Is your axe sharp?

January 24, 2023 | 25 comments

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.

Abraham Lincoln

Is your prayer-axe sharp today?

25 thoughts on “Is your axe sharp?”

  1. Brilliant ! Rightful perseverance for the best outcome.
    As an aside , a gentleman known as Percy Vere has lived in our home for ever…and won’t be moving out any time soon.!

    ‘The wise man, hearing, will get greater learning, and the acts of the man of good sense will be wisely guided:’……Proverbs 1 v 5

    Thank you Evan❣️

  2. C.S. TEACHER ALWAYS SAID STICK WITH IT, TRUTH, BE PERSISTENT! SOMETIMES IT TAKES A LOT OF PERSISTENCE BUT THE TRUTH IS TRUE AND YOU WILL WIN AND THINGS WILL UNFOLD just STICK WITH IT! Thank you Evan and Mr Lincoln

  3. I absolutely love all of this! The title question, the quote, and that Divine Mind so eloquently matched today’s SpiritView post and Daily Lift to include a shared theme; both leading us to ask and seek answers from Divine Mind, not so -called mortal mind.

    I’m grateful to dedicate every early morning to studying the Christian Science weekly Bible lesson, but some days/weeks I will spend 3-4 hours studying/contemplating it including 2 different Bible study notes on the lesson. When I first used to do this, I would get very anxious and afraid that I should be “moving on to a productive day.” Ha! it’s easy to see the humor and ridiculousness in that thought process now. But going along with today’s theme of asking questions that move thought in a Godly direction, I asked myself one day in which I was spending a lot of time studying the lesson: “truly what is more producitve than doing a deep dive into our weekly Bible Lesson?” Obvious answer, “NOTHING!”
    Today was one of those long study mornings and I could not be tempted by error that said, “you need to move on with your day!” Today my axe is sharpened! So many good thought provoking questions come from this week’s lesson on Love.

  4. yes Evan, this morning it was sharp after my study of this week’s lesson and prayertime. But during shopping a woman told me of her very ill dog. And back home I had to sharp my prayer-axe anew to clear my thinking. And in the Evening I had to sharp this prayer-axe again in order to rout out thoughts of tiredness although I had to do something. Now I remember something from Science and Health on page 242 of this week’s lesson. It reads like this: “in patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, – self-will, self-justification, and self-love, – which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.”
    Therefore I have to sharpen my prayer-axe several times to dissolve the adamant of error which tries to hinder me to express my native spirituality; but at the end it cannot at all, as allmighty God is all in all and is our sharp divine axe saving us in His great Love to His creation!-♡

    1. dear Evan, thank you very much for your today’s short yet pregnant SpiritView. In chellenges coming up, I like to make clear to me that God alone is in full control of the situation!
      Am grateful for the many helpful and loving comments♡

      1. I also wanted to say “I like to make clear to me, that God alone is in control of the situation and gives us full dominion over it!”

  5. Thank you Evan for this great idea of sharpening the axe well before we are sure of using it.Thus the work done by the axe is swift and better than that done with a blunt axe. A blunt axe will even work overtime but might not still finish . Let us sharpen the axe..

    1. Yes thank you Sue. And I see that we can also find that study guide by going to their website at cedarscamps.org and clicking on the ‘Weekly Met’ tab at the top. Very helpful.

  6. On days when my prayer axe is sharp it’s because I’ve made it a priority to immerse myself in Truth, it’s because I have kept company with Truth. Like Trista has mentioned above, I’ve also felt that pressure from error trying to tell me that I need to be doing other things. That is not a voice to be listened to or agreed with, it’s not our voice and it’s not God telling us that. With a sharp prayer axe the day is so much better, lighter, more uplifted and it’s easier and more of a joy to bless others.

  7. What a great allegory, and what an interesting & lively day of conversation! Cutting down a tree is hard work. The power is not in the axe, nor in our arms alone, but the effort comes by the use of both working effectively together. sometimes our trees which need to be felled are immense; sometimes they’re just little saplings… But we use the same tool and the same strength and the same resources. many years ago I helped with clearing some land of what seemed like countless small trees. I would never take a useful tree down, but we do want to clear away trees which serve no purpose, and they may just inhibit our view!
    The original quote & ensuing thought, conversation, could go on all day! I love the many ways in which my fellow spiritviewers view this idea! Thank you

  8. Thanks for the quote about the importance of axe sharpening. and all the comments, as well. I’m wondering if some have ideas to share about what to do if another has a practical need and we feel compelled to help out, even though it may be unplanned and our axe sharpening has not been accomplished, or even begun that morning? On occasion this had happened back to back, with little time to spare later in the evening, either, once responsibilities are taken care of for the day, etc.
    Any ideas on where or how we draw the line between time to sharpen and aiding another needing assistance during a challenging time?
    All useful ideas appreciated!
    Thanks to those sharing resource info, I had known of those, but forgotten about them for quite awhile. Thank you also for further clarification from Rose from NY! Good to see you post again! 🙂

    1. Dear Still Learning, we ALWAYS have God’s Mind ~ turn with your heart to hear what our Ever-present Intelligence jnforms to you do. Today’s Daily Lift includes this thought. Our true Source, which I alluded to above but didn’t capitalize, is the Infinite Source of All Good, God. We always want to Be Good, Do Good, Think Good, and we can, because we are never separated from this Infinite Supply coming from the All Knowing, All Acting, immediate Mind. We are one with The One. If we haven’t “ “sharpened our axe” that day, we still have our reservoir, filled with ideas coming from God. I know that you sharpen your axe regularly because you often comment on the blog! You’re always prepared, so don’t fear! God will tell you; we must “ Listen for Thy voice” as Mrs Eddy wrote in her lovely, comforting “Shepherd, show me how….” Poem/hymn.
      Love

  9. ONENESS

    “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you.”
    (John 14: 1)

    ” It is Truth’s knowledge of its own infinitude that forbids the genuine existence of
    even a claim to error.” (MBE)

  10. So grateful for all these positive comments and the
    Wisdom of keeping your axe sharpened .. I seemingly hv been I’ll with “Covid” for over a month and can’t rise above it.Second time I’ve had it”.Very discouraging,, My husband who is not a CS keeps trying to make me take over the counter medication, which I refuse to take. except cough drops to relieve the coughing if only temporarily .None of my family are CS so there is encouragement
    from them, only suggestions of medication ..
    I would appreciate any helpful encouraging ideas, thoughts

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