The Power of Two

I could just have easily said “the power of four,” or “the power of nine.”  That’s because this particular post is not about quantity but quality – specifically, the quality of ever presence.

Have you ever doubted that two would be there when you needed it?  When you sat down to balance your checkbook, did you wonder if you could only go so far because there might not be an available two?  Of course not.  Everybody knows that numbers are not things but thoughts, concepts.  And no matter what you’re doing, or where you’re doing it, or who you’re doing it with, every number is available all the time.  No questions asked.  And what’s more, the processes by which numbers are made use of mathematically are also always available.  Just because you don’t know how to do trigonometry doesn’t mean those rules for doing it are not present or valid.

Do you have to feel the presence of two before you can take advantage of it?  Does not feeling two limit your day?  Again, of course not!  Two just is.  At all times and under all circumstances.  It’s never not quite two.  It’s always dependably, consistently two.  And we expect it to remain so for eternity.

So, all of this is pretty rudimental.  But I wanted to start with something that we all can agree on, and then correlate it to something that seems harder to grasp.

That would be Love: divine Love, another name for God.

Every one of the facts concerning two listed above also applies to Love: always available, always the same, always active, no matter what.  And just like you don’t have to “feel” two in order to effectively make use of it, neither do you need to feel God’s love in order to be assured that it is indeed present and operational.

Why is it then, that not feeling divine Love seems so demoralizing?  The Apostle Paul explained it this way: “the carnal mind is enmity against God.”  (Rom 8:7)  In other words, the tendency of the carnal or fleshly, human mind is to be convinced that God is distant, or worse, missing.  And to the extent that we agree with that terrible false premise, does our life, health, and happiness suffer.  Would could be more disheartening than believing that infinite Love doesn’t actually exist?

However, just like two is always two-ing, Love is always loving.  Just like two is always available no matter how complex the problem, nor how many need to use it at any given time, divine Love is also universally and impartially available, ever acting, ever helping, ever loving – you, me, all.

The bottom line is, don’t trust your human sense of where and what God is.  Trust the spiritual facts as explained in the Bible and as especially lived by Jesus.  His entire career and ministry successfully exemplified the ever present, ever saving, ever loving power of God as Love.

So remember: if two is not missing, neither is Love.  Let yourself be twoed!  I mean loved.

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.

Synchronicity?

I’ve been watching a new TV show called Touch.  In it, a young boy who doesn’t speak, communicates instead through numbers and symbols.  His dad, played by Kiefer Sutherland, uses those ciphers and codes, along with his son’s body language, to save the day, often touching others around the globe.  The premise is that the world becomes a little more harmonious once these synchronous events are accomplished.

It’s always lovely to see things fall into place.  And it’s fun to go along with the tense scenarios and their numerical solutions all wrapped up in a one-hour TV show.

In reality though, it’s not a sequence of numbers or some impersonal principle that governs the well-being of mankind.  It’s God.  A God who very lovingly maintains a clear and repeatable harmonious order.  A God, whose intelligent and direct care meets every human need.  A God, whom the Bible calls Love, and Truth, and Life – and Omnipotence.

Doesn’t it make sense then, that when things work out – when they go well – that it’s not synchronicity but God?  Jesus thought so, and he taught his followers the truth of it.

But does it also mean that when things don’t work out, that it’s God as well?  No.  Jesus explained that too (see, for example, the parable of The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32).

Trusting in God is more than luck. It’s actually agreeing with and expecting all those Biblical promises. As the Psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  (Psalm 46)  There’s no better plan than that.

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.

No Fudging the Facts

4.  Four. IV. Plus the many iterations in a variety of languages. But they all mean the same thing: a complete concept that doesn’t change or decay, nor is it inconsistent or variable.  And there are an infinite number of ways to get there: (2+2) or (3+1) or (1+1+1+1) or (.0002 +3.9999.)  Oops, that last one is not a pathway to 4!  It’s really, really close – and the difference is practically negligible.  But the fact remains that there is no place nor time nor circumstance nor event nor person who will ever make those numbers equal exactly 4.  To fudge on that is to mess with scientific precision, causing ever greater mistakes down the line.

And so it is with God’s child, you and me.  There are an infinite number of ways for God’s sons and daughters to express Him, but each one must always be the exact, unchanging, and perfect reflection of the exact, unchanging, and perfect God.  No fudging, no mistakes down the line.

Why is there mathematical certainty underpinning God’s relationship with His children?  The best information about that comes from the Bible.  And the very first fact about it, found in the first chapter of Genesis, is that God made His beloved offspring exactly like Himself: in His image and likeness is what the King James Version says (1:26).  Scientific verity #1: man (generically speaking) is like his Maker.

What does the Bible say about this Maker? The Apostle James declares that God is invariable (1:17); and 1^st Chronicles makes the point that God is good (16:34).  These are just a few of the amazing facts about Deity you’ll find in scripture. Scientific verity #2: the created is invariable good, just like the Creator!

Jesus, the final authority on God and His creation, states this unequivocal imperative: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).  Scientific verity #3: like parent, like child.

And just like that faux pas listed above which will never equal 4, no mistake, no matter how negligible will ever enter into the equation of perfect God, perfect man.  There’s just no room for imperfection in perfection.  There’s just no fudging the facts.

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.