GEMs to help YOU “Man-up” to dominion – Uplift thought, words & deeds to the highest!
insights from Cobbey Crisler, Ken Cooper & others from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Man”
for Sunday, March 7, 2021
shared by Warren Huff,
CedarS Executive Director Emeritus warren@cedarscamps.org
Click on: Audio Met on "Man" by Christie Hanzlik, CS – CedarS Camps to hear Christie read Metaphysical Application Ideas for this week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on “Man.”
Or, paste in your browser the address below: https://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/audio/play/audio-met-on-man-by-christie-hanzlik-cs-1/
Application GEMs #1a & #1b from the Golden Text: “Rejoice all the rugged way*” since “What you give you have, what you save you lose!**” (*Mary Baker Eddy in Hymn 304 & **Bill Simon, Principia Track Coach to me & teams in the ‘60s & our kids & teams in ‘90s…)
From Golden Text(GT): (#1a, not in GT) ‘Your shoes shall be iron and brass,’ (#1b) ‘as your days, so shall your strength be.’ (from “SHOD FOR THE ROAD” – in full at MacLaren's Expositions on Deuteronomy 33:25)
“There is a general correspondence between those blessings wherewith Moses blessed the tribes of Israel before his death, and the circumstances and territory of each tribe in the promised land… [GEM#1a:] ‘Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,’ the tribe being located upon rocky sea-coast, having rough roads to travel, and so needing to be well shod. The substance, then, of that promise seems to be-strength adequate to, and unworn by, exercise; while the second clause, though not altogether plain, seems to put a somewhat similar idea in unmetaphorical shape. [GT GEM#1b:] ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be,’ probably means the promise of power that grows with growing years.
"So, then, we have first that thought that God gives us an equipment of strength proportioned to our work, — shoes fit for our road… So, Asher had to be shod for his rough roads, and so each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well… An old saying tells us that we do not go to heaven in silver slippers, and the reason is because the road is rough. The ‘primrose way’ leads somewhere else, and it may be walked on ‘delicately.’
… That suggests another possible thought to be drawn from this promise, namely, that it assures not only of strength adequate to the difficulties and perils of the journey, but also of a strength which is not worn out by use… A wise general looks after that part of his soldiers’ outfit with special care, knowing that if it gives out, all the rest is of no use. So, our Captain provides us with an inexhaustible strength, to which we may fully trust. We shall not exhaust it by any demands that we can make upon it. We shall only brighten it up, like the nails in a well-used shoe, the heads of which are polished by stumbling and scrambling over rocky roads.
"So we may be bold in the march, and draw upon our stock of strength to the utmost. There is no fear that it will fail us. We may put all our force into our work, we shall not weaken the power which ‘by reason of use is exercised,’ not exhausted. For the grace which Christ gives us to serve Him, being divine, is subject to no weariness, and neither faints nor fails. The bush that burned unconsumed is a type of that Infinite Being who works unexhausted, and lives undying, after all expenditure is rich, after all pouring forth is full. And of His strength we partake… we belong to the undecaying realm of grace by the spirit that lays hold upon God. And if our work weary us, as it must do so long as we continue here, yet in the deepest sanctuary of our being, our strength is greatened by exercise. ‘Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.’ ‘Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.’ ‘Stand, therefore, having your feet shod with the preparedness of the Gospel of peace.’
"But this is not all. There is an advance even upon these great promises in the closing words. That second clause of our text says more than the first one. ‘Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,’ that promises us powers and provision adapted to, and unexhausted by, the weary pilgrimage and rough road of life. But [GEM#1b:] ‘as thy days, so shall thy strength be,’ says even more than that. The meaning of the word rendered ‘strength’ in our version is very doubtful, and most modern translators are inclined to render it ‘rest.’ But if we adhere to the translation of our version, we get a forcible and relevant promise, which fits on well to the previous clause, understood as it has been in my previous remarks. The usual understanding of the words is ‘strength proportioned to thy day,’ an idea which we have found already suggested by the previous clause. But that explanation rests on, or at any rate derives support from, the common misquotation of the words. They are not, as we generally hear them quoted, ‘As thy day, so shall thy strength be,’— but ‘day’ is in the plural, and that makes a great difference.
[GEM #1b:] ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be,’ that is to say: the two sums—of ‘thy days’ and of ‘thy strength’— keep growing side by side, the one as fast as the other and no faster. The days increase. Well, what then? The strength increases too… be emancipated from that dreary law in regard to the true life of our spirits, and instead of growing weaker as we grow older, we may and we should grow stronger. We may be and we should be moving on a course that has no limit to its advance. We may be travelling on a shining path through the heavens, that has no noon-tide height from which it must slowly and sadly decline, but tends steadily and for ever upwards, nearer and nearer to the very fountain itself of heavenly radiance. ‘The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more till the noon-tide of the day.’ But the reality surpasses even that grand thought, for it discloses to us an endless approximation to an infinite beauty, and an ever-growing possession of never exhausted fulness, as the law for the progress of all Christ’s servants. The life of each of us may and should be continual accession and increase of power through all the days here, through all the ages beyond. Why? Because ‘the life which I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God.’ Christ liveth in me. It is not my strength that grows, so much as God’s strength in me which is given more abundantly as the days roll. It is so given on one condition. If my faith has laid hold of the infinite, the exhaustless, the immortal energy of God, unless there is something fearfully wrong about me, I shall be becoming purer, nobler, wiser, more observant of His will, gentler, liker Christ, every way fitter for His service, and for larger service, as the days increase.
"Those of us who have reached middle life, or perhaps gone a little over the watershed, ought to have this experience as our own in a very distinct degree. The years that are past ought to have … added something to the clearness and completeness of our perception of the deep simplicity of God’s gospel. They should have tightened our hold and increased our possession of Christ, and unfolded more and more of His all-sufficiency. They should have enriched us with memories of God’s loving care, and lighted all the sky behind with a glow which is reflected on the path before us, and kindles calm confidence in His unfailing goodness…
"If for us, drawing nearer to the end is drawing nearer to the light, our faces will be brightened more and more with that light which we approach, and our path will be ‘as the shining light which shines more and more unto the noon-tide of the day,’ because we are closer to the very fountain of heavenly radiance, and growingly bathed and flooded with the outgoings of His glory. ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be.’
"The promise ought to be true for us all. It is true for all who use the things that are freely given to them of God. And whilst thus it is the law for the devout life here, its most glorious fulfilment remains for the life beyond. There each new moment shall bring new strength, and growing millenniums but add fresh vigour to our immortal life…
‘The oldest angels,’ says Swedenborg, ‘look the youngest.’ When life is immortal, the longer it lasts the stronger it becomes, and so the spirits that have stood for countless days before His throne, when they appear to human eyes, appear as-’young men clothed in long white garments,’-full of unaging youth and energy that cannot wane. So, … ‘while the outward man perisheth, the inward man be renewed day by day.’ ‘Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.’"
from “SHOD FOR THE ROAD”– in full at MacLaren's Expositions on Deuteronomy 33:25)
Application GEMs #2a & #2b from the Responsive Reading (RR):
GEM #2a: Thrive in strength, dominion, grace… all given by our Father-Mother God!
In CedarS Met for this week, Christie Hanzlik brought up the discussion of the use of pronouns in the Bible Lesson on “Man.” She wrote to me Tuesday because she noticed that the Responsive Reading includes various pronouns for “man”: he, her, they, thee, ye. In Jeremiah 17: 8, the author uses both he and her to refer to man in the same paragraph: “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river… her leaf shall be green… neither cease from yielding fruit.”
GEM #2b: Heal the so-called incurable by sifting plus-thoughts of love from minus-thoughts of incurability. Be saved in your not-guilty “expected end”—with your “soul as a watered garden” – 100% precious, 0% vile!
Cobbey Crisler on Jeremiah 17:14 thru 31:12 (before & after Jer. 30:17 (RR): The 17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.
The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence. [On page 276:1-4 , Mary Baker Eddy quotes Job 33:24 ‘I have found a ransom’
This comes from one of Job’s speeches to God about his innocence or uprightness: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth:” (Job 33:23–25)
Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”
Jeremiah 30, Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [“The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].
Jeremiah 30, Verse 17 (Responsive Reading) is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”
In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”— [to make “their soul (spiritual sense) as a watered garden.” (Jer. 31:12)
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
GEM #3: Find satisfaction, not in a physical, Male-Female union, but only in our original, spiritual indivisibility! Cobbey Crisler on the end of Genesis 1 (B2):
“Verse 26. Here in a book noted for its monotheism we find plural words relative to God. (“Let US make man in OUR likeness…”) Father-Mother (F-M) must be together indivisibly or we have more than one God. If there’s indivisibility in the original there must be indivisibility in the product.
Verse 27. To have Male-Female (M-F) in the product means that it’s in the original.
On IMAGE, Clemet of Alexandria wrote: “In our view, image of God is not an object of sense, but a mental object, perceived not by the senses, but by the mind.” But in Genesis 2:7 the mental model is dropped and in the material account of creation God forms man out of dust—the very OPPOSITE view.
This mimics the opposite view of male and female that is widely promoted in which sex promises us all satisfaction in a physical union —but does it deliver? The very definition of sex is division, not indivisibility. “The sensualist’s affections… and pleasures” would put one through lots of fitful, mental contortions that Mary Baker Eddy describes as “imaginary, whimsical, and unreal” (Science & Health, p. 241: 8).
(Transcribed from notes taken during Cobbey Crisler talks by Warren Huff in the margins of his Bible)
GEM#4: Fulfill your God-given heritage as dominion man!
Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Psalms 8 (B3): “What is man?”
“Psalms 8, Verse 4. What is the presumption behind biblical therapy? What is its premise? We know it would be based on the question in verse 4 in part, “What is man?” That has been the most elusive answer to any question for the human race, except, perhaps, what is God? Who am I? The great unanswered question. Or does the Bible provide answers that fill that gap in thought, that vacuity? The answer given here biblically is “Thou madest him to have dominion.”
You need to have a premise on which to base the whole idea or concept of biblical healing or therapy. It’s based on the fact that man has dominion. Of course, that immediately recalls to us God’s pronouncement of that effect in Genesis 1 [Verse 26]. If dominion is part of the nature of man, what does that say about man’s ability to get rid of disease? We can’t have dominion and be dominated simultaneously. The logic of that premise requires us to search out more deeply what the Bible is telling us about man’s nature as it relates to God because it’s on that basis that we are having these prescriptions filled…
If it’s God’s theology, according to the Bible, it works. God’s theology in the Bible can never be confined to theory. When God spake, what happened? It was done. That’s how quickly His medicine works…
“In biblical terms, [Psalms 8:6], “Thou makest him to have dominion.” What is there about this fact that we can apply? Are the Psalms, in part, the threshold of our discovery of this throughout the entire Bible?”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
GEM#5: Hear on YouTube two custom Ken Cooper poems related to this week’s Bible Lesson. They’re called “What am I” [inspired by Genesis 1, cit. B2]
and “Oh Stand in awe” [inspired by Psalm 139:14, cit. B6].
[Ken wrote:] “In the beginning God..” are the first four words of the Holy Bible. They establish the source of all that is, and the absence of time. There can be no loss of strength or health because God is constant in the now of perfect being. There is no other source or beginning, only present perfection. God is the only source of man, and "I AM THAT I AM" is always complete. In contrast, Jesus said of the devil “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44). Like creates like. He also said “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve…” Luke 4:8 Get). There is only one true Father, “Our Father, which art in heaven”. We are of God. Mortal man, human hereditary is illusion. It never had a beginning. It is a lie.
The only way to verify anything is to check its source, its foundation. From where have we originated? What gives us our strength and our being? When challenged by any problem, our focus is therefore two-fold, – “In the beginning God” and “Get thee behind me, Satan”. Establishing the Truth, we eradicate the error. We have the all-strength of God, — omnipotence. There is no other power, and we reflect all the power there is. We are what God is. This is the answer to the question “What am I”, — not the mortal with its false sense of history, but the constantly refreshed image of “I AM” living in the NOW of infinity, of all that God is, entirely unaffected by the nothingness of what is outside the infinite. When we establish what God is, we know what we are. The suggestions of mortality are seen for what they are, and are dismissed as we prove the nothingness of any lie. It is behind us and not in our vision anymore. IT is not man.
The poem “Oh Stand in awe” pursues this theme [as inspired by Psalm 139:14]. We don’t stand in awe of error. God only knows Himself, for there is nothing else. Man is God-like, and when we define God we define man. There is nothing material in man, and nothing material can affect what is spiritual. In Science, when we look at one another, we necessarily see with the eyes of God, and only see what God sees. Mind sees itself, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Principle. Oh, stand in awe, for that is all we can see! Like the expression, “I am not a drop in the ocean , but the ocean is a drop in me”, we can marvel at infinity, for the infinite God has made us like Him, resting in His action, glowing in His glory, shining in His light. This is freedom from materiality, complete freedom in the Truth..
“PDF copies (color and B&W) of these poems are available as Downloads on the upper right of CedarS online metaphysical article for this week.”
GEM#6: Stop being “a tenant in a tomb by being at home in the body!” Instead be at home in the ‘new man’ to “make all things new!” Cobbey on II Cor. 5:1-8 (citation B8), 16-17:
II Cor. 5, verse 1. Where we are now is a tabernacle, which if “dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens…” (We look out of heavenly consciousness—every window has a heavenly view. We worship where we live — Our bodies are our ultimate idols, if we are living there.
Verse 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened:” Jesus said take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”…
Verse 6. It’s not what we see but what we know that matters: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” This is one of the most radical statements in the whole Bible that is virtually skated over.
It is foolhardy to adapt ourselves to live in corporeality. You are a tenant in a tomb if at home in the body. Why be so satisfied with data coming to us from the 5 channels of the corporeal senses?
Jesus said “Take no thought for your body.”
Verse 8. “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.”
Socrates said “The dead body will not be me. Don’t let him talk about burying Socrates. Say only that you are burying the body.”
Ishmael (In Moby Dick said “My body is but the lees of my better being.”
Verse 16. “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:”
The ultimate objective is to know no man (or woman) after the flesh, according to fleshly information. Our divine nature or anyone’s true, divine nature is not conveyed or confined by anything fleshly from “the old man.” As Jesus beheld, we are to behold the “new man” and in so doing make not just some things but ALL things new.
As Verse 17 says, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.*”
Transcribed from marginal notes in Warren’s Bible from a talk by Cobbey Crisler**
GEM#7: Claim God to be the strength of your heart now and forever!
Cobbey Crisler insights on Psalm 73: 26 (B15)
“Psalm chapter 73, Verse 26 refers to heart failure and degenerative diseases. “My flesh and my heart faileth.” But look at immediately what the psalmist knows to do. He feels those symptoms and what does he say? “God [is] the strength of my heart.” See how it handles the terminal nature of heart problems, “and my portion for ever.”
“Leaves of the Tree; Prescriptions from the Psalms” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
GEM#8: Like Jesus, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
When Jesus had finished 40 days of “sheltering in place” in the wilderness, he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee and their synagogues (churches) & laid his hands (at least symbolically) on everyone & healed them.” (Luke 4:14, B17) Let us, like Jesus, as we come out of our wilderness, waiting experiences, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 4:14, 40 (cit. B17)
“Luke indicates that he understands that this [Jesus’ period of temptations in the wilderness has been a power test for Jesus. In Verse 14 he uses that word, "Jesus returned" not in any form of power that Satan had tried to impose upon him [“to take personal power, political power, and priestly power”]. But rather, "in the power of the Spirit into Galilee"— [“in the law that relates man directly to God, the source of the only power there is.]
“In Luke 4, Verse 40 as healing increases, we find that many healings occur, especially around the Sea of Galilee. Is it any more difficult for Jesus to heal collectively than it is individually? It doesn’t seem to take much more time, does it?
Who does Jesus say is responsible for the healing? If God is responsible for the healing, does He love all His creation as instantly as he loves each individual part of His creation? Can that love reach collectively? Is it present collectively? If that's the basis for Jesus healing, then we see that healing a multitude was just as normal and natural as breathing, and as healing an individual.
What is the atmosphere there? If the Holy Ghost is there, then we all can breathe that same air simultaneously.
The healings were apparently permanent. There was no standing in line. Jesus didn't say, "All right, all the ears, eye, nose, and throat people over here." He didn't deal with them as a specialist would deal with them. He dealt with them as a general practitioner, as if he could be consulted and he could join with others in prayer and to be at-one with God, whether it was one individual or hundreds or thousands. Remember, he fed thousands from that same point of view.”
“Book of Luke: Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
GEM#9: YOU and all humanity are promised rest when we come to Christ’s Comfort!
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 11:28-30 (B20)
[The invitation from Jesus to us all in to Verse 28:] “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden."
How much of humanity is included? "I will give you rest" He was saying that at a moment in his own history when his back had every justification to bend under a load. But he was saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
(Verse 29). "Take my yoke." It's definitely a yoke, isn't it? "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." The yoke is our obligation to learn to be a disciple. That is the yoke.
Verse 30 describes that yoke, compared with the world's burdens which we seem to be glibly carrying anyway. Choose, rather, his yoke, which he says "is easy, and his burden is light." This has a wonderful meaning to those who have known Jesus was a carpenter as a youth. Some normal items made in the carpenter's shop of that day would have included yokes.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[W. consider the links forged to this idea by Kerry Jenkins in her ideas shared with Sunday School teachers in Pycl #5: [Yoke-up with Love as a pulling partner to meet daily demands with ease, peace, joy.] Check-out cit. B20/Matt. 11:28-30 where Jesus tells us to take his "yoke" on ourselves and that his "yoke" is easy, his burden light. (Perhaps feeling burden is not a concern yet for the very young, who can be great role models for us as Jesus pointed out. Or, as Warren likes to say, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!”) Discuss what a yoke does, show pictures. What does Jesus mean by his yoke? Is he talking about a tool designed to distribute weight ideally so that we can make the best use of our strength? Think about what that means! What is the yoke that we can take on ourselves that would make us feel like we are not under constant pressure to "do" things, to "accomplish", or "achieve". When we shift our focus to what Mary Baker Eddy tells us in cit. S26: "Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power." (SH 192:30) This is just one of many passages that set us on a path to glorify God, rather than achieve human goals.
It is challenging to shift our attention from the immediate need to "get homework done", fit in a practice of some kind, get some chore or other "done". But that is like a hamster wheel!! (Show them one of these!) Then, we are just running and running in circles but not really getting anywhere. It is only by devoting whatever we do to Love that we find we are feeling more at peace, more joy in our work and daily tasks. [See W’s “Spiritually Light-hearted” PS.
Come up with what it looks like to do our homework, for example, in a way that’s focused on Love.
Are we thinking of how long it will take to devote this activity to Love?
Are we thinking about how annoyed we are with an assignment that we’re doing with devotion to Love?
Are we thinking about how exhausted we are with an endeavor that is devoted to Love?
Anyhow, something to consider talking about. Even quite young kids are feeling stressed and pressured these days, so I know it is not just an "adult" subject!
[Warren’s P.S. Below, and as Downloadable attachments, are wall-hung reminders to quit taking burden (or anything) personally! It’s always the right time to cultivate unselfed love and joy and so be a “Spiritually Light-Hearted … master of your work!”]
[I love all of a related page 222 in “Education at Principia,” written by Principia’s Founder, Mary Kimball Morgan, CS. Below are a few applicable sentences from “Spiritually Light-Hearted:”]
“Always insist on being master of your work. God would not give you something to do and fail to give you the wisdom, strength, and grace necessary to accomplish it. He does not demand of us what he does not equip us to do. Then we should go about our work confidently and joyously, grateful for every opportunity to serve God and mankind….
“Get rid of the sense of burden before continuing your work, for heaviness of thought cannot glorify God…
“Seek to find deeper joy in your work. One can be deeply in earnest and at the same time spiritually light-hearted.”
“Education at The Principia,” by Founder of The Principia, Mary Kimball Morgan, CS, p. 222
Left/1st Download in online version: Reminder over the desk of Ruth E. Huff, CedarS Founder, Director Emeritus.
Right/2nd Download in online version: Love is your “pulling partner” an “easy yoke” reminder for Warren Huff, CedarS Dir. Emeritus:
GEM#10: Remember (give loving attention) to the fact that the C.O.T. always beats the bed!
[Warren: I coined this helpful C.O.T. acrostic from a powerful sentence in Science and Health: “The Consciousness Of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” (218:7)
Applying this idea from citation S23 in this week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson has helped me feel well-rested, even when I haven’t had as many hours of sleep as normal. The open secret is to give a priority to feeling never sorry for yourself, but instead joyously alive in the Consciousness Of Truth in all your waking hours. “COT-rest (Consciousness-Of-Truth-rest) always beats mere BED-rest)! I’ve been happy to prove this on every short night when I’ve had to “sleep fast” for one good reason or another.
SH 218:7
“The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.”
GEM#11: When we “live to give,” there is “nothing toilsome” in any task in which we fulfill our “reason for existing… to impart truth, health, and happiness.” (Science & Health 462:15, Miscellany 165:20]
A great example of this rewarding way to live is Florence Nightingale, who was a famous wartime nurse in the Crimean war. In citation S25 in this week’s Bible lesson, she was cited by Mary Baker Eddy as a great example of the immunity and endurance that God gives to all who provide care for and serve others. In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “…Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists engaged in humane laborers have been able to undergo without sinking fatigues and exposures which ordinary people could not endure. The explanation lies in the support which they derive from the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and endurance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best deeds… Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untoward conditions, if without sin, can be experienced without suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself… Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself.” (citation S25, 385:1-11, 17-18)
[W:] MANY wonderful resources are being shared daily with great healing content for our Global Prayer Watch for World Health. Check out on JSH-online an excellent Journal podcast by Janet Horton, a retired US Army Chaplain. It gives context to the above passage by sharing a brief biography of Florence Nightingale and her tireless labors for the soldiers during the Crimean War. She also shares an example of the pulling together and protection that she and others in the Pentagon demonstrated when it was bombed on 9/11.
GEM#12: [Warren;] Let us give thought and action to the following divine directives to memorize from citation S31. [As a memory device, I think of this happy call to healthy action as our “Model Lettuce diet” or our “Excellent Let-us plan”]:
“Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers that be.” (citation S31, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 249:6–9)
(Bold italics added for Let us)
Mary Baker Eddy uses the words Let us 28 times in Science and Health, and 67 times in her other writings, plus there are 40 more Let us combos in the Hymnal! So, you could chew on different blends of let us every day of a season and apply or dress them to best fits to meet your taste and the needs of the day.
For example, another favorite mixed-green combo of mine is at the top of that same page 249 of Science and Health: “Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.” (SH 249:1)
Let-us joyously affirm together that God is in charge of our country and of our leaders and of the whole wide world. It’s uplifting to know that “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” The imbedded link above to the original version shares a spiritual written in World War II by Obie Philpot, a Native American of the Cherokee tribe. It speaks of God as our creator and protector. You might also enjoy an add-on version of soulful, prayer-filled, black voices that I found inspiring in these two YouTube video offerings. )
Mary Baker Eddy adds rich Bible-based connections to let us confidently affirm God’s control of “every event of our careers.” (Unity of Good, 3:28) She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Understanding the control which Love held (holds) over all, …” we can feel as safe in the pandemic as “…Daniel felt safe in the lions’ den” and can prove the virus to be as harmless, as “Paul proved the viper to be harmless.” (514:26)
To round out and wrap-up our “Model Let-us diet:” let-us affirm that “…the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22)
