A woman learned that a friend had quit her job. She immediately assumed something bad had happened at her work that forced her to leave. Her thinking spiraled into a pool of negativity and sour outlooks that got her depressed about her friend’s plight.
She was surprised, and happy, to learn that her friend quit because she found a better job with another company.
“Why had she assumed the worst when she first heard about the friend quitting her job?” she later wondered.
It’s a good question. Why not expect something good to happen!
Life is God. Life is good. Life is divinely designed to be a good experience for us.
Yes, challenges, trials, and problems are part of the human experience, but every single one of them serve to teach us valuable spiritual lessons. They are opportunities to learn more about God, and how God’s help is available to master whatever evil is before us.
If we hear news about family or friends that sounds ominous, we can pray about what we hear, and know that God is giving them the wisdom, insight, guidance and inspiration they need to mount any difficulty they face and come out on top. We don’t need to assume the worst. We can metaphysically work to support their success. We can expect something good to happen! And that will help them realize the same.
Thanks, Evan. This is a great thought to begin the day.
I am praying…and expecting the law of justice.Good.
years of injustice and many supporting it, sometimes it is hard to continue after years of it.
life is God, Life is Good….everything seems to demonstrate the opposite….
Dear Sarah,
I certainly understand , but as we are taught in Christian science and from our Bible lesson this morning,” to material sense the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected by Christian science. “And also “ we must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things”. We will keep praying till we see it .
thank you.
Thank you Evan.. Dear Sarah, as Dottie has just said know that the truth about the situation is already there. In the process of correcting the situation, you will find immediate substitutes which would make you go on with your life, until the whole situation is overcome.
Thank Grace to give us a great metaphysical exemple for treatment : “the truth about the situation is already there”
thank you Grace for your words.
Thanks, Evan! Very helpful to start the day!!
The ultimate “doom and gloom” had to be felt by the disciples, who had endured Jesus’ crucifixion. But MBE describes the first breakfast after the resurrection (the whole point of the ordeal) as follows:
“What a contrast between our Lord’s last supper and his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples in the bright morning hours at the joyful meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea!” Had they but known the outcome, all would have been “joyful.” (p. 34) We can meet thoughts of failure and darkness with the firm conviction of immortal Truth, always operating, always ours.
Thank you!
Excellent example and thoughts William E. – thank you.
I have certainly fallen into the trap of thinking the worst…especially when it comes to my children. What has helped me Immensely is realizing that my children can hear and listen to God just as well as I can and that God is “giving them the wisdom, insight, guidance, and inspiration they need.” Thank you Evan for this powerful reminder!
Sarah,
I often struggle with the concept of what I see to be “injustice” in the world. When a situation of what I perceive to be unjust starts to grip me, here’s my vehement affirmation from the Bible:
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” and I ponder that over and over until my thought turns around and I trust that God is on the throne and if anything needs to be “adjusted”, God will do it. And, of course, it gives me the opportunity to exercise patience while trusting God will do whatever is right – nothing & no one can thwart the hand of God.
Loving regards, Susan
Thank you Susan. It is too easy to forget that God is always in charge and is the “judge of the world”, He is also the king and lawgiver.
Thank you Evan and all for your good thoughts.
thank you Susan, that is helpful.
Why not expect good since we live in the Kingdom of Heaven right now. Loved the thought for today. Thanks to all.
What a delightful place to be, CRL, “in the Kingdom of Heaven right now”!
Looking out with thoughts/blessings from my computer desk-can touch
the heavenly teasures in Mind .. the sun shining, the birds singing, the
Love of silver linings on the clouds and in the sweet fruit of the Spirit,
the heart of Love reflects the warmth of the sun’s beloved rays…
Lovely… so Beautiful!! : )
Absolutely beautiful your heaven! Thanks for these lovely divine inspirations, Carol.♡
Awww, Uta… Heaven lives in our heart…In the
Truths we share… Angel thoughts are here…
In each heart so dear…
Angel thoughts are everywhere!!
Thanks dearly, Carol!!!
“I saw that nothing evil could be a part of me. The most persistent thought was that I could expect a quick healing from my prayers. I consistently expected this, and after a day or so the growth completely disappeared.” Excerpt from:
“Would you be surprised if something good happened?” by James Shepherd:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/xq2td74ly6?s=e
J, your ability to catalogue and choose just the right article for every day’s topic is astonishing and rewarding; what a great way to share. This article is no exception–perfect for the message, and easy to read, clearly making the point. Thank you.
So kind of you to say William E. It’s been a lesson in listening. Many times ideas and spiritual insight come from riffing off the sharing of inspiring comments and thoughts, such as yours. 🙂
There does Seem to be a lot of doom and gloom and injustice in the world. It Seems
to be everywhere – in the news, in advertisements, in corruption, in lies, in life in
general. Even the weather… it is pouring rain … again. There Seems to be so much
wrong these days.
But…we need to see ourselves and our world as God sees it – where we are all equal
in His eyes = with no one being above anyone else, but all dependent on and rejoicing
in all of the Goodness that His Love nurtures and provides us with. That is all that is
important, really and will smooth out the injustices that Seem to be. Our Faith and
willingness to never give up, will help us see the Good in the world, where there Seems
to be anything but. As in the Bible, in Amos 5:24… “But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing [mighty] stream”.
Also, in Hymn 136;
“I love Thy way of freedom, Lord…
Though storm or discord cross my path, Thy power is still my stay,
Though human will and woe would check My upward soaring way;
All unafraid I wait, the while Thy angels bring release,
For still Thy presence is with me, And Thou dost give me peace…
I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind, To soar o’er time and space;
I yet shall know as I am known And see Thee face to face.
Till time and space and fear are naught My quest shall never cease,
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou does give me peace.”
Thank you everyone and thank you Evan for reminding me that I need not worry for my friend because God, her Father-Mother will take care of her with all the Love and Life that God is. I can free myself from worry about her as God is “in charge”.
There’s a beautiful poem titled “Expectancy” by Suzanne L. Brown in the January 9, 2023 Sentinel. I don’t know how to post a link here but maybe someone can do it for me.
In CS we learn that when we pray, our prayers are powerful and we can certainly have the Expectancy of Good. That is important to remember.
I’ve heard this saying, and I think it’s also used in 12 Step recovery programs: -If you pray, why worry; if you worry, why pray?
Here are two articles about expectancy of good.
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/24weyrkp7iw?s=e
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/15xp53nz262?s=e
I’m expecting a day of God’s Good for all of us!
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/2023/1/125-02/expectancyhere is the poem mentioned above.
I hope this will work. Thank you Paul
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/2023/1/125-02/expectancy
Yes! Thank you Paul, and to Pat for getting this poem accessible from here.
Lovely and refreshing! Thank you!
THANK YOU Evan and SpiritView family for all the GOOD you’ve shared! WOWEE!!
Here is a poem I wrote some years ago that is eternally true I’d like to share with you all:
EXPECTATION SPEEDS OUR PROGRESS
Awakened by the dawn of hope,
expectation
receives the babe
of Christian healing.
In dwellings meek,
amidst gentle anticipation,
faithful waiting,
joyous watching,
Truth frees!
With grateful certainty,
understanding emerges,
unopposed,
unresisted,
clear as day!
And so is divine Science demonstrated
in the now of Love’s knowing.
In sacred, unselfed moments
light reveals complete salvation
without delay!
Lovely poem Soaring Dove!
I enjoyed the poem as well, Soaring Dove – and
also the one by Suzanne Brown.
Me, Too, Soaring Dove. Very nice.
Thanks Soaring Dove!
Your lovely poem is like a soaring dove on wings of healing through expectations and progress and finally the healing results in complete immediate salvation!!! 🙂
Although in Germany it is sleeping time now I was compelled to get up and read SpiritView again. And in the quietness of the night I could read your and all the other poems with much delight.
Thank you all again!
Random Friday thought 🙂 … the game *I Spy with my little eye. Haven’t thought of that game in years, but it came with a question: are you seeing/perceiving the world through a little eye (small, limited, restricted, mortal, material eye/ “I”) or through spiritual sense (as the picture of the strawberries hint at absolute, already complete spiritual perfection). Hmm…something to ponder this weekend.
(*If you aren’t familiar with the game, I Spy originated in Victorian England. It remains a common pastime played by children – albeit often initiated by adults to occupy bored children on car journeys and the like. One person secretly chooses an object that they can ‘spy with his/her little eye’ and the others take turns to guess what it is.)
Hahaha, yes “J”, we played that game too, “I see something you do not see, what is it?”
But yes, Evan often reminds us to use our Spiritual Sense, in order to view the Truth and not the error which the seeming limited little human eyes might see. The Spiritual Sense is practised by praying and studying the lesson sermon and CS literature, through which we improve our understand of God very much! I am working on it.
This is an excellent article up on the front page of JSH Online right now.
advocacy for good is so important and the testimony included in the article is a great illustration
“The law of God annuls injustice”
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2mcxgw8buhw?s=copylink
Thank you very much, Kate for this very inspiring article about the efficacy of the divine Law of our good God!
When I need healing and pray for it, I learnt in CS to always await good results, yes healing results. Mrs Eddy says in SH that God is giving to all mankind and at every time a l l Good. So we can await all good for the whole world, peace, friendship between nations, joy and health and wellbeing and divine Love for everybody.
Thank you very much dear Evan for this SV we can ponder this weekend.
I am always thankfull for inspiring poems and hymns and loving comments!♡
So many wonderful thoughts shared here today! Thank you Everyone!
When I was going through a particularly challenging time in my life,
holding to expectations of Good is what pulled me through some
situations that seemed very daunting and very unfair…
In speaking with my friend at the local farm stand today, where she
said all the rain has caused so many of their crops to spoil and some seeds
never came up…we were lamenting if the deluge would ever stop.
It finally has.
With the brightening sky, there wasn’t a rainbow, but here is a poem
from yesteryear that gives an imagination of one to thought:
The Smile of the Rainbow
From the smile of the bow
Colors turn magically
Like an indescribable
Celestial light show
With prism’s embrace of the sky
Nature’s palette paints
An ever-changing pattern
Igniting brilliance … in abundant supply
Like a sunset’s glow
That sweeps across
The heavens
With paintbrush slow …
Moving within thought channels
Definitely helping to cope
To weather the storms
With peace and illustrious hope.
Thank you Carol, it’s such a wonderful poem. It’s such a highbrow poem that I must read it several times to understand the beauty in your poem more deep.
It expressed God’s beauty, I would say!♡
Want to say: dear Carol that your Poem expresses God’s beauty!♡
Much Love to you a l l and a beautiful weekend!♡♡♡
Thank you, dear Uta for your lovely response
In pondering more with this topic, one sometimes wishes there to be
somewhat of a crystal bal to gaze in, to Know how and that everything
is and will be alright with we all .. loved ones, especially those we can
only wonder about. The vast expanse of the universe with “currently”
8 billion people – how God has planned for us all. But I guess, ours isn’t
to question, but to KNOW that only GOOD continues into the forever …
like the immeasurable multitude of blades of grass, grains of sand, trees,
stars and orbits that we can not even Begin to “humanly” fathom, but
Trust in the glorious Being that Just IS.
I have always loved Mrs. Eddy’s declaration from S&H:247: 24-27,
“It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm
sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night
with starry gems and covers earth with loveliness”..
and 248:4-5, “One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful”.
We are All precious friends in the universe of Soul, of Spirit, of Life, Truth,
Principle, Mind and Love, which is God.
Thanks dear Carol for the lovely and healing metaphysics. I love it too. ♡