May 10

Science of Mind Magazine Daily Guide for 5/10/08

By Rev. Margaret Stortz

THANKS FOR LIFE

We have all come to the right place, We all sit in God's classroom

Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing

Gratitude is one of the chief graces of human existence…

Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind, page 497

SEVERAL years ago I underwent a successful cancer surgery, which changed my life significantly.  Afterward I was able to resume weaving together the fabric of my days as usual, but what changed forever was the way I thought about myself.  Never again could I take my life for granted.  Never again could I let even the smallest sweetness pass by me unnoticed; and while I would not choose to repeat the experience, I am grateful for the clear insights that sharply came to me.

In the years that have passed since the surgery.  I have tried to honor an agreement I made with myself.  Every day I try to remember to thank God for my life, to simply stop wherever I am at the time and turn my attention to the magnificent life that supports my very breathing.  This act is especially pleasing whenever I am walking in my favorite bayside park, where the green grass and the sea breezes remind me that life is all around, whispering in my ear.

As a practicing metaphysician, I know the immense value of the mental gladness that comes through openness to good.  Catherine Ponder once wrote that “there is no disease but congestion and no cure but circulation.”  I believe this, and so I make sure that gratitude keeps circulating through me.

affirmation

God is my true life.  It cannot be otherwise.  God leads me; God trails me; God holds me in the arms of spiritual love.  Every day I give thanks for life itself.

Re: May 10

365 Tao (by Deng Ming-Dao)  # 130

Struggle

                    Life acquires meaning
                    When we face the conflict
                    Between our desires
                    And reality.

We all have differing personalities vying for predominance in our lives.  Some come out at just the right moment.  At other times, our aspirations and our fondest hopes find little support in our environment.  Only a few can truly say that they are living their lives exactly according to their desires. For the majority of us, life is a series of conflicts between our inner ideas and outer constrictions.  How will we test ourselves against the flexing of external circumstances?

Goals are important.  Forbearance is also important.  But the very process of struggle is equally essential.  Rice must undergo the hardship of pounding in order to become white.  Steel must endure the forge in order to become strong.  Adversity is the tempering of one's mettle.  Without it, we cannot know any true meaning in our accomplishments.  Of course, when things happen without struggle, it does not mean that we did not deserve it.

A musician may compose a brilliant piece in an afternoon.  An artist will dash off a masterpiece in a single sitting.  A writer will write significant passages as if they were dictated.  Each might say, “It happened so fast!”  But in reality, it took all of them years of dedication and struggle to come to that moment of climax.  Thus even the virtuoso performance is the tip of a lifetime of struggle, and the gem of meaning is set in the metal of long perseverance. 

Re: May 10

365 Science of Mind
May - Joy

Re: May 10

Science of Mind Daily Guide for 5/10/09
By Rev. Jesse Jennings

THE MOTHERHOOD OF SPIRIT

A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
Tenneva Jordan

In this way do we glorify that Indwelling God who is the Heavenly Father and the Cosmic Mother of all.
The Science of Mind, page 430

“MOTHER/Father God” or “Father/Mother God” is an expression we grow used to hearing in our centers, because the Infinite Intelligence or Creative Mind we consider the deity is androgynous.  We don't really consider it to be a being at all, but beingness itself, so It, having both male and female qualities, is as natural as either sunlit and moonlit qualities, or terrestrial and celestial ones.  Deity is infinite and thus contains all.  We may choose to have Its parent-like aspects stand out because these are particularly intimate and special to us in our human condition.

This is Mother's Day, and our mothers have been remarkable persons in their own right as well as because they had us.  If you who are reading this are yourself a mother, then you have an exquisite relationship with another human being that no one not having had that privilege can fully comprehend.  So we honor mothers.  But there's even more to it: an archtypal mothering aspect present in the Universe that can be drawn upon and used by anyone anywhere, and that shows up undefined by gender.  Mother-love is nurturing and unconditional, and kindly yet fierce.  If you don't feel you got enough of that from the woman who birthed you, or long for more of it, it's still there for you in the “ethers” if you will open yourself to accept it from woman, man, or both, or neither.

Affirmation
Today I experience the nuturing and giving nature of the Universe I inhabit.  From every direction, unconditional love and encouragement arrive, cheering me on to be fully who I am.

Re: May 10

Daily Word — Sunday, May 10, 2009
Blessing Mothers
Bless you, Mothers, for being expressions of divine love and caring.

With love and gratitude, I offer my blessing for all mothers today. “Bless you for your expressions of warmth: for hugs, caring, laughter, and understanding–and for the freshly baked cookies that brought us together in shared moments of comfort and joy.

“Bless you for expressions of respect: honoring our own traditions, valuing humanity in all its array, teaching lessons of generous giving and open receiving, being not just tolerant, but understanding of and for diversity.

“Bless you for steadfast influence. Should we be together now or be connected through indelible memories, I am grateful to you for your enduring love. Whether you are my mother through birth or have been honored with this role through life's circumstances, we are blessed to be family.”

“The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”–Genesis 3:20

Re: May 10

A Year With Rumi by Coleman Barks

Re: May 10

Oooo, I really like the simplicity and yet depth of this Rumi.

“a spirit-eye”

and I would add that not only are we “that”

but that Reality is “whatever we really see”.

Deb