Adjusting to changing circumstances

June 22, 2012 | 10 comments

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

“H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.

“Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a ponytail.” So she did and she had a fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.

“YEA!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

Human life is an evolving set of circumstances. Parents grow accustomed to having children at home, but one day, the youngsters leave to make a life of their own. Workers get accustomed to a particular job, but one day, they might be laid-off or required to move elsewhere. Residents in towns get accustomed to a longstanding community feel, but a big retailer or corporate employer moves in and changes everything. People grow older and discover they aren’t doing the same activities they did 50 years ago. It can feel like the woman in the above story losing the hairs on her head one strand at a time. But, like the woman, instead of seeing loss, we should look for the gain.
It’s inevitable that the human mind part with all attachment to material things, people, places and circumstances and find its joys in Spirit.
For those who cling to life in matter, the unavoidable movement from matter to Spirit will feel and look like loss. But for those who understand life in Spirit, what the materially minded see as loss, the spiritually minded find to be gain.

10 thoughts on “Adjusting to changing circumstances”

  1. I love this post and I am wondering if, at a future time, you can expand on the “gain” theme…what is gained when the material is “lost” or changes.

    Elaine

  2. LIFE, TRUTH, LOVE, Elaine!

    Well, you knew this, of course. But the joy of it is that we get to dig deep and learn what these words truly mean, huh. I’ve spend many decades trying to understand God and learn why I need to drop material sense reasoning and accept the spiritual facts. For a time it seemed like loss, but I’m getting that it is gain, not loss, to see what was….always there!
    While searching for good in matter, which is lifeless…all the while, Life, Truth, Love were right there!!!

    The mist lifts, and that which is revealed is so…completely wonderful!!

    Huh, Evan!!

    :<))))))))

  3. I absolutely love this post. These words are so relevant. Seeing good in every situation. That’s freedom from material sense. Thank you so very much…Kathy

  4. ….”a corporate employer or large retailer moves in and changes everything”. What is changed? Access to convenient products is a good thing, lots of job for the community is a good thing! Business activity is a good thing!Charitable donations from that large company are a good thing! Ask the hundreds of people hired by a corporate employer or large retailer what they think of having that company move into a community! Like the woman in the mirror, you can choose to see the good that the change brings or you can lament it. Up to you! 33

  5. Mrs Eddy’s hymn, Mother’s Evening Prayer, says a lot about this, especially this stanza,
    O make me glad for every scalding tear,

    For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!

    Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear

    No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

    Also, this from Miscellaneous Writings from page 116,

    As crescendo and diminuendo accent music, so the varied strains of human chords express life’s loss or gain, — loss of the pleasures and pains and pride of life: gain of its sweet concord, the courage of honest convictions, and final obedience to spiritual law.

    I think Evan is illustrating that sometimes the loss of material modes of thinking and subsequent gain of spiritual rightness is manifested by events in life, such as a break up in a relationship, a geographical move, job loss, losing a competition, etc..

    God always has us in thought, and always does what best promotes our spiritual growth.

    I love this Spiritview blog..

  6. There is always gain in loss from a spiritual view but never a loss in gain, except when one views materially. I have demonstrated this truth over and over again and still demonstrating for every upset in the material realm opens thought to what is spiritually true. If one should fall and sprain one’s back, leg, hand, what ever, always think; “Thank God, this experience will teach me something spiritually true.

  7. All I can say is, it happens to every one of us. Life changes, loved ones pass on, our kids grow up and it can be scary…unless one sees that it was never meant to last, but spiritual existence does last, so the more we know about that, the less the ‘cares of this world’ will affect us. That’s what I’m finding out in my life, anyway. I love Jesus’ statement, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

  8. I understand the conversation. But, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered by the Father” demands demonstration,not passive acceptance. Paul Stark Seeley had an article, I think January, 1972 about healing baldness, because he had so many calls about it.
    I know of a case where a man had CS treatment for two months for cancer, and with the healing, his hair grew back in. He had gone bald two years earlier.
    Sounds like the happy little lady was suffering from delay.
    Everyones line of thought was also valid and helpful.

  9. I too appreciate this blog because of its lack of jargon, its sincerity, honesty and openness. I am finding in consonance with the little lady’s hairless yet abundant view of life, that she didn’t stop her life at the hairs on her head. She looked beyond the hairs and utilized them in a productive way for her. She didn’t make the hairs the stop in her life. When I am challenged by physical issues, financial, relationship, whatever, I have begun to see the problem is a misperception . If I look at it as a physical problem, I misperceive what God is truly telling or alerting me to. I look at it as a more intense way to refocus my thinking more directly and alertly on God and what He/She is telling me. It’s an alarm system to get with it. Sher

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