Unsubscribe…

Lots of serial e-mails come with the option to unsubscribe.  I get a number of them from organizations I appreciate or support.  Sometimes though, their sheer quantity overwhelms the e-mail that’s more important and that really needs my attention.  I’ve recently unsubscribed from several that I realize I just don’t read.  But I don’t miss them and I appreciate a freer inbox.

Your thinking is a lot like your e-mail inbox.  Lots of times it’s stuffed with interesting (or not) stuff – or maybe just repetetive stuff – or stuff that actually distracts and detracts from more substantial or more real or more progressive thoughts.  Worry can take up a lot of space in thought.  So can anger or blame.

What if you were to “unsubscribe” from those kinds of thoughts?  What if you just chose to think the thoughts that made a difference?

There is a way to do that.  It’s called standing porter at the door of thought.  Mary Baker Eddy explains it more thoroughly in Science and Health (see page 392).  But in a nutshell, it’s about realizing that you don’t have to entertain all the thoughts that come a knockin’.  Really.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Self-help book

There are lots of books out there that help their readers do everything from fix a refrigerator to fix a marriage.  Some fall in the “for dummies” category and others in the “you have to have a degree in the subject before you can read it” category.  There is one book, however, that can replace them all.  What, you say?  How can just one book explain refrigerators  and marriages and everything else, at the same time?

Okay, so if you do a word search for refrigeration in the book I’m suggesting here,  it’s true you won’t find anything.  In fact, for the most part, you won’t find any “quick fixes” that way.  But you will find permanent solutions for any and every problem.  Yes, any and every problem.

The book is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  It’s not just a repair manual, it’s a restore manual and a redeem manual.

Here’s how it works: it explains God and His relationship with His creation; it makes plain how Jesus healed; it reveals the nature of Spirit and Soul; it illumines the Bible.  And it teaches the reader how to do anything and everything through effective prayer.

There are countless times in my own life where problems ranging from a broken refrigerator to a broken marriage were resolved by digging deep into the ideas presented in Science and Health. Issues as disparate as child rearing and what kind of car to buy have been solved.  Questions regarding what to do about unemployment or what to do in my garden were handled in much the same way.

All in all, thoughtfully reading, conscientiously applying, and practically living the scientific ideas found in Science and Health will repair anything.  Find out for yourself!

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Don’t miss the point

As I’ve stated in other posts here, a favorite passage from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy is “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony” (page 390).  It reminds me that I don’t want to miss the point when I’m praying.  Huh?

Sometimes I pray for inspiration, sometimes I pray for wellbeing, sometimes I pray for healing.  Sometimes I pray just because.  But sometimes my prayers are a jumble of words and wishes that are all focused on the problem – whatever it is.  Those kinds of prayers are an endless loop of rehearsing the issue and reiterating my own opinions about it.  My attempts to find a reliable solution are feeble – and the outcome is certainly not one of peace.

A surefire, foolproof remedy is “a right understanding of Him.”  Yep!  Knowing more about God, learning of His power and presence, deepening both my faith and my trust, restore harmony.  That’s the point I don’t want to miss.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.