A reader sent me the below story a week after I posted a blog on December 21, 2016, titled, “Some of the best gifts.” As it turned out, that blog was one of the most popular I’ve posted in a long time.
I asked for permission to share this story, which was written by a primary school music teacher.
“Last week I had a 1st grader meltdown sobbing during the [music] program. When I went over to talk to him he choked out “my mom didn’t come and she promised”. He had worked hard on a special part and was clearly heartbroken. After a hug and a few words of encouragement, he soldiered through. At the end of the day the teacher said something to the mom who just shrugged and said “I forgot”. We were both a bit “hot” about it. This is a school where we often have to teach parents how to parent as well as teach kids to learn. I was not getting over it. I don’t like it when people casually break their kid’s hearts with zero remorse.
“I was still mentally chomping on it the next morning when you posted the blog about gifts you could give that don’t cost anything. In a giant suck-in-air-moment I thought, I must give that mom the gift of forgiveness today! It was a lightning bolt moment. I did give that to her, and then thought no more about it.
“I got an email from the teacher that afternoon. Mom had come (unannounced and unprompted) to school and had a special lunch with him that day to make up for her mistake the day before! The teacher was ecstatic in the turn of attitude and the little boy was beaming.”
Oh my gosh, how sweet. The power of prayer!
How, cool is that. I’ll tell a story too. I was waiting in line at the grocery store, there was a mother with three children in front of me. She was very impatient with the children, shouting, pushing them out of her way… I was livid and had quite an attitude about how she ‘ought’ to be treating them, tho I said nothing. I then began to pray to see this without MY judgement filters. All of a sudden I had a flash of understanding, she had worked over-time, was a single parent, she was very tired, and had much left to do when she got home. Then it was like someone had turned the TV channel. The whole scene shifted. The children were helping Mom with the groceries and she was hugging one of them. My heart swelled with love for them. Thanks for making a space for me to share that.
Lovely to read about this mother’s receptivity to her children’s need to help, and the children actually doing the helping. What a reward all the way around.
How very sweet and loving – here both times the Motherlove of God was expressed through prayer – thank you Evan for the lovely SV of today, and thanks Charla for your precious testemony 😉 How healing and important prayer in CS is – am grateful for it!
We decided after four years of visiting our kids spread out all over the US for Christmas, that it was time we stayed home and had Christmas with my husband’s mom. I was struggling at the prospect of it not being that fun of a Christmas. After I read your blog on true gifting I realized that the gift we could give was to wholeheartedly be present right here, with Mom. To love her, to respect her, to be grateful for her, to listen to her stories. It was a very different Christmas. And yet, it turned out to be one of the sweetest ones I can remember.
Ah, the receptivity to the season, love all around and more than we can accept. Family can be in our hearts, even when we don’t see them, and the ones closest can share all that God gives us to give to them, with LOVE! Grace, what a blessing you shared. THANK YOU!
I think the struggle is leaving mortal mind behind and embracing the truth of our being which is perfect love. I don’t think the struggle will end in my life but the turning will get easier and going higher in consciousness will be exhilarating. I have started my meditation with the words I forgive, just forgive all the ignorance, myself first in line to be forgiven. I don’t know exactly how it works but I feel a restfulness take over after a while.
Oh Nadine….You are expressing such loving thoughts and to yourself as well… you will be/you are victorious..Enjoy the rarified air of the high vista you now enjoy……
Thanks so much Nadine! That touches my heart. I immediately started forgiving myself when I read that. I’ve worked hard on forgiving others, but still tend to be hard on myself.
I know that when I am clear on my identity as God’s beloved, spiritually perfect child, it is easy to take the high view and forgive others as well – as Evan’s and Charla’s wonderful stories indicate.
I don’t have to be humanly perfect, in fact that is impossible! Holding myself to that standard is disastrous. I can let myself off the hook for that, and appreciate all the ways I reflect God’s qualities!
Grateful!
Thanks Evan, As both a teacher and a parent the story you shared and the comments placed a smile in my heart and on my face.
Blessed day to all!
I think that is why we are here. This is God’s purpose for everyone. That is to realize and demonstrate true selfless love. Wow! What a powerful experience that is a beam of hope for each of us to know that we, too, can share in this kind of experience in our own way. Thank you Evan for sharing this beam of divine light.
Yes, I too thank you, Evan, for all the good you are sharing with us and also to all the commenters with great ideas and stories. Your Gifts List was wonderful and it encouraged me to add a visit to a friend in a nursing home on a very busy day. It turned out to be a very special time with her and then the rest of the day went so smoothly that other ways to help friends could be included.. Thanks to all
I woke up dazed and confused this morning… not a typical feeling for me…. You see I love Christian Science and have a mind that loves to discern the absolute axioms of Truth and then contemplate all of the implications of Christian Science thought….You know mortal. which doesn’t exist, to human ,which seems to be a transition state with awareness of the One God, the One reality yet still in the experience of a dream like state, to the realization of divine Man as Gods idea, yet still an “individual” reflection of Gods whole….Well anyway…little man child, human Maximo reached a moment this morn where it just all seemed impossible to understand…So I called my very dear CS friend and we discussed this mornings Spiritview …this immediately brought relief and reassurance… These human stories of love and caring and demonstration reminded me the abstract can never become warm and alive unless Love is first and foremost in our thoughts and actions….MBE declared to her students that God could best be describe by one word …LOVE…..So dazed and confused has given way to Love and Peace…
Thank you all for your willingness to share your stories of struggle and Love, and know this has brought healing to me….I can honestly say to all of you….I love you……
Thanks for sharing maximo! Yes, the absolute truths of Christian Science come to life for us when we live them. We learn truth in degrees. Step by step we understand more, put it into practice, and then learn some more. But all the while, holding the absolute Truth before our thought to keep us headed in the right direction.
Like taking a driving trip. You hold the destination firmly in mind until we get there, even though it may take days and hundreds of miles of driving before we actually arrive.
Thank you all so much. There is great Love here. Blessings to all.
Thanks so much Evan and everyone who has shared their experiences. This has lifted my thought much higher!
Beautiful stories and insights from you all. I’m always filled with so much love reading this blog. Being Love, expressing Love, can always remove what is offensive. Live to love!
Oh Patti….Im branding that statement into my brain…”Live to Love’…..
I love it….and will now live it…..Thank you so much
Thank you Evan for sharing the above story, especially heart wrenching when children are involved and so glad to see a righting of a wrong as a result of prayer. Thank you for the practical application of how to use the gifts of Divine Love as stated in the previous blog. It reminds me of Mrs. Eddy’s hymn/poem “Love” (and in Maximo’s comment above) “Thou to whose power our hope we give, Free us from human strife. Fed by Thy love divine we live, For Love alone is Life; And life most sweet, as heart to heart Speaks kindly when we meet and part.”
Special note to caps here on ‘love’ and ‘life’ as Evan stated so well, ….” all the while, holding the absolute Truth before our thought to keep us headed in the right direction.” “For Love alone is Life.”
Thank you all, much gratitude and <3