“When we do not know a person—and also when we do—we have to judge the size and nature of his achievements as compared with the achievements of others in his special line of business—there is no other way.  Measured by this standard, it is thirteen hundred years since the world has produced anyone who could reach up to Mrs. Eddy’s waistbelt.”

“In several ways she is the most interesting woman that ever lived, and the most extraordinary.”

Mark Twain – (Mary Baker Eddy by Gillian Gill)

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost’s signature lineup of contributors

A Note to My Future Kid: You’ll Be a Winner

Robyn Harper

Blogger at ‘Gay Girl Revolution’

A Note to My Kid gives the LGBTQ community, their parents, families and friends the opportunity to share their unconditional love with one another. I recently submitted a Note I wrote to my mother. I also took the opportunity to write a Note to my future child:

A Note to My Future Kid: You’ll Be a Winner

Mark Twain said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I’m 30 now. You’re on my mind. It must be my age. Your mom is getting on in years. Though don’t hold me to that, I won’t always admit it!

I consider myself very lucky. I grew up and realized I was gay. I once saw it as a “difference,” but I have now learned the truth, and I’ve now come to count it as one of my greatest assets. I call it an asset because I had to dig deep, deep within. I was forced to really understand the true worth of compassion and empathy. I know their true worth because I had to show these fine qualities to myself. They enabled me to move forward. They enabled me not only to accept who I am, but more importantly, to embrace who I am. Although my being gay accounted for struggles in my earlier years, it’s now a good thing, it’s now something I love. That’s why I’m lucky; that’s why I feel privileged. Look what I’ve learned from what I thought was a burden, a disadvantage. Empathy and compassion for all human beings are lessons of great worth. They’re powerful. They’re timeless. They’re priceless.

My own mother, your grandmother, has been hugely instrumental in my life and she continues to be. Though I felt different, she never saw me as different. She was right all along. With you, I’ll be trying to follow her lead. I hope I do a good job. You’ll want to spend a lot of time with her. I hope she reminds you of me. Even in a small way would mean the biggest honor.

When you grow up, you might like girls, you might like boys, you might like both. That won’t matter. What will matter is what’s inside of you, the love in your heart and how much you value you. If you ever have doubts — just ask your mom — I’ll remind you how special you are. A kind heart, compassion and understanding for both yourself and others will see you very far in this world. You may even change it for the better. Leaders don’t wait for others to show them love and acceptance. Leaders show others how. I think you’ll shine, I just know it.

Mark Twain spoke of your second important day. The day you find out why you’re here. You see, we all have a purpose on this earth. We all make our mark on the world before leaving it. The key is to decide what mark you want to make. Decide what contribution you want to make with your life and what you want to be remembered for. That second day marks a new beginning and from that day on, with your purpose in the forefront of your mind, you give it everything you’ve got, you give it your all. Opportunity is always there for the taking. Every opportunity is yours for the taking. Grab it, use both hands and never let go.

The thing about life is, there are some very simple truths. Your mom still has trouble with them. Your mom’s far from perfect, contrary to what I might have you believe at times! Every one of us can make an impact for the better. Every one of us has more talent and ability than we even realize. We can all give of ourselves for the benefit of others. I once read that success is fine, but significance is what it’s really about. There is a richness in trying to help others. Success in that brings about positive change. That’s the real gold. That’s real success.

Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody has experience to learn from and to teach others about. Sometimes I think that’s why we experience hardship. The harder the times, the greater the lessons. The more we learn, the more we have to teach. There is always good in every bad. As much as I would want to shelter you from everything, I can’t and I won’t. But I promise you, nothing will come your way that you can’t handle. I will always try to be there when you need or want me, but your strength will come from within, and it will come, whenever you need it. Even though I may not be there with you in person, my heart will be with you, in everything you do. You will always have your mother’s love. That’s my promise to you and you can hold me to that. But another promise is: you’ll never have to.

Life itself is the greatest educator. Your life will be filled with experience. Everybody’s is. That’s the beauty of life. You’ll see highs and lows, ups and downs. You will meet with what seem like difficulties. But you’ll come to see that hard times add to us. They do not take away from us. I hope you’ll remember something in any of your harder hours: it’s always darkest before the dawn. Winter is always followed by spring. Difficulties don’t last, but our strength of character does.

I won’t ask you for much, but one thing I will ask is that whatever happens throughout your journey, that you won’t dwell on the past. You won’t dwell on mistakes you think you’ve made or regrets you might harbor. Your future is in front of you and it’s waiting for you. If you’re looking back, you won’t see the way forward. Always hold your head high. You’ll see more opportunities that way. Always be true to who you are and follow your heart. It won’t lead you astray. It will guide you to a fulfilling happy life — just let it lead. You’ll be a winner because there are no losers.

I wonder what you’ll want to be when you grow up. I wonder who you’ll fall in love with. There is a world of choice and opportunity awaiting you. You have so very much to look forward to. My note to you now ends, but my dreams for you never will. Someday I’ll welcome you to this world. I’ll see you when you get here kid, whoever you’ll be.

Click on the link below:

Robyn Harper: A Note to My Future Kid: You’ll Be a Winner

 

The Best LGBT Moments Of The Week July 23 – July 28

With so much hate continually aimed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, we like to take a moment every once in a while to highlight some of the good news featured on The Huffington Post.

Every other weekend HuffPost Gay Voices offers its “Something To Celebrate” feature, a round up of the best LGBT moments from the week before.

It’s a great way to catch up on the stories that you might have missed during the last seven days — not to mention a much needed reminder that though the LGBT community still faces many enemies and it must continue to fight, it’s making gains and beautiful things happen in and to the LGBT community every day.

Have a look at 14 of the best LGBT stories from the past week and then let us know what your favorite moment was in the comments section below.

Gay Olympians (click here)  Competing At 2012 London Olympics

TeamSpirituality.com   - click for short film on Christian Science and the 2012 London Olympics

Encouragement from ‘The Ugly Duckling’

A Christian Science perspective.

By Doug Brown

I particularly like “The Ugly Duckling,” by Hans Christian Andersen. Our star character is a duckling whose appearance is so out of place among his family that he is labeled The Ugly One. Deep down in his little duckling heart he has the same needs for love and acceptance as his brother and sister ducks, but it is not to be. He is different … he is ugly.

What is remarkable in Jesus’ case is that he was able to maintain his spiritual identity, even in the face of the most intense betrayal.

Love is all there is to you

By Anthony Whitehouse

* photo courtesy of www.allposters.com

- The Arrest of Christ in the gardens, circa 1628-30 by Sir Anthony Van Dyck

From the February 2011 issue of The Christian Science Journal

Transforming the model of what we think we are

It is not sufficient to be the most dedicated of worshipers, readers of the Bible, and workers of goodly works. If we still hold ourselves to be after all, “only human,” things will proceed from a purely human sense of goodness. In such circumstances, the truly transforming nature of a purely spiritual sense of identity cannot operate to the accomplishment of healing, because identity is still confined within the limits of a human personality, however “good” that may be.

I spent many decades trying to think my way out of the human dilemma—and not succeeding. But after my encounter with Christian Science, it became clear that wishing to experience the mind “which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5)  involves more than just an intellectual exercise. Otherwise every dedicated Christian on earth would have achieved what Jesus Christ did. I realized it isn’t just a matter of attempting to alter or improve the way we think. We have to transform the model of what we think we are. 

So how do we step outside the confines of this human identity, to the spiritual identity that mirrors the divine? I find the answer to be surprisingly simple—yet devastatingly transforming in its impact. It lies entirely in our ability to accept and understand that all there is to us is Love. No more and no less. Love constitutes every aspect of our being. It is our identity. Our experience. Our very Soul. Love is the substance of what we are.

When Jesus said “greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12), I feel he meant that when a human sense of identity is abandoned in favor of a spiritual sense, then the “I” or “Ego” has “gone to the Father”—i.e., has become Love, which is another name for God—and the “greater works” that the Master accomplished no longer seem an impossible feat today. Why? Because, when Love is the substance of our identity, of being itself, we find evidence of Love everywhere, because it is no longer our personal activity but the very activity of God. Love loves everything it sees with tenderness, because that is what Love does.

For this mental migration to occur, we have to totally discard the human view of identity and take up Love as our Ego, because it is the “new wine” that cannot be stored in the “old bottles” of personal sense (see Matt. 9:17). God, Love, is real and eternal—whereas a human, personal sense of life is phantasmal and illusory. As hard as it may be to accept, this personal sense we hold on to so dearly is an illusion, and can never be real.

What is “the Christ” other than perfect Love present in our experience as our own sense of identity? According to Christian Science, Jesus could say “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), because he held himself to be Love’s Son, or full expression. He felt that Love was all there was to his selfhood. It represented every fiber of his being. With this sense of identity, it is hardly surprising that Jesus did not feel separated from God. With divine Love as his source of identity, it is hardly surprising that his life expressed this love. Jesus did not “try” to be loving. Love gave expression to itself in Christ. What is remarkable in Jesus’ case is that he was able to maintain his spiritual identity, even in the face of the most intense betrayal. I feel it was because he understood that God was defining what he was. He was not defining his own personal nature—and made no attempt to define it—any more than the Romeo of Shakespeare’s pen formulated Shakespeare’s character.

Click on the link below to read article in its entirety:

Trust your instruments

A Christian Science perspective.

* photo courtesy of www.allposters.com

When flying at night or through clouds, pilots don’t have the usual visual cues. They may think they are flying straight and level, when in fact the aircraft is in a turn or descent. Occasionally, inexperienced pilots have flown into the ground or into the water because they trusted these physical messages rather than applying the flight-school mantra, “Trust your instruments.”

As a pilot, I’ve found a strong correlation between instrument flying and using spiritual intuition. For example, when our physical senses indicate that the body is sick, it is tempting to believe that information and conclude that this is fact. Yet Jesus healed people of grave, chronic illnesses by refusing to believe what the physical senses conveyed. Christian Science explains that he looked beyond them to the spiritual truth of the situation. To Jesus, illness was not the ultimate reality about an individual; wholeness was.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Monitor, wrote, “Even though you aver that the material senses are indispensable to man’s existence or entity, you must change the human concept of life, and must at length know yourself spiritually and scientifically. The evidence of the existence of Spirit, Soul, is palpable only to spiritual sense, and is not apparent to the material senses, which cognize only that which is the opposite of Spirit [God]” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 359).

In a well-known Bible story, a storm arose while Jesus and his disciples were at sea. Afraid of losing their lives, the disciples woke Jesus, who was asleep in the back of the ship. And he “rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39).

How was it that Jesus was able to sleep while others were not? To me, he trusted his instruments. Evidently, his spiritual sense told him that in God’s universe all was at peace, so that he was not fooled by the physical evidence of a dangerous storm. According to Christian Science, which is based on Jesus’ teaching, his clear understanding of the spiritual fact that God is a loving God, who cares for everyone, explains how he could speak to the storm with authority.

Click on the link below to read the article in its entireity:

Dr. Tutt recounted that his teacher, Adam Dickey, used to say: “If you ever feel depressed or discouraged, think of the good you have done.”

Put a stop to hatred

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this newspaper, gave a strong incentive for such prayer in an article on loving one’s enemies. “Hate no one;” she wrote, “for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us; brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, throughout time and beyond the grave” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896,” p. 12). Who would want anyone to experience such a fate? This statement is a call to the recognition that to hate is an unnatural act. It has nothing to do with the true nature of anyone. In reality, we are all spiritual and are defined by divine Love, not by hate. Each of us is or can be free from destructive influences.

Hatred often acts superior, but behind its strut are cowardice and fear. These are not qualities that God gives to any of His children. They have their roots in the belief that all creation is essentially material and that certain individuals within this material realm are naturally superior to others. Those who are inferior have no value and can safely be despised.

Fear also tends to separate, to argue that there are those who need to be feared because they could take good away from us or from others. Also that our provision is limited, even though God is infinite Love, and that only some will have enough. The Bible replies, “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Within this oneness, each of us is distinct and has a divinely appointed purpose, while at the same time as fellow sons and daughters of God, everyone has the same relation to God. No one is shut out, left out, or thrown out of His kingdom. God loves His creation, including all its diverse elements, and He created only good.

It follows then that hatred, which is definitely not good, can have no staying power in the heart that is willing to reach out in love to others – even those who do not love in return. Jesus made this point: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Knowing the sacrifices he made on humanity’s behalf provides an outstanding example for us to follow in prayer and in prayer-inspired actions.

Seeing ourselves and others from a spiritual standpoint frees one from anger toward those who practice hatred. It may also provide intelligent ways to communicate a higher, more inspired viewpoint to those who are under hate’s influence. Divine intelligence can enlighten their thoughts and bring them peace and the willingness to honor established laws.

God never made hate or a hater. The hateful element of thought has no place in the divine creation, and no place in anyone. Because we are children of divine Love, it’s natural to love one another. Our prayers can prove this, as we diligently affirm, day after day, the love, intelligence, and wisdom that God has given to all.

Good is more powerful than evil. Love is stronger than hate or fear, and Love never fails.

+

“Prayers (Video) for Aurora”

with Chet Manchester, CS

Comfort in response to the shootings in Colorado

A Christian Science perspective

Instead of stoically accepting that bad things happen to good people, we can do something. And that something is simply – yet primarily – prayer.

Over the years I’ve learned that it’s essential to face down violence, tragedy, and grief with an unshaken conviction that God, the Supreme Being, has always been and will forever be unchanging in His all-embracing love and care for each one of us. Easy to say! And you may ask, how can this view of God help me and those caught in extreme situations where senseless terror seems to have the upper hand?

There’s help at hand as we turn to God’s Word. One of my favorite verses in the book of Psalms speaks of lifting our heads, of looking up: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth…. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil” (Psalm 121:1, 2, 7).

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Monitor, put it succinctly: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 494). That divine Love is right at hand, embracing the grieving heart as a parent embraces and comforts a child. Prayer acknowledging this fact can touch those grieving hearts in tangible ways – in the way that most meets their need at any given moment. Mrs. Eddy compassionately knew that “The poor suffering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace, patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear Father’s loving-kindness” (p. 365). This priceless love of God reaches out to each suffering one right now, and heals the broken heart.

Mulling over this tragic incident, being shocked at the evidence of evil and lawlessness and senseless violence, keeps our prayers mired in the awful mud of fear and dismay, and is nonproductive. There is a better way. We can take a stand for the goodness inherent in God’s creation, and lift our prayers higher, never closing our eyes to our neighbor’s grief and suffering, but opening our eyes again and again to the comforting Father-Mother God, who is infinitely able to bring restoration, healing, comfort, and peace to His loved family. Eddy’s conviction of the supremacy of good is expressed in these comforting words: “No evidence before the material senses can close my eyes to the scientific proof that God, good, is supreme” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 277).

The city of Aurora is beautifully named. The word “Aurora” signifies dawn. I will continue to pray for the dawn of a new day of peace, brotherhood, loving kindness, not only in the city where I live, but on the entire planet.

To read the article in its entirety click on the link below:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR Comfort in response to the shootings in Colorado