May 19

Science of Mind Magazine Daily Guide for 5/19/08

By Rev. Margaret Stortz

SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY

Before I knew it, I realized All human beings could be happy.

Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing

In Thy Presence do I always rest in peace and joy.

Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind, page 542

JESUS made a very interesting statement during his Sermon on the Mount.  He cautioned people not to worry about tomorrow for “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” (Matt. 6:34).  This is how it appears in the King James Version of the Bible, but other versions suggest that the word, “evil,” might be better read as “troubles” or “anxieties.”

There is wisdom in Jesus' admonition, for we can and often do crowd our days with regrets of the past and fears of the future.  His was a good, practical approach to life.  After all, we really can only live one day at a time.  The past and its mistakes are spent; there is no way of changing them.  Tomorrow and its possibilities are not yet here, so as it turns out, this day and only this day is what we have.

When we study our connection to the divine unity we learn that there is one, infinite energy which indiscriminately flows throughout creation.  We can use this innate energy any way we desire.  We can drag the past with us and confuse the clarity of today, or we can be so concerned about the future that we miss the wonder of this day.  Ernest Holmes wrote that we should “have no fear of tomorrow; enjoy today.  Refuse to carry the corpse of a mistaken yesterday.”  Let's do it!

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.  I live fully and completely in this, my day.

Re: May 19

365 Science of Mind
Ernest Holmes

Love is God and God is infinite, eternal and omnipresent. Therefore, Love is infinite, eternal and omnipresent. I cannot escape Love. I exist in Love and of IT. I live by and through It. It motivates my every action. Everything I see. I see with the eyes of Love. Everything I hear, I hear with ears of Love.

I can recognize nothing but Love at any time. Nothing but Love and lovely things can come to me. I insist on seeing the Love in all things, the reality behind the seeming discord. to everyone I encounter, I definitely and purposefully radiate Love. I Love my work. I enJOY doing the things that come to me to be done. I appreciate the good that has been expressed to me.

I do not want. I Love into my experience the things I desire. I wrap their expression to me in love so that they come harmoniously and without strain.

People love me. The love to work with me and to be in my presence. The God in them senses my loving nature. My office and my home are filled with love and harmony. They draw love and lovely things and people to them. Love enfolds me and mine at all times.

And so it is!

Re: May 19

365 Tao (by Deng Ming-Dao) # 139

Marriage

                    Wall of flame, bridge of tears.
                    Snowflake on newly forged links.
                   
For a marriage to last, a couple must go through great travails and hardships.  It is like a process of forging steel links together.  The iron must be heated to a high degree and then plunged into cold water.  A marriage alternates between the heat of passion and love and the chilling times of tragedy, conflict, and adversity.  An enduring marriage becomes like tempered steel.

It is difficult to go through life alone.  We all need support and the sense of belonging that comes from working toward goals shared with another.  For such a relationship to work, there must be a basic compatibility of values, outlook, and purpose.  It is an inadequate cliche that husband and wife must be friends as well as lovers.  Two mates can know a loyalty found in no other type of relationship.  Yet even in the face of such strength, Tao reminds us of the need for moderation.

Ultimately, all relationships are temporary.  False attachment to another can become an addiction, a voluntary bondage detrimental to clear perception.  We should not bind another to ourselves, should not define ourselves by our marriage, should not force another to stay with us.  But if chance allows us to walk together, who is anyone to challenge our choice of walking companions?

When it is time to part, then it is time to part.  There should be no regrets.  The beauty of marriage is like the fleeting perfection of a snowflake.

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Science of Mind Daily Guide for 5/19/09
By Rev. Jesse Jennings

THE NEEDLE PULLS THE THREAD

Stop swimming so hard and climb in the boat.
Rumi

We admit the fact.  It is quite a different thing to admit the necessity.
The Science of Mind, page 213

SUFFERING is the story we tell ourselves about pain, so that often we confuse suffering with pain as though they were the same.  But pain itself isn't the biggest problem—that is the expectation of pain, and the memory of it, and the resentment of the memory.  While we may experience pain in our bodies, we suffer in our minds.

The proverb “The needle pulls the thread” is found in the Diloggun, a divinatory and transformative ritual system with the Afro-Cuban spiritual path of Santeria.  It means whatever you think it means, and to me it says that the cause of suffering is followed immediately by the remedy to suffering.  Both cause and cure being in the mind (which doesn't mean they are not real, as in, “it's all in your mind!”), they are administered by the self that assumes charge of its own thinking.

If you feel you have suffered, there are profound gifts in that experience.  If you do not feel you have suffered, those gifts can be yours anyway because suffering isn't a prerequisite for spiritual gifts.  And if you are suffering right this very minute, longing for relief, do this: ask the experience to tell you what it has to say, to deliver you its message now in plain speaking, rather than through your pain centers.  It will tell you of an emotional block, some way you've used life's raw data against your own best interests, as well as how to reverse this.

Affirmation
Today I possess all the courage needed to change my life for the better and for good.  I direct this courageous energy into the heart of my emotional process where I interpret all I perceive, and I choose now to receive the world with love.

Re: May 19

Daily Word — Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Divine Order
All is in divine order. I know this truth; I live this truth today and every day.

Divine order is established in my life. The spirit of God is working in and through me to guide my ways and light my path. All my circumstances and experiences are brought into a harmonious balance.

I put God first as I go within for guidance. Therefore, my decisions are made with confidence and faith. In the silence of prayer, I clear my mind and refresh my spirits so that my thinking is constructive and illumined. I remain open at all times to receive what God is offering me.

The indwelling spirit of God is both my motivation and my inspiration, encouraging me to look for and expect good. I meet every experience with this expectation and with the understanding that all is in divine order.

“You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.”–Job 22:

Re: May 19

A Year With Rumi by Coleman Barks

Re: May 19

I've heard this one before and I know its truth.
Just wondering why I keep being blind then.

Re: May 19

Desire is the force behind all things; it is the moving.
The Power of Desire.