forgiven - forsaken - in the awakening of her native state, her original Christliness, her natural likeness to God. The tears she shed were her painful past being released in the joy of her awakening to her true relation to God. And she received the blessing that Simon missed, because "she loved much" because much was forgiven her. While Simon clung to his pride and position, Mary dropped her mistaken sense of self (ego) in her love for the Christ.
She entered that house - not as the prostitute (though that is all Simon saw) - but as the daughter of God. And to paraphrase Mrs. Eddy: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect [woman], who appeared to him where sinning mortal [woman] appeared to [Simon]. In this perfect [woman] the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct [Christly] view of [her healed and sealed her own Christly awakening].
Mary Magdalene continued to sit at Jesus feet the rest of her life. That was her true life purpose. She recognized the Christ because it was already within her, and she went on to live and to learn and to love much.
This Christ is also already within you. Right this moment. May you seek"...Truth, Christ ... like Mary Magdalene, from the summit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.
And may you recognize your own Christliness, be awakened by it, redeemed by it, changed by it, impelled by it, and in so doing, awaken that Christly recognition in everyone you meet.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Lord's Prayer & The 10 Promises (Part 1)
Do you realize that the Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments - the 10 Promises - are complimentary?
Think about it: Moses heard God's Word as the 10 Commandments. These 10 Commandments promise you the truth about your relationship with God and about your relationship with your fellow human beings. They define you as God's image and likeness. They fulfill all the law and the prophets because they enliven you to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In them, you are unable to be anything other than what God makes you to be. They promise you that you "shalt not" be anything but His perfect creation.
And this is also exactly what the Lord's Prayer does. In fact, you could say it is the 10 Promises in prayer form.
Look at the first 5 Commandments and the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer side by side:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Our Father, which art in heaven. Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious.
To acknowledge only the One God is to have no other gods. It is to know that this One God is your only Father-Mother, all-harmonious. It is to accept that your source is Divine, your Cause is Life, your Creator is Love, and that you are His/Her perfect image and likeness, healthy, holy, and wholely good. Live this promise as your prayer.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...
Hallowed be Thy name. Adorable One.
Hallowing the Adorable One, the Great I Am, makes it impossible to indulge in idolatry - the worship of matter - or to dishonor the name and nature of God in word or deed. God's name - God's perfect nature - is the real thing, the genuine article! You don't need to idolize people or things when you adore the Adorable One. Don't you love what you adore? And if you adore God, divine Love, would you ever even think to abuse His name or His nature? Of course not. And this is your natural state of being, as God's image and likeness.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy...
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
What could keep the Sabbath holier than acknowledging God's kingdom, His presence and power as being with you right here and right now? What could put you at ease - make you rest - more than knowing that God's work is done, His kingdom come, and that your perfect place in it is secure? There is no effort you need to put out to make this happen. There is no labor you need to add to His already complete perfect creation. There is no work involved in opening your eyes to His everpresence. You are a complete and perfect expression of God. God "finished" you. He is present with you now, holding you, keeping you safe. Healing is the truest fulfillment of the Sabbath - acknowedging and understanding that God's work - you! - are done and and done perfectly. This is God's Sabbath promise to you: you are already whole, complete, divinely fair. Rest in that.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother...
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
What better way to honor your father and mother than by obeying them? Than by acknowledging their authority? Why would you want to obey your parents? For at least one reason: their years of experience provides a loving protective wisdom that can guard and guide you as you mature. Like the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, their "rod and ... staff", their will, their loving desire, comforts you.
And so if you would honor your father and mother by obeying them, listening to their guidance because you know they have your best interests at heart, because they love you, so it is even more important to honor God in the same way. Listen to what God is telling you about who you are. Honor God's name and nature - because you are the image and likeness of that name and nature! So let the will of your Father-Mother God be done in your life here and now as it is in heaven.
And why not? It will only make your will, your love, your life, more like Him, more true to who you really already are, more authentic, more awake to your likeness to your Father-Mother God. Honor that heavenly likeness, that heavenly will by living your life accordingly right now right here on earth. Then you'll not only know that - as in heaven, so on earth, God really is omnipotent, supreme - you'll be demonstrating it. You'll be living it. And that's the most natural thing in the world for you to do.
Think about it: Moses heard God's Word as the 10 Commandments. These 10 Commandments promise you the truth about your relationship with God and about your relationship with your fellow human beings. They define you as God's image and likeness. They fulfill all the law and the prophets because they enliven you to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In them, you are unable to be anything other than what God makes you to be. They promise you that you "shalt not" be anything but His perfect creation.
And this is also exactly what the Lord's Prayer does. In fact, you could say it is the 10 Promises in prayer form.
Look at the first 5 Commandments and the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer side by side:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Our Father, which art in heaven. Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious.
To acknowledge only the One God is to have no other gods. It is to know that this One God is your only Father-Mother, all-harmonious. It is to accept that your source is Divine, your Cause is Life, your Creator is Love, and that you are His/Her perfect image and likeness, healthy, holy, and wholely good. Live this promise as your prayer.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...
Hallowed be Thy name. Adorable One.
Hallowing the Adorable One, the Great I Am, makes it impossible to indulge in idolatry - the worship of matter - or to dishonor the name and nature of God in word or deed. God's name - God's perfect nature - is the real thing, the genuine article! You don't need to idolize people or things when you adore the Adorable One. Don't you love what you adore? And if you adore God, divine Love, would you ever even think to abuse His name or His nature? Of course not. And this is your natural state of being, as God's image and likeness.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy...
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
What could keep the Sabbath holier than acknowledging God's kingdom, His presence and power as being with you right here and right now? What could put you at ease - make you rest - more than knowing that God's work is done, His kingdom come, and that your perfect place in it is secure? There is no effort you need to put out to make this happen. There is no labor you need to add to His already complete perfect creation. There is no work involved in opening your eyes to His everpresence. You are a complete and perfect expression of God. God "finished" you. He is present with you now, holding you, keeping you safe. Healing is the truest fulfillment of the Sabbath - acknowedging and understanding that God's work - you! - are done and and done perfectly. This is God's Sabbath promise to you: you are already whole, complete, divinely fair. Rest in that.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother...
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
What better way to honor your father and mother than by obeying them? Than by acknowledging their authority? Why would you want to obey your parents? For at least one reason: their years of experience provides a loving protective wisdom that can guard and guide you as you mature. Like the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, their "rod and ... staff", their will, their loving desire, comforts you.
And so if you would honor your father and mother by obeying them, listening to their guidance because you know they have your best interests at heart, because they love you, so it is even more important to honor God in the same way. Listen to what God is telling you about who you are. Honor God's name and nature - because you are the image and likeness of that name and nature! So let the will of your Father-Mother God be done in your life here and now as it is in heaven.
And why not? It will only make your will, your love, your life, more like Him, more true to who you really already are, more authentic, more awake to your likeness to your Father-Mother God. Honor that heavenly likeness, that heavenly will by living your life accordingly right now right here on earth. Then you'll not only know that - as in heaven, so on earth, God really is omnipotent, supreme - you'll be demonstrating it. You'll be living it. And that's the most natural thing in the world for you to do.
Friday, March 7, 2008
So what's it like?
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
So what's it like in heaven? Isn't it paradise? Isn't it where there is no sin, no disease, no evil, no death? Isn't it where the 10 Commandments are perfectly fulfilled? Isn't it where God, divine Love, is in complete control, where only His will is done?
And so what's it like to live somewhere where only God's will is done? What's God's will like? Isn't it going to be a reflection of His character, His nature? And if so, isn't His will then perfect and good? Isn't it, well, heavenly?
And what is heaven anyway? "Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?" Isn't it a place where God has no opposition, where He is the only power there is, where He reigns supreme? And if so, isn't it a beautiful place to be? a harmonious, happy, healthy, holy place to be?
If so, then, yes indeed: enable us to know that just like it is in heaven, so here on earth, this same Father-Mother God All harmonious is already the only real power there is. That earth is heaven - just viewed through that cloudy perspective, that dirty mirror, that "inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down. "
And when viewed rightside up, earth is heaven. Earth is already where God is omnipotent, supreme.
Huh?? earth is heaven?
Does this shock you? Does this seem impossible? Then you need a change in perspective. You need to see the world from a more spiritual point of view. You need to wake up and see things the way Jesus did. You need to "have the Mind of Christ."
In fact, that is what Jesus is asking us to pray for in this verse: the perspective he had, the perspective of the Mind of Christ, the point of view that sees God's heavenly will being done right here where just the opposite seems to be happening, where the inverted image seems so real, where the upside down perspective seems so permanently wrongside right!
Remember: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God [...of heaven] is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
So as you pray this verse, you are letting "this [same] mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." You are letting Jesus' "correct view" heal your earthly perspective and transform it into one like his, one that heals, one that makes whole, one that is heavenly.
And you have every right - and opportunity - to desire this, to live in a more heavenly way right here and right now.
Why? because it is God's loving will, desire, for you.
How? because God is omnipotent, supreme on "earth" just like He is in heaven.
In fact, there is no earthly dream of a mortal life separated from the everpresent heavenly good of our Father-Mother God. You (and the whole world of those around you) really already live with God in heaven.
Don't you have to die to get there? Of course not. Why? Because "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
How would you feel if you had this "divine state of Mind"? if you knew you actually live in heaven right here and right now? How would you act? What would change in your life? What's your intuition telling you right now?
Heaven is your natural spiritual perspective, a divine state of Mind - put into practice and acted on. So let that Mind "be in you as it also was in Christ Jesus." Let that Mind be in you. Let it be your will. Let it move you, motivate you, inspire you, enable you, feed you, forgive you, lead you, deliver you. And you will find yourself fulfilling God's will. You will be a light pulled out from under the bushel of dark "earthy" thinking, and instead actively doing the healing holy loving will of your Father, lighting up earth as if it were Heaven (which, spiritually speaking, it already is).
So yes, enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme. Right here. Right now.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
So what's it like in heaven? Isn't it paradise? Isn't it where there is no sin, no disease, no evil, no death? Isn't it where the 10 Commandments are perfectly fulfilled? Isn't it where God, divine Love, is in complete control, where only His will is done?
And so what's it like to live somewhere where only God's will is done? What's God's will like? Isn't it going to be a reflection of His character, His nature? And if so, isn't His will then perfect and good? Isn't it, well, heavenly?
And what is heaven anyway? "Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?" Isn't it a place where God has no opposition, where He is the only power there is, where He reigns supreme? And if so, isn't it a beautiful place to be? a harmonious, happy, healthy, holy place to be?
If so, then, yes indeed: enable us to know that just like it is in heaven, so here on earth, this same Father-Mother God All harmonious is already the only real power there is. That earth is heaven - just viewed through that cloudy perspective, that dirty mirror, that "inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down. "
And when viewed rightside up, earth is heaven. Earth is already where God is omnipotent, supreme.
Huh?? earth is heaven?
Does this shock you? Does this seem impossible? Then you need a change in perspective. You need to see the world from a more spiritual point of view. You need to wake up and see things the way Jesus did. You need to "have the Mind of Christ."
In fact, that is what Jesus is asking us to pray for in this verse: the perspective he had, the perspective of the Mind of Christ, the point of view that sees God's heavenly will being done right here where just the opposite seems to be happening, where the inverted image seems so real, where the upside down perspective seems so permanently wrongside right!
Remember: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God [...of heaven] is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
So as you pray this verse, you are letting "this [same] mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." You are letting Jesus' "correct view" heal your earthly perspective and transform it into one like his, one that heals, one that makes whole, one that is heavenly.
And you have every right - and opportunity - to desire this, to live in a more heavenly way right here and right now.
Why? because it is God's loving will, desire, for you.
How? because God is omnipotent, supreme on "earth" just like He is in heaven.
In fact, there is no earthly dream of a mortal life separated from the everpresent heavenly good of our Father-Mother God. You (and the whole world of those around you) really already live with God in heaven.
Don't you have to die to get there? Of course not. Why? Because "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
How would you feel if you had this "divine state of Mind"? if you knew you actually live in heaven right here and right now? How would you act? What would change in your life? What's your intuition telling you right now?
Heaven is your natural spiritual perspective, a divine state of Mind - put into practice and acted on. So let that Mind "be in you as it also was in Christ Jesus." Let that Mind be in you. Let it be your will. Let it move you, motivate you, inspire you, enable you, feed you, forgive you, lead you, deliver you. And you will find yourself fulfilling God's will. You will be a light pulled out from under the bushel of dark "earthy" thinking, and instead actively doing the healing holy loving will of your Father, lighting up earth as if it were Heaven (which, spiritually speaking, it already is).
So yes, enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme. Right here. Right now.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Aspects of Reflection (Part 1)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Isn't a mirror a good metaphor for God's will being done in earth as it is in heaven?
Think about it: a mirror creates an exact image of what is before it. Spiritually speaking then, you (as God's image and likeness) are an exact spiritual reflection of God. That means God's will - His purpose, His desire, His mandate - is mirrored in you, reflected in you, by you, as you.
Mrs. Eddy says this:
"Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."
"...so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God." God's will done in you as it is in heaven. God's desires awakening in you as they are already truly awake in heaven. God's perfect lovely qualities active as you, as the true heavenly you, as they are in heaven.
What would this feel like? what would your life look like? How would you feel, think, act, if you understood and accepted that, by reflection, God's will is really already yours? already active as your deepest spiritual yearning? already alive as your most natural native desire to live and help others live? to love and be loved?
But what if this "mirror" is dirty? What if it's covered in sin, sickness, and death? What if there's hatred, abuse, heridity, failure, guilt, dispair scratched on its surface?
Well, that's just it: it's only on the surface of the mirror. That "dirt" never touches God or His reflection. Just as if you had toothpaste on your bathroom mirror: that toothpaste never once touches you - or your reflection. It only appears to.
So just the same, if God is intact, then you - by reflection are also intact. If the mirror (the mental state) you're seeing your reflection in is material (limited to the perceptions of the physical senses and emotions) then you're looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You are going to think that "toothpaste" is on you. You are going to think that something is horribly wrong with you. That you have immense amounts of work to do to become whole. That there might be a long recovery from "toothpaste-itis". That maybe you are unredeemable, scarred, fatally flawed, a lost cause.
But that is never the case. That is only the view you get when you think that the toothpaste on the mirror is actually you - and not seeing that you are actually perfectly fine, and that it's just the mirror (the mental state) that needs a little spiritual Windex.
... and isn't this also exactly the case when we look at those around us? when we see them as anything less than God's own likeness?
You already know that if you change your thinking - your perspective - you begin to see things (life, love, yourself, others) differently. If you walk up the hill, you see a wider view. So likewise, if you turn away from the tooth-pastey mirror and instead start looking at yourself and the world in the mirror of Divine Science - the divine understanding of God, the divine way God sees His creation, then your "mirror" (your thinking) goes "up" - it also gets a wider perspective. It sees beyond its previous limits. You begin to see yourself more clearly, more correctly, more according to God's perspective, God's point of view of you, God's view of the whole world. If you're honest, you will begin to see that, wow, you DO look just like how God made you and all creation: whole, spiritual, holy, loved! In short, the toothpastey view gets cleaned up.
Then comes the fun part: living from that higher, that more spiritual perspective. And practicing that keeps your mirror clean and your toothpaste on your toothbrush, where it belongs.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God - and God's perfect will and perfect viewpoint - is omnipotent, supreme.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Isn't a mirror a good metaphor for God's will being done in earth as it is in heaven?
Think about it: a mirror creates an exact image of what is before it. Spiritually speaking then, you (as God's image and likeness) are an exact spiritual reflection of God. That means God's will - His purpose, His desire, His mandate - is mirrored in you, reflected in you, by you, as you.
Mrs. Eddy says this:
"Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."
"...so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God." God's will done in you as it is in heaven. God's desires awakening in you as they are already truly awake in heaven. God's perfect lovely qualities active as you, as the true heavenly you, as they are in heaven.
What would this feel like? what would your life look like? How would you feel, think, act, if you understood and accepted that, by reflection, God's will is really already yours? already active as your deepest spiritual yearning? already alive as your most natural native desire to live and help others live? to love and be loved?
But what if this "mirror" is dirty? What if it's covered in sin, sickness, and death? What if there's hatred, abuse, heridity, failure, guilt, dispair scratched on its surface?
Well, that's just it: it's only on the surface of the mirror. That "dirt" never touches God or His reflection. Just as if you had toothpaste on your bathroom mirror: that toothpaste never once touches you - or your reflection. It only appears to.
So just the same, if God is intact, then you - by reflection are also intact. If the mirror (the mental state) you're seeing your reflection in is material (limited to the perceptions of the physical senses and emotions) then you're looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You are going to think that "toothpaste" is on you. You are going to think that something is horribly wrong with you. That you have immense amounts of work to do to become whole. That there might be a long recovery from "toothpaste-itis". That maybe you are unredeemable, scarred, fatally flawed, a lost cause.
But that is never the case. That is only the view you get when you think that the toothpaste on the mirror is actually you - and not seeing that you are actually perfectly fine, and that it's just the mirror (the mental state) that needs a little spiritual Windex.
... and isn't this also exactly the case when we look at those around us? when we see them as anything less than God's own likeness?
You already know that if you change your thinking - your perspective - you begin to see things (life, love, yourself, others) differently. If you walk up the hill, you see a wider view. So likewise, if you turn away from the tooth-pastey mirror and instead start looking at yourself and the world in the mirror of Divine Science - the divine understanding of God, the divine way God sees His creation, then your "mirror" (your thinking) goes "up" - it also gets a wider perspective. It sees beyond its previous limits. You begin to see yourself more clearly, more correctly, more according to God's perspective, God's point of view of you, God's view of the whole world. If you're honest, you will begin to see that, wow, you DO look just like how God made you and all creation: whole, spiritual, holy, loved! In short, the toothpastey view gets cleaned up.
Then comes the fun part: living from that higher, that more spiritual perspective. And practicing that keeps your mirror clean and your toothpaste on your toothbrush, where it belongs.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God - and God's perfect will and perfect viewpoint - is omnipotent, supreme.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Thy will be done & Jesus (part 1)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
What better way to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" than to pray Jesus' own prayer?
Isn't the Lord's Prayer the most beautiful intimate insight we have into Jesus' healing Christly consciousness? It is his practice made plain. It shows us how he prayed - and how he healed. It shows us how he communed with his Father, how Jesus lived His heavenly will right where the earthly dream seems to be.
And it shows you how he expects you to do he same - to have that same conciousness of God that he had, to have that Mind that he had, and to go and do likewise: be God's child, His expression, His Being made manifest, His Love made felt, His wholeness and holiness and healing made real - His heavenly will being done right where you are - in you, through you, as you - no matter what your earthly circumstances, always causing you to be blessed and to be a blessing to everyone around you.
How?
Praying the Lord's Prayer understandingly enables you to know that, as in heaven, so right here in earth, God - and God's perfect will - really are omnipotent, supreme.
Remember how Jesus saw God's perfect heavenly will in action:
"Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."
The Mind that was in Christ Jesus sees only God's perfect will for His creation. Jesus' correct view grew out of that consciousness. And it not only healed the sick, it reformed the sinner, redeemed the self-willful, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, fed the 5000, and gave us the Lord's Prayer.
Do you think Jesus would have seen you any differently?
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
What better way to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" than to pray Jesus' own prayer?
Isn't the Lord's Prayer the most beautiful intimate insight we have into Jesus' healing Christly consciousness? It is his practice made plain. It shows us how he prayed - and how he healed. It shows us how he communed with his Father, how Jesus lived His heavenly will right where the earthly dream seems to be.
And it shows you how he expects you to do he same - to have that same conciousness of God that he had, to have that Mind that he had, and to go and do likewise: be God's child, His expression, His Being made manifest, His Love made felt, His wholeness and holiness and healing made real - His heavenly will being done right where you are - in you, through you, as you - no matter what your earthly circumstances, always causing you to be blessed and to be a blessing to everyone around you.
How?
Praying the Lord's Prayer understandingly enables you to know that, as in heaven, so right here in earth, God - and God's perfect will - really are omnipotent, supreme.
Remember how Jesus saw God's perfect heavenly will in action:
"Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."
The Mind that was in Christ Jesus sees only God's perfect will for His creation. Jesus' correct view grew out of that consciousness. And it not only healed the sick, it reformed the sinner, redeemed the self-willful, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, fed the 5000, and gave us the Lord's Prayer.
Do you think Jesus would have seen you any differently?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Thy will be done & desire (part 1)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." - Mary Baker Eddy
Isn't turning your will, your deepest desire - which really is your most sincere prayer - over to God a way of yielding to His will? Isn't it a way of letting His will be done in earth - your current human experience - as it is in heaven - your actual spiritual identity as His perfect image and likeness?
And if so, wouldn't that imply that God's will for you on earth is as beautiful as His will is for you in heaven?
And if so, couldn't you trust your most secret heart-felt even unspoken yearnings over to Him? Especially if you knew that to do so would only mean that they would be molded and exalted for you? So that they would be clarified and purified and beautified for you before you experience them? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be letting God's will be done in your heart as it is in His?
But, honestly, you're kidding yourself if you think that yielding your desires to God is easy. It often isn't. In fact, how often are you even honest with yourself about your innermost desires? How easy it even to trust yourself with your own deepest feelings and needs and wants?
But here in this verse, Jesus is encouraging you to take that step of trust with God. You can do it. You can let go of your will, your attempts to control your life, your love, lust, your status, talents, paycheck, companionship, family, safety, duties and obligations, your fulfillment, your life, your joy.
And notice something important: Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." She didn't put qualifiers on it. She didn't say "good desire" or "spiritual desire" or "righteous desire." Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." Desire itself is a form of prayer. All desire is a form of prayer. In fact, it's probably the most sincere form of prayer there is because, in essence, it's wordless. It's what you feel. It's what you yearn for.
So who are you praying to? who are you trusting your desires to? A bottle? a body? a drug? food? adreneline? solitude? entertainment? ritual? fear? shiny objects? Are you trusting your desire - your prayer - to these "gods"? Then you may be asking amiss.
Do you think you can only bring your nice polite desires to God? Do you think God can't handle your mean selfish lusty passionate crazy desires? that you can't trust Him with those? You can - if you are prepared to be molded and exalted! Because you will be.
Remember Jesus, who companioned with sinners, walked with outcasts, who touched lepers. He "molded and exalted" the desires of anyone who turned to him, who asked him for help, who trusted in him. Molded, how? in the image of God. Exalted, how? He "lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow" (as Mrs. Eddy states it), and his correct view of God's will in their lives healed every one of them.
And God still does the same thing. For you. Now. Jesus' prayer promises you that.
As the old saying goes, you can let go and let God. You can let God's perfect will for you grow in your heart. Let His perfect purpose for you emerge gently in your life. Let it awaken you to clearer views of what your desires are really telling you. Even let it even "explode in a fury of blossom!" as the poet says.
To trust your desires to God is to connect with Him in the most fundamental way. "...and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires..." Why? Because God is Love itself. God's will for you in earth is exactly the same as His will for you in heaven: it is perfection, wholeness, unity, authenticity, bliss. It is total goodness. As it says in Philippians: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
And notice that it's God's good pleasure that works in you. Not His burdensome pleasure or His boring pleasure or His unsatisfying pleasure! So take that step. Trust your will, your yearning, your deepest desires to God. Let Him mold and exalt them - purify, clarify, and enthuse you about them. As you do, you'll find His will becomes your will. And you will find that it is a joyful thing. You'll find reflecting God's will is indeed a good pleasure.
Then this verse in Psalms will start ringing true for you:
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because God enables us to know, as in heaven, so on earth His will is omnipotent, supreme - and supremely good for you, everyone around you, and, in fact, everyone in the universe.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." - Mary Baker Eddy
Isn't turning your will, your deepest desire - which really is your most sincere prayer - over to God a way of yielding to His will? Isn't it a way of letting His will be done in earth - your current human experience - as it is in heaven - your actual spiritual identity as His perfect image and likeness?
And if so, wouldn't that imply that God's will for you on earth is as beautiful as His will is for you in heaven?
And if so, couldn't you trust your most secret heart-felt even unspoken yearnings over to Him? Especially if you knew that to do so would only mean that they would be molded and exalted for you? So that they would be clarified and purified and beautified for you before you experience them? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be letting God's will be done in your heart as it is in His?
But, honestly, you're kidding yourself if you think that yielding your desires to God is easy. It often isn't. In fact, how often are you even honest with yourself about your innermost desires? How easy it even to trust yourself with your own deepest feelings and needs and wants?
But here in this verse, Jesus is encouraging you to take that step of trust with God. You can do it. You can let go of your will, your attempts to control your life, your love, lust, your status, talents, paycheck, companionship, family, safety, duties and obligations, your fulfillment, your life, your joy.
And notice something important: Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." She didn't put qualifiers on it. She didn't say "good desire" or "spiritual desire" or "righteous desire." Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." Desire itself is a form of prayer. All desire is a form of prayer. In fact, it's probably the most sincere form of prayer there is because, in essence, it's wordless. It's what you feel. It's what you yearn for.
So who are you praying to? who are you trusting your desires to? A bottle? a body? a drug? food? adreneline? solitude? entertainment? ritual? fear? shiny objects? Are you trusting your desire - your prayer - to these "gods"? Then you may be asking amiss.
Do you think you can only bring your nice polite desires to God? Do you think God can't handle your mean selfish lusty passionate crazy desires? that you can't trust Him with those? You can - if you are prepared to be molded and exalted! Because you will be.
Remember Jesus, who companioned with sinners, walked with outcasts, who touched lepers. He "molded and exalted" the desires of anyone who turned to him, who asked him for help, who trusted in him. Molded, how? in the image of God. Exalted, how? He "lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow" (as Mrs. Eddy states it), and his correct view of God's will in their lives healed every one of them.
And God still does the same thing. For you. Now. Jesus' prayer promises you that.
As the old saying goes, you can let go and let God. You can let God's perfect will for you grow in your heart. Let His perfect purpose for you emerge gently in your life. Let it awaken you to clearer views of what your desires are really telling you. Even let it even "explode in a fury of blossom!" as the poet says.
To trust your desires to God is to connect with Him in the most fundamental way. "...and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires..." Why? Because God is Love itself. God's will for you in earth is exactly the same as His will for you in heaven: it is perfection, wholeness, unity, authenticity, bliss. It is total goodness. As it says in Philippians: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
And notice that it's God's good pleasure that works in you. Not His burdensome pleasure or His boring pleasure or His unsatisfying pleasure! So take that step. Trust your will, your yearning, your deepest desires to God. Let Him mold and exalt them - purify, clarify, and enthuse you about them. As you do, you'll find His will becomes your will. And you will find that it is a joyful thing. You'll find reflecting God's will is indeed a good pleasure.
Then this verse in Psalms will start ringing true for you:
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because God enables us to know, as in heaven, so on earth His will is omnipotent, supreme - and supremely good for you, everyone around you, and, in fact, everyone in the universe.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The test of all prayer
"The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfishness, satisfied with having prayed for something better, though we give no evidence of the sincerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer?"
This text (found in the book Science & Health) completely changed the way I was recently praying about 3 upcoming public speaking engagements that I was dreading. Encountering it was really like a smack in the face. I had been so focused on my own fears and trying to overcome them that I was failing this most basic test (as Mrs. Eddy phrased it) of all prayer. It caused me to completely rethink things - taking my thought off myself and instead onto praying to answer the needs of the different audiences I would be addressing. What would bless them? what could I say that would help them? Refocusing on these 2 questions changed everything (including most of my PowerPoint slides).
Almost a week has gone by now since I completed the last (and longest and most complex) address. What a stark contrast between these 3 events and previous ones. Because I took my concerns off myself, turned my prayer to focus on blessing my audience, the events were satisfying, successful, and helped the audience understand things important to them in our work together.
Think how this test applies to the Lord's Prayer. Immediately you notice that the Lord's prayer is unselfish. It doesn't say "me," "my," or "I" anywhere in it. It is always "our" or "us" - it includes everyone, all of creation. It is unselfish. It seeks to bless, heal, and save everyone. It is not "My Father which art in heaven" it is "Our Father." It is not "Give me this day my daily bread" it is "Give us this day our daily bread." When you pray the Lord's Prayer, you pray to heal the world, to correct the seeming imposition of evil and separation for everyone - which of course includes you in that healing.
This is a key point, the true test of all prayer. And as I learned with my little public speaking challenge, it makes all the difference.
This text (found in the book Science & Health) completely changed the way I was recently praying about 3 upcoming public speaking engagements that I was dreading. Encountering it was really like a smack in the face. I had been so focused on my own fears and trying to overcome them that I was failing this most basic test (as Mrs. Eddy phrased it) of all prayer. It caused me to completely rethink things - taking my thought off myself and instead onto praying to answer the needs of the different audiences I would be addressing. What would bless them? what could I say that would help them? Refocusing on these 2 questions changed everything (including most of my PowerPoint slides).
Almost a week has gone by now since I completed the last (and longest and most complex) address. What a stark contrast between these 3 events and previous ones. Because I took my concerns off myself, turned my prayer to focus on blessing my audience, the events were satisfying, successful, and helped the audience understand things important to them in our work together.
Think how this test applies to the Lord's Prayer. Immediately you notice that the Lord's prayer is unselfish. It doesn't say "me," "my," or "I" anywhere in it. It is always "our" or "us" - it includes everyone, all of creation. It is unselfish. It seeks to bless, heal, and save everyone. It is not "My Father which art in heaven" it is "Our Father." It is not "Give me this day my daily bread" it is "Give us this day our daily bread." When you pray the Lord's Prayer, you pray to heal the world, to correct the seeming imposition of evil and separation for everyone - which of course includes you in that healing.
This is a key point, the true test of all prayer. And as I learned with my little public speaking challenge, it makes all the difference.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Love and hugs
Which came first, the love or the hug?
The love. The hug is the love made manifest. So it is with God and Christ. God is Love. Christ is Love made manifest. In fact, you could say that Christ is God hugging the world.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
Let this Mind embrace you as it did Christ Jesus. Let this Spirit, Life, Truth, Love embrace you as it did Christ Jesus.
The funny thing is, you can embrace - hug - love, without really knowing what love is. But by the mere fact of embracing love whenever you can however much you're able, again and again, you begin to learn what love means. By doing so, you discover that you're embracing love in your heart.
Then you begin to feel love and to recognize it. And now you are embracing love in your heart and in your thoughts. You begin to actually look for love. And you begin to wake up to understand that all that time, all through all that struggle, you were just letting go of your sense of separation. Divine Love was actually hugging you the whole time.
And then by being open to practicing love yourself, you wake up to what has really always been going on: Love, God, embracing YOU, God's own precious spiritual creation. Then you not only know love in your heart, and in your thoughts, but inevitably, in your arms - embracing all those around you, fulfilling God's commandment: love another as yourself.
You could say that this is Christian Science "practice."
"Forgive us our debts (our seeming lack of love) as we forgive our debtors (forgive those that we think haven't have loved us)."
Love is (always) reflected in love.
The love. The hug is the love made manifest. So it is with God and Christ. God is Love. Christ is Love made manifest. In fact, you could say that Christ is God hugging the world.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
Let this Mind embrace you as it did Christ Jesus. Let this Spirit, Life, Truth, Love embrace you as it did Christ Jesus.
The funny thing is, you can embrace - hug - love, without really knowing what love is. But by the mere fact of embracing love whenever you can however much you're able, again and again, you begin to learn what love means. By doing so, you discover that you're embracing love in your heart.
Then you begin to feel love and to recognize it. And now you are embracing love in your heart and in your thoughts. You begin to actually look for love. And you begin to wake up to understand that all that time, all through all that struggle, you were just letting go of your sense of separation. Divine Love was actually hugging you the whole time.
And then by being open to practicing love yourself, you wake up to what has really always been going on: Love, God, embracing YOU, God's own precious spiritual creation. Then you not only know love in your heart, and in your thoughts, but inevitably, in your arms - embracing all those around you, fulfilling God's commandment: love another as yourself.
You could say that this is Christian Science "practice."
"Forgive us our debts (our seeming lack of love) as we forgive our debtors (forgive those that we think haven't have loved us)."
Love is (always) reflected in love.
Monday, January 7, 2008
The 10 Promises
When Moses climbed Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, the Bible says that "...the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend..." (Ex 33:11). Imagine hearing God so clearly! Moses just lit up so powerfully brilliant and beautiful were his conversations with God.
In this gloriously inspired light Moses heard the 10 Commandments as God's own Word. And it is in this same gloriously inspired light that you should read and understand them.
If you do, you'll see that the 10 Commandments actually do more than tell you what to do - or not to do. They define your actual identity, your actual nature as God's image and likeness. The 10 Commandments are the original definition of the man and woman of God's creating. They don't require you to do anything but to live in complete alignment with your real being as God's perfect child. They are God's promises to you about who you really are.
Think about what it says in Genesis 1:27. God says "Let us make man after our image, after our likeness."
What does that mean? What would it be like, to “look” like God, infinite Spirit? What do you think you would be like if you lived and moved and breathed and acted like the actual mirror-image of Divine Love? – like the God Jesus' life defined as completely Good, as Truth and Life, as Love itself?
Does God kill? Does God steal? Does God covet? Does God commit adultery? If you're not sure, look at the life of Jesus for your answer, and that answer is No. So neither can you – when you honestly accept that you are His reflection and act accordingly. Then you’re obeying – living – your true nature as God made you. Then you are living – obeying – the Commandments. God's promise to you is "thou shalt not..." ever be anything unlike Him, because He made you in His wonderful beautiful likeness.
Sure it takes practice - a lifetime of practice - but that doesn't change the fact that the 10 Commandments are the only accurate definition of who you really are. They are God's promises to you about your true spiritual nature as His reflection, as His child. You are their meaning. Your life is their fulfilment.
Since the 10 Commandments are God's promises to you, it's natural for you to love them. It's natural for you to live them. They are your authentic God-like nature. They are your core being. And you can trust God to help you learn and live them authentically and completely.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
"Hallowed be Thy name" - Thy nature - in me, as me.
Adorable One.
In this gloriously inspired light Moses heard the 10 Commandments as God's own Word. And it is in this same gloriously inspired light that you should read and understand them.
If you do, you'll see that the 10 Commandments actually do more than tell you what to do - or not to do. They define your actual identity, your actual nature as God's image and likeness. The 10 Commandments are the original definition of the man and woman of God's creating. They don't require you to do anything but to live in complete alignment with your real being as God's perfect child. They are God's promises to you about who you really are.
Think about what it says in Genesis 1:27. God says "Let us make man after our image, after our likeness."
What does that mean? What would it be like, to “look” like God, infinite Spirit? What do you think you would be like if you lived and moved and breathed and acted like the actual mirror-image of Divine Love? – like the God Jesus' life defined as completely Good, as Truth and Life, as Love itself?
Does God kill? Does God steal? Does God covet? Does God commit adultery? If you're not sure, look at the life of Jesus for your answer, and that answer is No. So neither can you – when you honestly accept that you are His reflection and act accordingly. Then you’re obeying – living – your true nature as God made you. Then you are living – obeying – the Commandments. God's promise to you is "thou shalt not..." ever be anything unlike Him, because He made you in His wonderful beautiful likeness.
Sure it takes practice - a lifetime of practice - but that doesn't change the fact that the 10 Commandments are the only accurate definition of who you really are. They are God's promises to you about your true spiritual nature as His reflection, as His child. You are their meaning. Your life is their fulfilment.
Since the 10 Commandments are God's promises to you, it's natural for you to love them. It's natural for you to live them. They are your authentic God-like nature. They are your core being. And you can trust God to help you learn and live them authentically and completely.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
"Hallowed be Thy name" - Thy nature - in me, as me.
Adorable One.
The Great I Am
God, the Great I Am. Let only the Great I Am be heard!
Fortunately, there is but one I or Us and that is the Great I Am that Moses first heard and recognized as God (thank you Moses!). The little personal human "ego" clamors for attention, claims to be a cause, a creator, a personal author, a privileged originator - but it is a liar and the father of lies because God is the only Ego there is, and His idea, His creation is His reflection - the humble servant of the restful Mind. Don't think you're Cause when you're actually only effect (and that's a good thing). Give God the credit due and then let your reflected light so shine as to glorify Him.
Hallowed be Thy name (not my name).
Adorable One.
Fortunately, there is but one I or Us and that is the Great I Am that Moses first heard and recognized as God (thank you Moses!). The little personal human "ego" clamors for attention, claims to be a cause, a creator, a personal author, a privileged originator - but it is a liar and the father of lies because God is the only Ego there is, and His idea, His creation is His reflection - the humble servant of the restful Mind. Don't think you're Cause when you're actually only effect (and that's a good thing). Give God the credit due and then let your reflected light so shine as to glorify Him.
Hallowed be Thy name (not my name).
Adorable One.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Hallowed be Thy name.
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One.
This has unexpectedly become my favorite verse (if that's even really possible) of the Lord's Prayer. Maybe it's because I really had to dig into it, think hard about what it really means. And I've come to see it as a very transforming verse - one which really prepares us for the rest of the prayer, one that prepares us for healing.
And that's because it demands you to stop. It demands you to stop and consider what God really is. It shows you why "What is God?" is the most important question in the world.
In the first verse, you acknowledge your true relationship to God, and glimpse something true about what God is (our Father-Mother) and where He lives (Heaven - and you get to learn more about Heaven in the third verse).
But "Hallowed be Thy name" makes you stop. It makes you think: what is it to "hallow" God's name? what does it mean to "adore" the One God?
Hallow has these meanings: to make holy, to consecrate, to treat or keep as sacred. It's interesting too that the word "holy" shares its Anglo-Saxon origins with our words for health, and wholeness, and carries the significance of salvation.
And Mrs. Eddy did not mean "cutesy" when she understood this verse to spiritually mean "Adorable One." In her day adore meant: to love in the highest degree; to regard with the utmost esteem and affection.
In fact think about it: if you adore someone, don't you hang on their every word? don't you follow their every movement? don't you just LOVE being around them? wouldn't you do anything they ask? isn't it completely effortless and joyous and fun to be near them - and don't you want to be as near them as you can possibly be? Isn't that how you should be relating to God? Isn't this what it is like to really bow before Him, honor Him, to accept your sacred holy healthy whole (unbroken) relationship with your Father-Mother, the all-harmonious adorable One?
But wait. Why does Jesus say "Hallowed be Thy name?" Why not just say "Hallow God" and be done with it?
Because our Lord's Prayer moves you beyond just a kneejerk blind "acceptance" of God as God. His prayer moves you to think about something deeper: the name of God. What does it mean to hallow and adore His name? What is a "name" anyway?
The dictionary says a name is that "by which a person is known or designated." But it also refers to that which defines a person's character and actions.
Is Jesus then telling you to thoughtfully, prayerfully hallow, honor, respect, maybe even understand / appreciate / love, God's nature? His character? His qualities?
Yes. Because as you begin to think about God's nature, His character, His qualities, you begin to grasp what God is. That He is Love, therefore His nature is loving not vengeful. That He is Spirit, therefore He is spiritual not material. That He is Truth, therefore He includes all reality. That "God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all." I John 1:5
So, if God's nature is completely loving, spiritual, real, and luminous - what does that say about you as His image and likeness?
By honoring God's true name and nature, you begin to learn who you really are as God's creation. You begin to change the way you think about yourself. If you're honest about it, you also begin to change how you act, how you live, how you love. Can you really hallow, honor, respect, appreciate, love your Father and His Name and Nature, and then go off and think, live, and act in some opposite way? But if you do begin to knowingly live as best you can according to your understanding of how God really made you, then you are living authentically.
It's interesting to think about all the places in the Bible where people did exactly this. And as they woke up to their true spiritual nature as God's own image and likeness, and lived accordingly, things changed - sometimes radically. In fact, in the most dramatic cases, their names changed because of their spiritual awakening: Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Saul became Paul. These are all dramatic examples of how people are transformed when they truly hallow - honor, yield to, reflect - God's true Name and Nature.
So as you pray this verse, think about how adoring God's Name moves you into your natural wholeness - holiness! Into a bigger understanding of yourself as His image and likeness. Into living authentically. That as you hallow, honor, respect, appreciate, love, adore what you are learning about God and His true nature as revealed by Jesus, you begin to understand who you really are as His reflection. You start dropping all the negative things you may have thought about yourself, all the hateful things that may have been said about you, all the societal misconceptions that may have labeled you. And instead you wake up to your true nature as God's likeness. Your true nature is actually just like God's: loving, spiritual, healthy, whole - holy - because that's the way God made you! And nothing can ever change that.
Wake up to this truth that Jesus gives us in his Prayer. Let His likeness shine as you, His Life flow through you, His Love move in you. Let His Love soften you, strengthen you, show you that your innocence is unimpaired. Let His Love calm and purify your heart. Let your words and actions temper as your thoughts move off yourself, and out toward your Father-Mother God.
Let the Lord's Prayer help you to understand God's true nature, help you to love God for who He really is: Love itself. Let the Lord's Prayer teach you to love who you really are as God's own likeness. Let the Lord's Prayer help you to love your neighbor as yourself - love the true God-like nature of those around you. Let the Lord's Prayer help you bow humbly to (as Mrs. Eddy says) "to receive more of His reappearing." This is acknowledging the Name of God. This is adoring the Adorable One. This is hallowing His Holy Name.
Adorable One.
This has unexpectedly become my favorite verse (if that's even really possible) of the Lord's Prayer. Maybe it's because I really had to dig into it, think hard about what it really means. And I've come to see it as a very transforming verse - one which really prepares us for the rest of the prayer, one that prepares us for healing.
And that's because it demands you to stop. It demands you to stop and consider what God really is. It shows you why "What is God?" is the most important question in the world.
In the first verse, you acknowledge your true relationship to God, and glimpse something true about what God is (our Father-Mother) and where He lives (Heaven - and you get to learn more about Heaven in the third verse).
But "Hallowed be Thy name" makes you stop. It makes you think: what is it to "hallow" God's name? what does it mean to "adore" the One God?
Hallow has these meanings: to make holy, to consecrate, to treat or keep as sacred. It's interesting too that the word "holy" shares its Anglo-Saxon origins with our words for health, and wholeness, and carries the significance of salvation.
And Mrs. Eddy did not mean "cutesy" when she understood this verse to spiritually mean "Adorable One." In her day adore meant: to love in the highest degree; to regard with the utmost esteem and affection.
In fact think about it: if you adore someone, don't you hang on their every word? don't you follow their every movement? don't you just LOVE being around them? wouldn't you do anything they ask? isn't it completely effortless and joyous and fun to be near them - and don't you want to be as near them as you can possibly be? Isn't that how you should be relating to God? Isn't this what it is like to really bow before Him, honor Him, to accept your sacred holy healthy whole (unbroken) relationship with your Father-Mother, the all-harmonious adorable One?
But wait. Why does Jesus say "Hallowed be Thy name?" Why not just say "Hallow God" and be done with it?
Because our Lord's Prayer moves you beyond just a kneejerk blind "acceptance" of God as God. His prayer moves you to think about something deeper: the name of God. What does it mean to hallow and adore His name? What is a "name" anyway?
The dictionary says a name is that "by which a person is known or designated." But it also refers to that which defines a person's character and actions.
Is Jesus then telling you to thoughtfully, prayerfully hallow, honor, respect, maybe even understand / appreciate / love, God's nature? His character? His qualities?
Yes. Because as you begin to think about God's nature, His character, His qualities, you begin to grasp what God is. That He is Love, therefore His nature is loving not vengeful. That He is Spirit, therefore He is spiritual not material. That He is Truth, therefore He includes all reality. That "God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all." I John 1:5
So, if God's nature is completely loving, spiritual, real, and luminous - what does that say about you as His image and likeness?
By honoring God's true name and nature, you begin to learn who you really are as God's creation. You begin to change the way you think about yourself. If you're honest about it, you also begin to change how you act, how you live, how you love. Can you really hallow, honor, respect, appreciate, love your Father and His Name and Nature, and then go off and think, live, and act in some opposite way? But if you do begin to knowingly live as best you can according to your understanding of how God really made you, then you are living authentically.
It's interesting to think about all the places in the Bible where people did exactly this. And as they woke up to their true spiritual nature as God's own image and likeness, and lived accordingly, things changed - sometimes radically. In fact, in the most dramatic cases, their names changed because of their spiritual awakening: Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Saul became Paul. These are all dramatic examples of how people are transformed when they truly hallow - honor, yield to, reflect - God's true Name and Nature.
So as you pray this verse, think about how adoring God's Name moves you into your natural wholeness - holiness! Into a bigger understanding of yourself as His image and likeness. Into living authentically. That as you hallow, honor, respect, appreciate, love, adore what you are learning about God and His true nature as revealed by Jesus, you begin to understand who you really are as His reflection. You start dropping all the negative things you may have thought about yourself, all the hateful things that may have been said about you, all the societal misconceptions that may have labeled you. And instead you wake up to your true nature as God's likeness. Your true nature is actually just like God's: loving, spiritual, healthy, whole - holy - because that's the way God made you! And nothing can ever change that.
Wake up to this truth that Jesus gives us in his Prayer. Let His likeness shine as you, His Life flow through you, His Love move in you. Let His Love soften you, strengthen you, show you that your innocence is unimpaired. Let His Love calm and purify your heart. Let your words and actions temper as your thoughts move off yourself, and out toward your Father-Mother God.
Let the Lord's Prayer help you to understand God's true nature, help you to love God for who He really is: Love itself. Let the Lord's Prayer teach you to love who you really are as God's own likeness. Let the Lord's Prayer help you to love your neighbor as yourself - love the true God-like nature of those around you. Let the Lord's Prayer help you bow humbly to (as Mrs. Eddy says) "to receive more of His reappearing." This is acknowledging the Name of God. This is adoring the Adorable One. This is hallowing His Holy Name.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Our Father which art in heaven
"Our Father which art in heaven" - What an astonishing opening statement! God - our Father? But yes, here Jesus shows us our actual present relationship to God: He is our Father. He is not just Jesus' Father, but our Father also. Jesus is telling us we can pray to God just as He does: Our Father! Can you grasp what that means? Do you realize that God is actually your Father? your all-harmonious Father-Mother? Your actual Cause and Creator? Your Holy Spirit? Your divine Mind? the actual source of your very being?
What if you really grasped what this actually means? Grasped the implications of it? What if you started to live this out and act accordingly? What would that be like? What would your life be like? Doesn't the rest of the Lord's Prayer show you exactly what your life would be like if you accepted and genuinely lived this opening statement? if you lived this prayer "Our Father which art in heaven"?
Wouldn't you love and respect - hallow - your divine Father's name and nature? Wouldn't you be thrilled to be in His company, His presence, His kingdom? Wouldn't you appreciate and listen to His guidance, yield to, reflect, His all-loving will? And your famished affections would be so fed by His love for you. You would be so cared for, so forgiven (and forgiving), so led by his Love away from empty temptations, delivered from willful mistakes, ignorant mistakes, or even what might seem like fatal mistakes.
And why? Because your Father-Mother, God, is already present: here, right here, where you are. And His will for you is always a blessing, right now.
And how would you be fed, and forgiven, and led, and delivered? By His power: His Christ, your Saviour and by His glory: His Holy Spirit, calling you, comforting, and guiding you - and everyone -right here and right now.
Would you actually ever want to live anywhere apart from perfect Love? Would you ever knowingly choose to move out of your loving divine Father's care? No. And if we think we could, Jesus shows us exactly how to rethink that desire, to instead trust ourselves over to our Father, to turn our yearning, our unspoken heart's desire, our very life over to God through His Prayer - affirming what is actually already true: that divine Love, God, is our Father-Mother right now no matter what else seems like it's going on in our life. That we always have been and always will be His perfect child, inseparable from His warm embrace, held, even now, in His everlasting arms of Love.
This is how "The Message" (a Bible translation done by Eugene Peterson) shows us this in the 91st Psalm (excerpted):
What if you really grasped what this actually means? Grasped the implications of it? What if you started to live this out and act accordingly? What would that be like? What would your life be like? Doesn't the rest of the Lord's Prayer show you exactly what your life would be like if you accepted and genuinely lived this opening statement? if you lived this prayer "Our Father which art in heaven"?
Wouldn't you love and respect - hallow - your divine Father's name and nature? Wouldn't you be thrilled to be in His company, His presence, His kingdom? Wouldn't you appreciate and listen to His guidance, yield to, reflect, His all-loving will? And your famished affections would be so fed by His love for you. You would be so cared for, so forgiven (and forgiving), so led by his Love away from empty temptations, delivered from willful mistakes, ignorant mistakes, or even what might seem like fatal mistakes.
And why? Because your Father-Mother, God, is already present: here, right here, where you are. And His will for you is always a blessing, right now.
And how would you be fed, and forgiven, and led, and delivered? By His power: His Christ, your Saviour and by His glory: His Holy Spirit, calling you, comforting, and guiding you - and everyone -right here and right now.
Would you actually ever want to live anywhere apart from perfect Love? Would you ever knowingly choose to move out of your loving divine Father's care? No. And if we think we could, Jesus shows us exactly how to rethink that desire, to instead trust ourselves over to our Father, to turn our yearning, our unspoken heart's desire, our very life over to God through His Prayer - affirming what is actually already true: that divine Love, God, is our Father-Mother right now no matter what else seems like it's going on in our life. That we always have been and always will be His perfect child, inseparable from His warm embrace, held, even now, in His everlasting arms of Love.
This is how "The Message" (a Bible translation done by Eugene Peterson) shows us this in the 91st Psalm (excerpted):
...Our Father which art in heaven - yes!"You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's
shadow, Say this, "God, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!"
"That's right - he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from
deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you - under them you're
perfectly safe, his arms fend off all harm. ...
"Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get through the door."He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they'll
catch you, their job is to keep you from falling. ...
"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, "I'll get you out of any
trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then
throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of
salvation!"
Thursday, December 27, 2007
I decided to start off my study of the Lord’s Prayer from scratch. So I am approaching this prayer as best I can as if for the first time. I am trying to understand the prayer’s deepest meanings without preconceptions.
To help me do that, I have decided approach it as if I know nothing about it and am learning it for the first time. So I have been looking up even the most familiar words of the prayer in the dictionary so that I can get a fresh perspective, and hopefully get a clearer idea of what Jesus wanted us to know.
I used my Mom's old 2nd Edition Websters (1927) but I've inserted links to two different online dictionaries and an online Bible (below) for your convenience (check out the Websters 1913 definitions; they're especially interesting). It still pays to look these words up yourself though - and look for the meanings that inspire you or give you new insights. That has really helped me understand the Prayer in a fresh new light.
Lastly, I’m working with the Lord's Prayer as found in the King James Version of the Bible. I know this may not be the most current or even most correct translation to use. But it was the one Mrs. Eddy had at hand the most (though she had other translations available, she didn’t have the wealth of versions we have now) so I thought I should start there also. Note that her spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer is included (in italics) below.
As you think about the Prayer's deep spiritual meaning, I think you’ll find new inspiration and insights as you consider the many dimensions of the definitions of so many of the familiar words of the prayer. I know I certainly have.
NOTE: Mrs. Eddy understood God as “The great I Am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (S&H p 587:) She considered these terms synonymous.
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know,--as in heaven, so on earth,--God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
To help me do that, I have decided approach it as if I know nothing about it and am learning it for the first time. So I have been looking up even the most familiar words of the prayer in the dictionary so that I can get a fresh perspective, and hopefully get a clearer idea of what Jesus wanted us to know.
I used my Mom's old 2nd Edition Websters (1927) but I've inserted links to two different online dictionaries and an online Bible (below) for your convenience (check out the Websters 1913 definitions; they're especially interesting). It still pays to look these words up yourself though - and look for the meanings that inspire you or give you new insights. That has really helped me understand the Prayer in a fresh new light.
Lastly, I’m working with the Lord's Prayer as found in the King James Version of the Bible. I know this may not be the most current or even most correct translation to use. But it was the one Mrs. Eddy had at hand the most (though she had other translations available, she didn’t have the wealth of versions we have now) so I thought I should start there also. Note that her spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer is included (in italics) below.
As you think about the Prayer's deep spiritual meaning, I think you’ll find new inspiration and insights as you consider the many dimensions of the definitions of so many of the familiar words of the prayer. I know I certainly have.
NOTE: Mrs. Eddy understood God as “The great I Am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (S&H p 587:) She considered these terms synonymous.
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know,--as in heaven, so on earth,--God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Lord's Prayer with Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of its deepest meaning
"Our Master said, "After this manner therefore pray ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs. ... Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer:
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know,--as in heaven, so on earth,--God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
From: http://www.spirituality.com/dt/book_lookup.jhtml?reference=SH%2B16&marks=false&baseURL=/dt/book_lookup.jhtml
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know,--as in heaven, so on earth,--God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
From: http://www.spirituality.com/dt/book_lookup.jhtml?reference=SH%2B16&marks=false&baseURL=/dt/book_lookup.jhtml
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