Be back in May

April flowers and silly boys

Dear Friends and Readers,

It's been fun and it's always practical for me to see things from a spiritual viewpoint. Hope it has been for you too.

Now it's time to take a little break. Believe it or not, other projects need front burner attention.

Meanwhile you can view previous helpful blogs, or click on links to other inspirational bloggers. Just scroll down the righthand column and click on the year, the month, or the blogger!

See you May 6!

Sandi

No and Yes - the poem, revised

Each of us is unique, special,

one of a kind!

No, no, no-no-no!
God’s goodness does not come and go.
Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes.
Good is now and here to bless.

What God intends, He carries out,
It will not do to fret or doubt.
You are essential to God’s plan
Of perfect God and perfect man.

You are the proof that Love is here,
That good is real, that man is dear.
Wherever you go, you are God’s light,
Scattering fear and darkest night.

You’re cherished now, one of a kind,
Unique expression of one Mind.
He needs you and you love to be
His child – holy, pure and free.

Yes, yes, yes-yes-yes.
You better believe you’re here to bless.
Your job today? To make God known
Through our love, His love is shown.

No, no, no-no-no!
What comes from God won’t ebb and flow.
His love is focused, won’t digress.
You are His great delight, oh yes!

by Sandi Justad

From the mouth of a child

The Lord’s Prayer like you haven’t heard it in a long, long, time – unless you are the parents of a three-year old.

Just click here.

No more age limits!

Have you seen those cutesy emails about Baby Boomers reaching Social Social Security age –that detail in a humorous way the aches, vulnerabilities, and deterioration accepted as normal for seniors?

While it’s probably better to laugh than to cry, I must protest.

Might age be a state of mind? Musicians and politicians (very strange bedfellows) often stay physically active and mentally sharp decades after others have retired.

Grandma Moses stands as a worthy example of a woman who, unexpectedly, launched a new career in the arts in her 70s.

Another woman who defined “productivity” during her senior years was Mary Baker Eddy – author, editor, publisher, lecturer, teacher, and preacher. She wrote, “Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.”

In fact, when Eddy wrote those words, the average life expectancy was 45 – so that age 70 (threescore years and ten) is about 60% greater. Google reveals the life expectancy in 2007 in the United States at 78 years. So, an increase of 60% over that, using Eddy’s cheery estimate, would be 125 years. In other countries, today’s life expectancy is even greater – 82 in Japan, 81 in Singapore, 80 in Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Iceland, Canada, and France.

So why not anticipate vigor, freshness and promise -- right through 125 years of age? What if the antidote has more to do with attitude than we think? -- to not measure or limit anything good and beautiful in our lives.

This includes deciding whether to forward even those emails that, while eliciting chuckles and smiles, spread an accepted curtailment and inevitable decline of intelligence, health, and mobility for those past a certain number of years.

Yes, the lives of those in all generations can embrace “all that is good and beautiful.”

The ad below affirms the satisfying surprise of challenging assumed limits for age and gender too.

Lion hug

For you animal lovers, here’s a YouTube video.

The story says that a woman in Columbia found a lion cub, who was wounded and hungry. She took him home and raised him until he was too big. She then gave him to the local zoo, where she visits him every day.

The deep affection between them is clear.





American religious leader, Mary Baker Eddy, viewed animals from a spiritual perspective. She wrote, “Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions’ den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless. All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible.”

Waterfall Glen and Principle

Controlled burn allows

sunlight to reach the forest floor --

even after the summer leaves appear.

As we walked the crushed limestone paths at Waterfall Glen, my sister made a startling announcement. “Look at all this!” her gesture took in the pond of very vocal spring peepers, the pylons carrying power lines next to a freight train track, and the forest we were about to enter. “God is so Principle.”

“Principle?”

“Umhmm,” she nodded.

Silence as I tried to figure out how this woman whom I love, admire, and respect, came up with Principle, of all things. “And what do you like about God as Principle?”

“Principle is like the big umbrella with everything else included under it. Principle is the structure that allows everything else to work harmoniously. It’s like the pylon that allows power to be delivered to where it’s needed.

It’s like the traffic lights. Everyone knows what the laws are – green you go, red you stop. When everyone obeys the laws, there is order. Not just for you, but for everybody. That's Principle. If somebody ignores the laws, whap! It isn’t that God is angry with you or is punishing you, you just have to obey the laws that are in place.”

We spotted a flicker working the top of a tall dead tree. With binoculars we marveled at his wonderful camouflage -- accented by his magnificent red head.

We marveled at the tidiness of the controlled burn areas. The tree trunks weren’t even scorched. The strangling buckthorn had been vanquished.

Is that what God as Principle does? Sets up a controlled framework that destroys whatever would thwart our spiritual progress – without harming us!

Another week of this weather, and spring wildflowers will dot the forest floors, responding to the warmth and sunlight.

Is that what God as Principle does? Arranges things so that we can thrive in the light of His love?

I’ll be thinking a lot more about God as Principle, and what that means.

Real humility knows no limits

Humility. It’s not what most people think -- that if you are meek, people will take advantage of you. Whatever else that is, that is not humility.

Genuine humility has been better described as knowing you really need to lean on God if you are going to get the job done.

Here’s the story of a man who sacrificed his schooling as a boy by working in the fields to help his family. As a result, he never learned to read.

Now, he has found the humility at age 70 to return to school where, as a beloved member of his first grade class, yes, he is learning to read.




Cllick Here to read the print story.

More than sledding

Wheee!

In January my grandson and I had a great one-on-one vacation. We drove to the Wisconsin north woods to visit relatives and engage in great snow activities. We sledded, snowshoed, baked cookies in a happy extended family setting.

One day my cousin was supervising some sledding behind their house. I stood nearby, camera in hand, to catch some of this fun. I wasn’t participating in the sledding activity, became of a hurting back. I was praying, however -- from the standpoint that this pain was trying to suggest I could be separated from God’s love – a relationship I hold very dear. Or that God was too busy to care for every detail of His universe.

It wasn’t a prayer to God as a super person to stop what He was doing and look after me, so much as an affirmation that an infinitely good God who is Spirit and Truth infinitely maintains harmony. If God is wholly good and fills all space, then this pain could not be a reality in His presence. A loving God doesn’t send evil. He sends harmony.

Now at that point in my prayers, it occurred to me that I had been indulging in some pretty self-righteous criticism that morning. Right now, I have no idea what it might have been. But at the time it seemed important and troublesome.

Big deal! Who doesn’t criticize? Well, yes. Except that I had lately been making a fairly successful effort to see beyond the human scene. To discern more of God’s goodness and His good creation. So criticism now stood out by way of contrast as a backward step in a forward spiritual journey. This kind of negative thinking was no longer comfortable.

So I began undoing that criticism, replacing the “wrongs” I had been anguishing over with what was clearly right about the person or situation (while I don’t recall the specifics, I do remember the process!) appreciating the good qualities – what God knew from His vantage point to be enduring and true.

This happy mental conversation took place even with great laughter and fun punctuating the snowy scene all around. About midway down the hill, the boys were packing snow into a little jump for the sleds in hopes of gaining some “air time.”

My cousin clowning on a tube

Then my cousin said, “Sandi, why don’t you go down the hill? I’ll hold your camera!”

Moment of truth. Do I really believe that God, Spirit, is my whole substance and my only substance? That matter cannot make laws to undermine God’s harmonious control?

The feeling in my back hadn’t changed. It still hurt. But thought was moving, so I trusted God, divine Mind, as the source of that movement and settled onto the sled behind my grandson. We sped down the hill landing with a bump on the other side of the jump. And that was the last time all day that I thought about my back. In fact, it’s been uncomplaining ever since.

I just love adventures in learning more about God’s great love.