A Christmas Poem

by Ken Cooper

GOD'S GREAT LOVE.

Be still, dear friends, think back the day
When angels sang to shepherds cold,

And starry night lit up their way,

As God's great Love did them enfold.

And in the stable they did see

Our Saviour just as they'd been told.

With "Peace on earth" eternally

Our God's great Love did them enfold.

Dear brethren, God's dear Love was planned

To reach all hearts, to make all gold.

This Christmas take your neighbour's hand:

Let God's great Love you all enfold.

And when your heart is full of Love

It radiates through all you are:

And shining thus it seems thereof

That God has fashioned one more  star!

©Ken Cooper 2016

The Bumble Bee

by Ken Cooper

THE BUMBLE BEE

From the unrestricted freedom of the open air,

The bumble bee flew unwittingly into our conservatory.

Within seconds it had bumped and buzzed against an invisible window,

And it repeated its actions in bewildered puzzlement.

Again and again, in futile frustration, the bumping and buzzing reverberated.

It just didn't know what was preventing it flying forwards.

So it buzzed and bumped in blind repetition, for that was all it could conceive.

Ever more tired and confused, its efforts became more sporadic.

It fell onto the sill, near to giving up,

Gathering strength for a final fling of desperate helpless hope.

It didn't know that its plight had already been heard:

Two kindly hands with glass tumbler and stiff card were on their way.

Sudden entrapment caught the bumble unawares.

In furious fear and tight enclosure,  its bewilderment was complete,

It buzzed ferociously, loudly, fighting in utter ignorance of what was happening:

But by the open patio door, released and now unfettered, it flew, flew skywards!

Zigzagging in the unexpected joy and relief of freedom,

Not knowing how, but wonderfully, gloriously, free.

Free to be itself.

It made me think.

How often do I keep bumping along, seeing no progress, refusing to change my ways.

Not realising what was preventing my going forward,

Not knowing what to do, where to go, how to go, so just keeping safe (?) in the old routines.

Perhaps puzzled by the world's illogicality,

Not prepared or even too scared, to challenge, or to follow a different way,

That is already waiting:

Not realising that sometimes the only way forward is to stop.............

Think. Repent. Be brave enough and wise enough, to do something differently.

The bumble bee had been trying too hard. Ultimately, by itself, it could do nothing.*

If only it knew that help was at hand.

If only I knew.

Jesus said "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Stop fighting! Yield the mortal self, the arrogance of self-will and selfish pride!

The blind and stubborn mortal personality, shouting to exist, must go and be no more.

Right where I am, the door to the kingdom is already open, but in the other direction!

Love is here, always here, omnipotent hands outstretched in tenderness and healing.

Be still... Trust.... Yield..... Let...... Now!

Know and feel that I am, and simply be, God's child.**

For when I knew it not, Love had already taken me up,

Already knew and knows my freedom.

Even in the depths of despair, we can, in sweet self-surrender, suddenly find,

In Love's care and protection, we are already in the heavenly kingdom.

Because Love loves and liberates, releases from all shackles,

We have the absolute freedom of spiritual being:

Wonderfully, gloriously, free.

If only we would turn:

Humble,

Be.

*"I can of mine own self do nothing:"  John 5:30 (to:)

"Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt.4:17 Repent

**"Behold, now are we the sons of God" 1 John 3:2 (to 2nd,)

©Ken Cooper2016

God is Life

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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"Feed My Sheep"

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - not in the FIREWORKS, but in a still small voice

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Flash! You are the light of the world

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - God the Preserver

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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Click on image to enlarge...

TruthBits - Pillars of Creation

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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You will always feel safe in the kingdom of heaven

by Anthony Whitehouse CS


It struck me today that there was an issue with regard to feeling safe which I had not understood. It is not really about fear; it is about feeling safe. And the reason it is important is because we cannot be fearful if we feel safe. And we do not understand divine Love unless we feel safe.

It is more important to feel safe than to conquer fear because we will not fear if we are safe. The Hebrew captives survived the burning fiery furnace because they understood the spiritual parameter of being safe. Mrs. Eddy repeats this idea when she writes:
 
Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless.

The word also has the implication of “health “ according to Webster’s 1828 Edition :

Safe
SAFE, a. [L. salvus, from salus, safety, health.]
1. Free from danger of any kind; as safe from enemies; safe from disease; safe from storms; safe from the malice of foes.
2. Free from hurt, injury or damage; as, to walk safe over red hot plowshares. We brought the goods safe to land.
3. Conferring safety; securing from harm; as a safe guide; a safe harbor; a safe bridge.
4. Not exposing to danger. Phil 3.
5. No longer dangerous; placed beyond the power of doing harm; a ludicrous meaning.
In other words we will not be healthy unless we feel safe.

It also requires vigilance to realize that unless we feel a profound sense of how safe we are in Divine Science then we are going to suffer from all the stresses of human existence. Without a sense of feeling safe we will be open to attack.

It is my experience that human circumstances are very good at getting us to feel unsafe. A sure sign of feeling unsafe is not knowing what to do in a particular situation. If we do not know what to do, we are going to feel unsafe. The problem however is not feeling impotent or the human circumstance. It is feeling unsafe: this is an illegitimate sentiment in the kingdom of heaven. In the Kingdom of heaven there is a sense of total security.

Christian Science leads us into the land of absolute understanding where our sense of conviction about God’s nature and power is so profound that we feel totally safe. We can indeed “smile on all our foes” in the fortress of His understanding.

TruthBits - Return the wanderer to the Father's house.

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Temple of the living God

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - ever full of SAP and GREEN

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Adam

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - My sheep hear my voice

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Shepherd

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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A Reflection on the Nature of Our Abode

By Anthony Whitehouse CS

Jesus indicated "Abide in me" and the great Psalm 91 places its whole focus on the issue of our abode. Obviously if we are in the "right place" our thought and our experience are going to be heavenly. When we have a sense of the sanctity of our abode we will not let our thought dwell on evil because we have found the Divine Mind to be our Mind. Moses, after all was instructed " Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground."

What helped me in chewing over this issue was the notion that "Your abode is where you let your thoughts rest." As often as not we let our thoughts rest upon some very unwholesome subjects, all of which contaminates our experience. And since life is a subjective experience it is imperative that we do not let our thoughts dwell on error.

It is not a question of "Why are so many bad things happening to me" but much more a question of "Why do I spend so much time dwelling on error and evil". Error is very good at getting us to dwell on error... as Mrs Eddy points out that Error rehearses Error. If we dwell on error then we have made it our abode and nothing good can come from such abiding. What surprises me is just how much time one spends ruminating on error and the wrongs done to one. I guess error keeps one in the wrong abode through the mechanism of resentment. You can almost hear the evil one saying "I don't care how I do it as long as I can get my victims ruminating on some wrong."

So now you have another golden rule "YOUR ABODE IS WHERE YOU LET YOUR THOUGHTS REST" And in case one is inclined to forget it, here is the ultimate exhortation to dwell on the right things in thought: Psalm 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Ps 91:1-12

TruthBits - Atonement: Spiritual Solidarity

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?"

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Real? Unreal? Point of View

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Risen Messiah

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Easter

by Carolyn St. Charles CS
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TruthBits - Matter

TruthBits - by Carolyn St. Charles, CS

TruthBits - Leap!

TruthBits by Carolyn St. Charles, CS

There are no unknowns in the Kingdom

by Anthony J. Whitehouse CS

but human existence appears laced with uncertainty and the idea that there are things going on which are driven by forces that one does not know about. How often are we confronted with the notion "I don't what to do here because all this is unfamiliar to me. I don't know why I am having this problem or what is going on".

Spiritual creation completely negates this way of thinking because it is category in its understanding that creation is entirely perfect now and that so called unknowns are impossible in the kingdom.

Why is it important to understand this? Because unless one understands the mayhem that the belief in the unknown creates one will continue to harbour the idea that unknowns are possible and things will go bang in the night.

What error is actually proposing with this belief in unknowns is that there are vacuums where God does not exist. Which of course is metaphysical nonsense.

The great advantage of destroying the belief in unknowns , imponderables and the underived is that it destroys the fruit of the false belief. Cancer is after all just the fruit of the belief in the unknown in that error pretends that it appears for no particular reason and it does not have a cure. It operates apparently without reason.

If we look to scripture we find the promise that allows us to set aside the appearance of spontaneous error.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. — Jer 29:11

What is death after all? It is ultimate of the belief of that I do not know what will become of me!

Death is only problematic because the human mind cannot imagine what life is like after death. The problem that death introduces is the fear of the unknown. Jesus dealt with this nonsense by reappearing three days after his crucifixion in flesh and blood. He demonstrated that life was eternal and hence there were no unknowns are dark places of ignorance.

Life becomes a very different experience when one loses fear of the dark which is also the fear of the unknown. The fear of the unknown necessarily disappears before the spiritual truth that man must always be aware of the Truth and cannot contemplate error and the unknown because such things are non sequiturs to the divine Mind.

Mrs Eddy emphasizes this question when she writes:

Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away by death? Is God creating anew what He has already created? The Scriptures are definite on this point, declaring that His work was finished, nothing is new to God, and that it was good — SH 206:19

A Lesson from the Roses

By Patrick Collins

My assigned chore recently was pruning back the rose bushes surrounding our home.   How beautiful the roses are with their vibrant colors, their red and pink faces shining delicately out from the dark  green leaves, lovely to look at as they gently share their fragrance and loveliness. 

  

As I worked carefully among the branches an interesting  thought came to me. The roses display their beauty confidently and don't seem inclined to try to convince the other flowers to be just like them.  They grow alongside the other flowers around our home without comment, without competition, without criticism, without bragging or gloating.

I suppose these thoughts may have been triggered by a recent encounter where a gentleman was trying to convince me to embrace his  religious thought.   While there was no specific criticism of my own religious understanding or my view of God and Life, it was pretty obvious from the stern looks and rather harsh warnings about God’s wrath and my obvious unwillingness to understand that God punishes people like me, revealed a  contempt for my “obvious ignorance” and misguided faith and understanding.   

The experience sort of shocked me, made me wonder, Have  I done the same thing from time to time?  Surely not as harshly or pointedly,   accompanied by the stern looks and sense of judgement that I was receiving this day, but have I been so judgmental?   Being convinced of the truth and simple logic that Jesus revealed in his teachings and as taught in Christian Science,   and because of wanting to share the wonderful healing effects realized by my family and myself over the years through the application of those truths, I admit I may have been tempted to spend time convincing others of how wonderful it is.

But on this day, marveling at the beauty of the rose, I remembered Mary Baker Eddy's counsel that: " No reproof is so potent as the silent lesson of a good example. Works, more than words, should characterize Christian Scientists. Most people condemn evil-doing,evil-speaking; yet nothing circulates so rapidly: even gold is less current." (1)

  I thought how silly it would be for that Rose to bend down to the beautiful Daylily to convince her to become a Rose, maybe something like this: 

“Well, yes Dear, you would have a few thorns but everyone would want to take you home and put you in a vase.  We roses are wonderful!!  We make lovely gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and are especially helpful to a young man courting a young lady!!   I expect we are responsible for many hugs!!  We are God's favorites!”  

No indeed, the roses seemed very content to glow their particular splendor in the midst of the variety of other fauna.  No conversion speeches needed!!  Just by being there, sharing their lovely fragrance and delicate beauty,  glorying in the sunshine, swaying in the gentle breeze, seemed to be quite enough to keep the Roses happy.  I could see and feel that simply by “Being” they were uplifting and demonstrating God’s presence as “all harmonious”.  

It is believed that roses have been around for over 35 million years, according to fossil evidence.   Maybe they have lasted that long by minding their own business, fulfilling their life purpose  just by being splendid and appealing.    

Matthew 5

That realization convinced me that it would be sufficient  for me, too,  to just do my very best to demonstrate the qualities that I am trying to live, those same qualities we find in the Beatitudes: humility,  love, mercy, purity, tenderness,  peace and righteous and  let the observer judge whether that is something worthy of emulating. I have found it is difficult enough to do that without also trying to drag reluctant others along.

The Bible tells us there are a diversity of gifts,  some teachers, some preachers, some prophets, some wise,  some interpreters, and so on. (2)   Apparently we can all do whatever we are called to do.   There may be others on the human scene that are better looking, wealthier, more talented, more spiritual, funnier , better educated.    But for each there is opportunity to be “the rose” in their own garden of life. 

In his rounds, Jesus of Nazareth walked through the countryside and was available to teach and preach. But the most fascinating thing about Jesus was that he demonstrated more than he talked.  He didn’t get on a platform and threaten people to listen, to change or to follow him.  He proclaimed that “ behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (3)

 His acts of healing, uplifting and supporting were so much more compelling than words could be. Although his Beatitudes contained in the Sermon on the Mount provided such wonderful inspiration, it would  have been all for naught  if he wasn't actually demonstrating the truth that he taught. In humility, meekness and purity, he gently demonstrated the healing effect of his understanding of God, and taught his disciples to do so as well.

In her Bible companion book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,  religious pioneer Mary Baker Eddy writes: 

“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath our feet silently exclaims, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth.  Man,  made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God’s dominion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.” 

As we follow the spirit of Jesus’ Beatitudes, we can trust others to God’s loving care.

Jesus said: “Follow me.”  


(1)     Miscellaneous Writings .. page 126

(2)     I Corinthians 12:

(3)     Luke 17:12

(4)     Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 516