“Discipline is remembering what you want.”
~ David Campbell
Are you striving to demonstrate fitness, health, abundance, love? Do you see value in making that demonstration? Then keep that goal firmly in view, and you’ll think, act and be accordingly. The discipline it takes to be successful will become a natural part of your routine.
A good start to the month – thanks Evan
Thank you, Evan!!
For a number of years I have worked with a definition of grace that came to me as DDT or divinely disciplined thought
I love this one!
“… keep that goal firmly in view, and you will think act and be accordingly.”
Yes, this will take discipline and how well worth it it is.
Thank you thank you thank you
Thank you very much Evan, so very needed when one is praying and working for healing! So very comforting your spiritual view of today like always 🙂
Oh my, Patty from TN…DDT ! “Divinely Disciplined Thought” is definitely what I need to apply to “the garden of my experience”. Thank you for that inspired phrase. Beauty! Utility!
Ahhhhh! Wonderful! Thanks!
“Divinely disciplined thought” I love that. Thanks so much Patty.
I like this a lot. I remember working through a very difficult challenge for a few months and I really wanted to stick to CS and not give in to trying material methods. Periodically, when things became very difficult, I would say earnestly “Father-Mother God, I want to stay with you!” It was a heart felt plea to God to feel supported, but it also helped me to stay disciplined to rely on God and not give in to a different method.
This is a helpful reminder as I work through another challenge.
Oh, my I must remember this Trista, “Father/Mother God I want to stay with you.” I love that thought.
Thanks Evan and all. Love DDT! That’s what I’m working on right now, so it is very much appreciated.
Evan, you hit the nail on the head. Discouragement tries to distract from sticking with God during touch times. Thanks all for you loving thoughts that support.
I have discovered I must be watchful to know that I am already one with God and it does not take discipline and work to get there.
Wow – that is great. Simple, and powerful.
I agree, simple & powerful. Always right on Evan. And I, too, love the DDT.
Thank you Evan and Everyone for your comments. What occurred to me when reading this is how often I find that people that have the discipline to excel at something really passionately love that “something” at which they excel. That realization has made me aware that being disciplined is a lot easier when a person loves that at which they are striving to be disciplined. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy included a spiritual interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer and interprets “Hallowed be Thy name” as “Adorable One”. It helps me when practicing Christian Science (both in quiet prayer and in daily activities) to remember my purpose is not to get better things (e.g. health, wealth, etc.). My purpose is to love (adore) God and my neighbor as myself (see Mark 12:30-31). The more I nurture that sense of love for God and His idea, the easier I find it is to keep my thought disciplined on what is good and true.
Beautiful, Brian!
How do we demonstrate Fitness and Abundance in Christian Science…..??? Is it by keeping our mortal human mind on those things or is it by knowing what the Divine Mind knows…..??? Is it trying to achieve things materially or is it about growing in our spiritual understanding of how God, Mind, sees us…….???
I think I’m just now beginning to realize that this Blog really isn’t about Christian Science and doesn’t pretend to be. It’s an independent Blog by a Christian Science Teacher and Practitioner, but is not sponsored by The Mother Church. Therefore Evan can put up anything here that he thinks might be helpful to people….whether it adheres to C.S. Principles or not. Am I the last to know…??? Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks!
P. S. I find it confusing to jump back and forth between C.S. and the more relative human ideas.
Hi Bevi,
We demonstrate fitness by reflecting the Mind of God. Fitness is a state of Mind, reflected by man, in the form of spiritual mindedness, love, truth, and so on. Abundance is the same. It’s not about money, it’s about spiritual mindedness. As the apostle Paul reminds us, to keep our thought focused on the spiritual things, and we’ll demonstrate them.
When I quote, what one might call, secular quotes, as I did above, I trust my readers to see deeper, into the spiritual message underlying them. I believe there are millions and millions of spiritually minded people all over the earth catching glimpses of truth all the time. They may not quote that truth in a way that conforms to another’s vernacular, but if one is open minded, and not judgmental, they can discern that truth too and benefit from it.
Anything I write does grow out of the teachings of Christian Science. However, I do take liberty to quote other people who share insights that I find helpful to ponder. I’m confident that my readers can tell the difference. They seem to be a very sharp and spiritually minded group of thinkers!
Love,
There’s isn’t Christian Science AND those and that other outside. All is God, ALL. Those other and that other so called by some Scientist is elitism. As I came into Science late in life I did notice one bad habit “they” seemed to have. They referred to themselves as separate from others in the human family. “Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love— Be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” S&H. 234:4. When I first became a student of Christian Science the Practitioner said to me, “God doesn’t know a Scientists from a Buddhist, He only knows His beloved child.”
Thank youCharla❣️ This continues to be my experience as well.
“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 261.
Thanks, Evan……your explanation is very helpful – it lets me see how you are thinking about and applying your knowledge of Christian Science. I just happen to think that when Mrs. Eddy said to hold thought to the enduring, good and true…..she wasn’t talking about keeping our thought on material things we wanted to demonstrate, but keeping our thought on the spiritual ideas we wanted to see expressed in our lives. I know Mrs. Eddy was very adamant on not demonstrating “things” or even demonstrating physically fit bodies or material abundance. Some of what you said you believe reminds me of The Church of Religious Science and of Earnest Holmes, the man who started that Church as an offshoot of Christian Science. The Church of Religious Science has less of a metaphysical view and more of how to demonstrate materially what you want in your life by focusing the human mind on those things. And I KNOW that is NOT Christian Science. I also wonder why you would even need or want to quote from other people if your main interest is Christian Science and healing through understanding Divine Metaphysics……….??? Also, some of the quotes and ideas that get put on this Blog by You and Others don’t really support Christian Science and Divine Metaphysics. That Beautiful Article you wrote in the February C.S. Journal is all about sticking strictly to the Cause of Christian Science Healing and I just don’t see how or why you would want to water it down by allowing more materially minded thoughts and ideas on your Blog. As I said before, it is confusing and if I were someone new to C.S. and trying to find out what it REALLY IS, I would be confused by what gets put on Spiritview!
Hi Bevi. There is nothing about demonstrating material things in my blog. You superimposed that into it through your own thinking. I expect my readers to know that when I talk about fitness, health and abundance, I’m talking about the spiritual, not the material. I’m sorry you missed that point, but hopefully it will get clear to you!
We see what we believe…
SpiritView is all about loving and cherishing the things of Spirit. That’s all there really is to love and cherish, as I think you know.
Love to you.
Evan, when you use other quotes and secular ideas, hoping that your Readers will “get” that you are referring to spiritual ideas , that’s confusing. It seems to bring things down to more of a material level and I’ve seen enough comments on the Blog to know that people don’t always “get it.” There have been a lot of misconceptions expressed by people on the Blog and it bothers me because if someone who was not a C.S.er came on, he would be confused. Heck – I get confused sometimes and know other C.S.ers who do, too, saying that the Blog is too secular and not metaphysical enough. I think we need to keep C.S. in its pure form and that’s why the Sentinels and Journals are carefully edited so that the Articles conform to pure Christian Science. Like your Article…..I’m sure they made you edit and rewrite it several times to keep it in line with pure Christian Science. We need to stick with the stick metaphysics of C.S, in order to Heal and to keep it Pure!
Oh Evan, thank you so very much for your so loving clarification of a seeming misunderstanding .
Thank you all dear commenters for your comments.
I know several free blogs from CS practitioners and teachers, also in Germany. I must say clearly that Evan’s blog for me expresses a deep metaphysics which I do understand so well. And if there seems something not so understandable for me as a German, I ask our commenters for help, and am grateful for all the loving replies which do clarify the issue for me and I am deeply grateful for the interesting and inspiring discussions resulting from it.
Dear Bevi there is nothing wrong with this blog rather in the contrary. I also do listen and pray, if it seems that I do not understand it correct. I know there is always a solution to the good, which is God. By the way, I feel, this blog is wonderfully christian scientific and blessing us, and therefore I love Evan’s SpiritView blog and am very grateful for it! Thanks Evan for that clear passage from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy p. 261, very helpful.
Thanks, Uta!
Uta, I’m not saying there is anything Wrong with this Blog….just wondering why someone so dedicated to the Healing Practice of C.S. would want to entertain other less metaphysical ideas and let people comment on them – when often they don’t seem to even adhere to the true ideals of Christian Science. Look, we all know that the Christian Science Church needs a lot more Real Healers these days. As Mrs. Eddy said, it’s Metaphysical Healing that distinguishes C.S. from other Christian Churches. I want to be able to call a C.S. Practitioner/Teacher and expect Healing! And as Evan said in his Article, it takes real Warriors to secure a victory for the Cause he fights for. Discussing more secular ideas and quotes is fine for a Blog, it’s just that I have just realized that this Blog was never intended to be one in which ONLY C.S. ideas were shared and discussed. I guess I’m just still reeling from the shock of recognizing that! And also, wondering Why Not……???
A very wise person once told me,”If you really want to be helpful to people you better be able to speak their language or you’ll never reach them.” Go into a Prison and try to talk Christian Science to them, for the most part they’ll look at you like you’re a kook. Love reaches people not quoting Mrs. Eddy. It takes wisdom to know how to be helpful. I try to remember to pray, “Father, what would you have me say in this situation, to this person?” My wisdom is not sufficient, We need to humble ourselves and never think we know what only God can know would be helpful. Just because we study Christian Science doesn’t make us superior to any living person.
Charla, it’s not about Christian Scientists being superior to others……Christian Science is a Science and has to be studied and adhered to scientifically so that Healing results. Loving thoughts and sweet remarks are wonderful, but if they aren’t based on Divine Principle and Scientific Thought, they won’t produce Healing, and this is what we have lost and are losing in the C.S. Church – too many people just wanting to smile and be nice without understanding the Metaphysics that actually Heal!
I’ve also heard too many people on this Blog say that the first thing they do in the morning is to check Spiritview, as if that is their study of C.S. Spiritview is not Christian Science and does not take the place of studying the Lesson and S&H and the Bible. Also, people seem to almost “worship” Evan….. and Mrs. Eddy was very clear about not having people worship her or personalize anyone in the Practice. Too much ego and too much love of applause……it’s very subtle, but it’s just this kind of thing that confuses and waters down the true understanding of Christian Science. We need to get out of presenting Christian Science this way, as if it has to do with the person, instead of with the pure Teaching. I can see now why the Mother Church stopped having people comment on the Daily Lift….it was becoming too much of a personality thing, losing the deep message that can stand on its own without attaching it to the person who’s presenting it. I know I’m being tough, Evan, but I care too much about Christian Science to watch it be watered down and personalized!
You are correct on one point, that a blog is not the same as an edited periodical. This blog was never intended to be as such. We have excellent periodicals published in Boston that serve a very specific purpose, and do it well.
This blog is a diary of experiences, insights and thoughts that have come to me while striving to understand Christian Science and put it into practice more effectively.
When I first started writing it, I didn’t know if anyone would be interested in reading it or not. I just wrote. Writers do that. They simply have a deep desire to share with others. No pretense, no image to build or protect, no ulterior motives, just a love to share. People started reading my blog, countless people have been healed of all kinds of ailments from reading this blog, and people have found helpful inspiration, so I keep writing. I’m not trying to be anything but me.
If you wrote a blog and shared your experiences, I would never judge you for your experiences. They are what they are. They are authentic and real because they are your experiences. My posts grow out of my experiences. They are what they are. Anyone is welcome to read, or not. That’s their choice.
But I do like to foster a community of kind-hearted people on this blog who support one another, love each other, and see the good in each other no matter where that individual may be in their journey of learning and applying Truth. I don’t think it’s fair to judge where another person is in their understanding. In the eyes of God, everyone is equally loved and valued. Christian Science is about seeing the perfect child of God, and then treating one’s neighbor with that understanding of truth. The effect of this type of practice is goodwill, kindness, mutual support, respect and healing. I send only love your way.
Thanks, Evan, for sharing all of this with Me and All on this Blog! I must admit, there is a part of me that really hates Christian Science and a part of me that tries to love it, because that is what was put in me as a child. Being sexually abused by my Father at age 4 or 5 in a Christian Science and Principia Family set up a very split view of the Religion for me. My head nods and says, Yes, this is the Truth. My Heart hurts and feels Rage that I was so Betrayed within the context of a Loving Caring Family and Religion. I think my criticizing You and Your Blog and the Commenters is a mixed up way of expressing my Rage and Anger about what happened to me by parents who professed to be practicing Christian Scientists and Teachers at Principia. I have come to realize that Christian Science may not be my path, as much as I was taught that it should be. I may never be able to get past the abuse, shame and betrayal and hypocrisy that I was handed in the name of Christian Science. And that’s OK. I Love the 12 Step Program and attend Buddhist and Catholic Retreats and feel God’s Love in all of these! Thank you for understanding and for caring! Love and Blessings to You!
Bevi,
My heart went out to you when I read of your painful experiences. Thank you for your kind acknowledgment of where you are coming from with some of your thoughts. I’m so glad to hear you’re supporting your spiritual journey by participating in traditions that don’t happen to be associated with painful aspects of your childhood.
Much love,
Jay
Thank you soooooo much, Jay! This is probably the most Healing Thing I have ever read on this Blog. It brought Tears To My Eyes, Love to my Heart and Conviction to my Head…..that I am indeed doing the right thing by following other Spiritual Paths this Lifetime. Heartfelt Love and Blessings to YOu!
Bevi
I’m sorry to hear you had a bad past experience. I can only say, it has nothing to do with Christian Science. As with any international movement, there are going to be people who practice true to the teachings, and those who don’t, and many in the middle doing the best they see at the time.
Christian Science is about pure Love. My family experience in Christian Science was very good. I’m so grateful to my parents for sharing Christian Science with me because it has brought me so many huge blessings over the decades. It has taught me how to heal mind and body through prayer, how to live a happy joyous life, how to overcome depressing and discouraging thoughts, how to never let evil get one down, and so much more. It’s also taught me to love my neighbor as they are, and to do my best to never criticize, judge or condemn them. But to love them. Christian Science teaches me to look for the child of God in everyone, and to search for the good. And I know there is huge good in you!
Much love. And enjoy your spiritual trek wherever it leads you.
Hugs,
I thought of you throughout my day Bevi and just wanted to send you a hug filled with roses and love. I’ve come to understand the TRUTH is wonderful and error is ugly. The connection I feel with all of us and our one mind is shared in the Truth. We all walk in LOVE and I ask that you feel that LOVE please. I am so very grateful for this blog Evan.
I love the thought of DDT , divinely desciplined thought. It demonstrates the Mathew code in the Holy Scriptures and what the Founder and Leader of Christian Science Church urged its healers “…love love love, be just .” Love you all,
…be just love^.
I have been reading all these comments with interest. I love this blog and it is really helpful to me, and I know that everyone’s true being is to be found in the Science of Christ – , and that God is speaking to every one of us to help us out of the quagmire of a mortal false sense that is trying to bog us down in a material sense of things.. I remember a time in a testimony meeting when a person stood up and told us that he I was driving along and was worried about something. He suddenly saw in front of him a van with the words “Rest Assured” in big letters on it ( it was advertising a bed company!!!!). This message alerted him and he felt that it was a message from God, and he took it to heart.
I myself was driving a long way somewhere a few years ago, and I was very nervous of doing this on such a long journey. I prayed to know that God was with me all the way. Well, after a little while, a car came in front of me and stayed in front of me for most of the way, and the number plate had the letters “GOD” in it. It made me laugh, but I thought that this was not just coincidence, and it gave me the courage to relax and enjoy the journey..
When we are seeking help from God, he always answers us in a way we can understand – something that is right at hand. Jesus illustrated this in all his analogies, using whatever people understand in their lives to reach them wherever they were in their thought.
Thank you Evan and all who participate and help each other with their experiences and inspiration.
It may be a bit late now to be posting this but I have been reading all the above comments with interest. To me anything that helps me to understand a bit more is useful. I don’t think it would be helpful to me if Evan was just quoting something from Mrs Eddy’s writings as his main theme every day. I like the quotes and sayings he gives because they make me think more and see how they can relate to CS. I once had a healing when the title of a pop song came to me and I began thinking about it in depth. That may sound trite but it started a chain of thought that led to healing. I am in favour of anything that can help break down my trust in matter etc. We are all at different stages in our thinking and some of the comnents made by others go over my head sometimes, but these blogs, together with the Bible Lesson, DL, and other articles all help me. I have been in CS all my life and sometimes feel I am getting nowhere with it, but then I read something and think ‘Oh yes I get that’.
I just read the latest comments to this blog from yesterday and I had to express my appreciation to Evan for patiently responding to the comments with such clarity and love. I L-O-V-E you man! Please keep this blog going!
Mrs. Eddy founded the periodicals that are wonderfully edited for correctness. But she also established weekly testimony meetings for people to share their ideas without being edited. This blog is like a daily testimony meeting for me. If the internet had been around in Mrs. Eddy’s day, I have to think she would have established something similar to this blog to enable students of Christian Science to interact and share their ideas more frequently than just once a week.
The saying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” comes to mind too. While it is true that people can make incorrect statements related to C.S. via this blog, as can occur during Wed. testimony meetings, stopping the interaction just to avoid that happening would result in us losing all of the good ideas that are shared via this blog. Part of being a Christian Scientist is being able to separate the chaff from the wheat.
I’ve benefited soooo much from this blog I just want to again thank Evan for providing this blog for us. I study the Bible lesson and read the periodicals and get soooo much from those too. But this blog provides a different facet of the reflection of God’s goodness and truth that is unique and therefore helpful in a unique way. Thanks again!
very well said. I like the comparison to Wed testimony meetings and learning to separate the chaff from the wheat. Thanks!
Thank you Brian! Much appreciated.
I just read this blog from yesterday and all the comments. Hope it’s not too late to add another. May I say first of all how grateful I am for Evan’s blog site and how helpful it has been in my spiritual progress! And grateful also to all the commenters for their very thoughtful and healing ideas. I too have had a very tramatic event in my past that has needed healing and I am continuing to work on “revising the human history and expunging the material record” See Retrospection and Introspection by MBEddy, p. 22:1, where she says “The human history needs to be revised and the material record expunged.” My heart goes out to someone like Bevi, who is continuing to seek her healing of something very tramatic in her “human history.”. Another beautiful statement by Mary Baker Eddy has helped me is…”In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adament of error, self-will, self-justification, self-love which wars against spirituality……..” Science and Health, p. 242. I am learning that I can never justify error in my experience. And know that there is only one solvent that can accomplish dissolving any error and it is Love. One more powerful truth is– that it is God, Love who is enabling me to be forgiving as Jesus was, who on the cross said, “forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Forgiveness has been the key to my progress; and I know that there will be a time when even the memory will be “expunged”, as it will for ALL who are on their blessed spiritual journeys!
Press on!
Very beautiful Judy!! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Judy. I too have had to deal with the memory of traumatic events that for a long time I felt “stole” away my young adult years. In my case it was when I realized I was harboring deep “resentment” that I had an “ah ha” moment. I prayed specifically to heal resentment by knowing that I have never been out of God’s care…and any memory to the contrary is just an illusion of material sense, not created by God, and therefore no part of me, not real. These memories CAN be expunged as you mentioned. This prayer has also opened my eyes to many examples of how I was cared for and provided for in my young adult years too and made me grateful for those examples of God’s care. Suggestions of resentment rarely come to me now, but when I am still occasionally tempted to indulge in feelings of resentment, the ideas I worked with in prayer come to mind and very naturally silence the suggestions of resentment. And I’m a much happier person as a result! I think praying with the idea of “forgiveness” is also crucial, but just wanted to also mention how it wasn’t until I uncovered “resentment” in my thinking and worked to eliminate that false belief that I started down the path of healing.
Thank you, Judy. Lovely! And to you and Bevi (and everyone), I have found very helpful a Journal article titled “Taking the liberating step beyond forgiveness” June 2017. Truly forgiving is something I constantly work on, and this article had some very helpful ideas. With love, L
Thank you Evan for Spiritview! It is much needed, whether one is studying CS or needing to know more into our Journey in Divine LOVE.
Thank you to all who are led to comment and lovingly respect what is being shared.
We each have choices. Love, Love, Love.
Thank you Brian and Linda for sharing your thoughts and for recommending the article “Taking the liberating step beyond forgiveness” from the June ’17 Journal. So helpful and worth rereading and saving. Thank you!
I love this blog. I gain so much from it. I always for the most part start my day with the lesson and then move on to other literature. I know I don’t state thing correctly at times but my intentions are to better understand my relationship to God. I love Chistian Science but at my long life I still feel like a new student and keep trying to get it.
I love all the things you give us Evan which keeps me striving to be better . Sometimes I think I’m still in kindergarten but I know that God knows my heart. We need to always start with God and expand our spiritual consciousness. Much Love.
Thank you tor this explanation Evan. I remember a new visitor, a non-Christian Scientist, who loves to give gratitude to God during Wednesday Testimony meetings and shares it not in strict accordance to the Church Manual written by Mrs. Eddy. At first I thought he had to be corrected but who am i to correct him? So i came to trust Mind God to do the guiding but first and foremost to correct my action or thoughts of false judgment with divine loving.
I get a lot from this blog. I take my ‘God breaks” at work and read this blog. I enjoy all the comments.
I have a large binder of them. Thanks again.