Rejoice!

Today and everyday, let your heart be filled with gratitude for the power and presence of God “who daily loadeth us with benefits.”  (Ps 68:19)  For “this is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  (Ps 118:24)  Indeed!

Enjoy this poem by Ethel Wasgatt Dennis

A grateful heart a garden is,
Where there is always room
For every lovely, Godlike grace
To come to perfect bloom.

A grateful heart a fortress is,
A staunch and rugged tower,
Where God’s omnipotence, revealed,
Girds man with mighty power.

A grateful heart a temple is,
A shrine so pure and white,
Where angels of His presence keep
Calm watch by day or night.

Grant then, dear Father-Mother, God,
Whatever else befall,
This largess of a grateful heart
That loves and blesses all.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear followers and friends.  May your day be filled with rejoicing.  Here are some other wonderful articles too:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141124173621-14383197-nurture-a-gratitude-attitude-say-entrepreneur

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ingrid-peschke/gratitudechallenge-from-t_b_6185256.html

http://gettingbalance.com/does-gratitude-impact-our-health-and-happiness/

http://www.healthycal.org/archives/17068

http://toledofavs.com/2014/11/25/lincolns-thanksgiving-day-proclamation-gratitude-in-hardship/

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.

The Yes of God

According to the Bible, God is

• Good (Ps 143:10),

• Life (Deut 30:20),

• Love (1 John 4:8) ,

• Father/Mother (1 Chron 29:10/Is 66:13)

• Spirit (John 4:24),

• Truth (Deut 32:4),

• Omnipotent (Rev 19:6).

In addition to these all-encompassing facets of His character, the Scriptures imply that our Heavenly Father is intelligent, merciful, just, tender, strong, kind, and so on.

The very nature of God then, is a big NO to its opposite.  Good is no to evil.  Life is no to death.  Love is no to fear and hate.  Spirit is no to matter.  Truth is no to error. Omnipotence is no to power sharing.  This last one, especially, explains the reality of the rest of them.  How so?

Omnipotence is from the Latin meaning all power.  Not some power.  Not shared power.  Not occasional power.  But all power.  Therefore, Love must have all power leaving no room or place for its opposite.  Good’s all power excludes anything unlike good.  All powerful Truth doesn’t compete with any kind of error.

Jesus knew this and taught it, shifting his listeners away from believing in an arbitrary or vengeful deity.  The Master raised the dead, walked on the water, fed the multitudes, and healed the sick through relying on the Omnipotent Yes of God.  Isn’t that what the Lord’s Prayer makes plain?  “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”  (Matt 6:10)  Mary Baker Eddy added this explanatory postscript to that line when she wrote “Enable us to know, – as in heaven, so on earth, – God is omnipotent, supreme.”  (Science and Health page 17)

That Yes is still at work today although we seem to have lost sight of it.  But God’s power hasn’t changed or diminished (otherwise omnipotence would be the wrong word, don’t you think?).  So let us regain our rightful understanding of the supremacy of the Almighty.  Looking for and expecting to see the reality of the divine enables us to recognize it.  And if we know He’s there we can safely and consistently rely on Him to meet all our needs.

The Yes of God is here and now and all.

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.

But.

It’s a little word and it has a huge meaning.  For example, “I love God with all my heart, but…”  “I trust God to provide everything for me, but…”  “I know that God is my life, but…” Unfortunately, everything we say before that little word, is wiped away by whatever we say after it.  It’s as if we’re saying, I know God is all powerful.  I know He’s ever present.  I know He can do all things.  But…I’ve got this covered.

What better example do we have than Jesus Christ, who said, “I can of mine own self do nothing…because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”  (John 5:30)  The “but” in this case points to the whole power behind everything he did: his Father’s will.

You and I have the same Father, and His will is as clear and as love-impelled for us as it was for His beloved Son.  We can lose nothing except fear, by trusting God completely.

The two Great Commandments that Jesus made plain to his followers – to love God with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself – have no caveats, no buts.  (Luke 10:27)  Consistency in living these spiritual laws as Jesus taught will conform us to receive the blessings he bestowed on the faithful.

This is not too much to ask.  Especially when you remember that God has no buts in His love for us.  It’s simply eternal and unconditional.  (Matt 5:45)

So, let’s say it together: I love God with all my heart.  Period.  I trust God to provide everything for me. Period.  I know that God is my life.  Period.  And then let’s go about our day as if it’s true.  No buts.

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.