Heaven and security

Mount Hood, Oregon

My seatmate on the flight back to Chicago lives in pure heaven. Their home is on 500 acres at the foot of a mountain -- with horses, dogs, cats, ducks. Their immediate neighbors are orchards and sheep. Their property backs up to a national forest.

Her husband is a mechanic for a nearby ski resort. She is a vet. They both love what they do.

Then comes the fly in the ointment. They feel tiny earthquake tremors every day. And the mountain, at whose base they enjoy life, is Mt. Hood, considered Oregon's volcano most likely to erupt.

Can heaven really exist on a fault next to a potentially active volcano?

I guess it depends on your definition of heaven. I've loved this one for a long time:

"Heaven. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy)

There is nothing here about mountains or rivers or national forests. The definition is all mental and spiritual.

While nature nourishes my deepest self, it's also nice to be able to be in the middle of city traffic and find Principle's orderly government or Spirit's benevolent reign. The atmosphere of Soul is wherever I am, and it's pure, health-giving and health-sustaining. It doesn't tremble and it doesn't erupt.

That doesn't mean I won't love to go exploring around Mount Hood some day. It's just a reminder that security and refreshment are already in consciousness, in that kingdom of heaven within.

A few days away

Water Taxi

on the Chciago River

Hello Good Buddies.

Going to be gone for a few days. See you next week.

What's under the surface?

After the manhole cover

was made level

The driveway for our condo needed some repair before seal-coating this year.

In particular a manhole cover was slanted. This indicates a problem beneath the surface. The sewer guys came and found the structure supporting the manhole cover was crumbling. They took out the crumbled stuff, and replaced it with concrete that will last, and now the cover is level again.

Then the surface guys moved in. The two men had an orderly procedure to follow. I was impressed how well they worked as a team.

We could have just seal-coated and left the man hole cover slanted. The driveway would look good on the surface.

Final touches on repairing
the manhole cover

I appreciated the lesson that when something doesn’t seem quite right, it is important to look beneath the surface to find out what is really going on. In relationships, if something doesn’t seem quite right, it can also be useful to delve beneath the surface.

What helps me a lot is to turn to the one Mind, the creator of the universe, and ask what I need to know to better praise and glorify Him/Her. This honest prayer often reveals underlying issues in a sticky relationship. Once recognized, they can be addressed.

Then progress can resume.

The launching

Outdoor ceremony --

rain or shine

My nephew graduated from university yesterday.

I saw him enter this world as an infant 22 years ago. He was quiet and just kind of listened, taking everything in. His gentle temperament hasn’t changed much since then, and here he is – graduating with honors in physics and honors in math. Yikes.

His mother has marveled that he could get himself up in time for classes; that he took care of his own laundry, that he could prepare his own meals, that he rented an apartment, bought and sold furniture.

This is not unique to my nephew. Hundreds of thousands of students around the globe reach this plateau each year – and use it as a launching pad for discovering life as an adult.

Pipers practice between graduations.

Freshmen are piped in

and graduates are piped out.

What does it mean to be an adult? My nephew will take his thoughtful and considerate attitude, along with his amazingly mathematical way of viewing the world, and weave them into his new friendships and experiences.

Most of the others will also be bringing their skills and attitudes to new situations. I pray for the fit of specific skill sets and unselfish idealism with those who are looking for exactly these approaches.

What helps me pray for everyone embarking on a new career, is from a chapter on “Creation,” where Mary Baker Eddy writes,

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts

into their proper channels,

and unfolds these thoughts,

even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose

in order that the purpose may appear.”

(Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures)

Where God ain’t

This came in a recent email. Thought you might enjoy the childlike simplicity.

He was just a little boy,
On a week’s first day.
Wandering home from Bible school,
And dawdling on the way.

He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
He found a caterpillar.
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
And blew out all the filler.

A bird’s nest in a tree overhead,
Wisely placed so high.
Was just another wonder,
That caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his zigzag course,
And hailed him from the lawn;
Asked him where he’d been that day
And what was going on.

“I’ve been to Bible School,”
He said and turned a piece of sod.
And, picking up a wiggly worm,
“I’ve learned a lot about God....”

“Mmm very fine way,” the neighbor said,
“for a boy to spend his time.”
“If you’ll tell me where God is,
I’ll give you a brand new dime.”

Quick as a flash the answer came!
Nor were his accents faint.
“I’ll give you a dollar, Mister,
If you can tell me where God ain’t."

Making the best of things

Johanna's hobby today --

flowers

My neighbor, Johanna, was a little girl in Bavaria when World War II ended. She was the youngest of her siblings, and the only one who didn’t complain when she went with her dad on errands. She simply enjoyed his company.

One day he said, “Let’s go north to visit my mother.” This was up near the Czech border. The few running trains in the aftermath of the war had no schedules. So they caught a train and took it as far as Augsburg. They spent the night in the station lit by a single dangling lightbulb. The few hotels that had not been bombed housed American soldiers.

The next day they caught another train to Bayern. They still had eighteen kilometers to reach his mother's house. A man with a cart pulled by two horses took them half way. They walked the last nine kilometers to learn Johanna’s grandmother had died the week before. It was a sad time.

However, they stayed for a few days with relatives on a farm, who piled them with hams, eggs, and bread to take home with them.

On the crowded return train trip, Johanna's dad gave his seat to an elderly woman who asked them where they would spend the night. He said they would sleep in the station as they had before.

More of Johanna's flowers

The woman said her place had not been bombed; it stood alone amid the rubble; and they could sleep in her apartment if they would give her some food. So Johanna and her dad slept in their own feather beds and left the woman with ham and bread and eggs. Everyone was happy.

Fast forward to Johanna and Kurt, newlyweds and adventurers. They came to America, worked hard, and here raised their family.

What is spiritual value of this story? That all things work together for good, to them that love God.

I don’t know if Johanna believes in God per se. Johanna believes life has been good to her. I know by how she lives her life that she believes in truth and forgiveness and generosity. These things describe my God. It looks to me like she does a good job of loving her neighbor as herself.

Another look at Stonehenge

Mr. Wally Wallington thought and thought about Stonehenge, and figured out how, with the simplest of tools, an ancient people could have easily (well "easily" is a very relative term) set those monoliths in place.

In this video he shows how his theory could be the answer.

"Reason is the most active human faculty."

"We are all capable of more than we do."

Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader

Communicating

Before my grandson could speak "our language," he spoke an amazingly musical baby language, that I wish now I had recorded.

Here's a delightful little girl, communicating earnestly in her own wonderful way. She expects to be taken seriously. She seems puzzled when the adults find her amusing.






Real communication is from the heart, whatever the language. Dogs, cats, birds, horses, whales -- all communicate. The rest of us have a wonderful opportunity to listen as creatures speak with their eyes and their body language.

I believe the Mind of the universe intended us to communicate, that is, listen to one another for the purpose of understanding.

Stress relief

An office worker urgently needed a few days off work, but realized the Boss would never give him time off. So he hung upside-down from the ceiling in his office and made squeaking noises.

His equally over-worked co-worker asked what he was doing.

He explained that he was pretending to be a light bulb, so, that the boss might think he was crazy and give him a few days off.

A few minutes later the boss came into the office and asked, "What in the world are you doing?"

He told him he was a light bulb.

The boss said, "You are clearly stressed out." Go home and recuperate for a couple of days."

The man jumped down and walked out of the office. When his co-worker followed him, the boss asked her, "And where do you think you're going?"

She said, "I'm going home too. I can't work in the dark."

____________________________

There is a deeper peace than pretending to be a light bulb, that transcends pressure. It's found by connecting with the higher Authority -- God, Allah, Goodness, Truth.

Peace is discovering life is not all about us. Life is about serving this greater Authority; peace is finding that unselfishness is natural to us.

Intelligent caring about others yields peace. Then, either circumstances change, or we leave for something more suitable.