Being Free Now

“…love one another as if your lives depended on it.” (I Peter 1: 22, Message Bible)

That is quite a request! Doesn’t this give us a real sense of urgency? Can’t we see in this demand to the Christians of old that loving one another was not a secondary thing, or one to be done less than fully or consistently?

Jesus gave us these two great commandments: to love God and to love one another. These were his two big rules and the ones which were back of all the healing work that he did and the way in which he lived. These two divine laws honored and obeyed brought Jesus the resurrection and showed us–by his utilization of this necessary obedience to Love–everlasting Life, and the way to realize this in our own experience.

So, remember that loving is the first thing you do. It is your breath, it is your water, it is your waking purpose and the last thought before you go to sleep. This mandate for our lives is not one that is difficult. It is God’s own Love which we are naturally reflecting. It is cherishing that great sustenance that divine Love gives us daily, hourly, minute by minute, and spreading that Love abundantly because we have such an abundance of it to share.

Love with powerful divine energy. Love with abandon. Love with the freedom that is not about needing a response, but simply because feeling and expressing love is as natural and wonderful as taking a deep breath of fresh air. It is that life-giving, thrilling, and yet so peaceful act of drawing on the healing inspiration of God and exhaling in a song of love.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“You used to be like people living in the dark, but now you are people of the light because you belong to the Lord. So act like people of the light and make your light shine.” (Ephesians 5: 8-9, Contemporary English Version)

We’ve seen the light. We’ve had the radiance of God’s Truth glow within our hearts and serve as a beacon on our way. We’ve had our eyes opened to harmonious reality right where discord had seemed so real. We’ve recognized the true Word as that which feels natural to us, that ideal of Life and Love that just agrees with our innermost desires.

This light is a torch for us to bear into the world, to guide and warm others, to show them by example that there is good news and it belongs to all. Most of us have had periods of living in the darkness of ignorance or pride or fear. We’ve listened but not really heard or accepted. We’ve been shadows on our own goodness with own self-judgment and ego. So, we know the difference between darkness and light. We know why we are in fact blessed.

So, don’t let timidity or self-doubt keep you from acting like the enlightened soul that you are. Not only is your light too big to keep within a box of self, it is also easier squelched when it isn’t serving its purpose. The light is Love. Love needs to be shared. It needs to be celebrated. It has to be utilized in order to multiply.

And that light needs to be kept pure as well. This loving and healing presence we cherish is one which not only has compassion for others, but also true respect for them and for the fact that they already have the light within as well; they just may need your light to help find that switch and turn it on!

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (I Samuel 16: 7)

God does not judge by outward appearances. He doesn’t look at the ideas He made spiritually and evaluate them physically. There are a variety of ways that men and woman may appear to the physical senses or seem to be characterized on the outside. Human sense may be quick to judge one based on the way that he acts around us, what choices he has made, how he dresses, or how he looks.

But man is not so limited as to be what the senses testify to. We ourselves as well as others are not confined within a definition that is so small and shallow. God’s eyes are more perceptive and His Love more discerning. God looks on the heart of man. He sees the pure sense of each idea He has made. He knows the child and His innocence. He knows the man and His right desire to be better. He knows each of us intimately and this is the Truth of us.

Should we not see as God sees and know as He knows? Shouldn’t we, more importantly, love as He loves—without outward judgments, but with an easy and natural embrace of what is true, what He Himself made to be lovable? We certainly can’t get into a person’s heart, but we can be pure in our own heart. We can be so full of love within that that genuine goodness reaches beyond the surface of human judgment, and simply yet powerfully and gratefully, loves.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“To calculate one’s life-prospects from a material basis, would infringe upon spiritual law and misguide human hope.” (Science and Health, page 319)

Our life-prospects are so much grander than we think. Calculating what our life is, was, or will be from a material basis is necessarily disappointing. Matter is always limiting and it is usually pretty much of a downer! Finiteness boxes us in and gives us a sentence, if not for today, somewhere down the road.

How often do we think we have missed our chance, that the best is over, or that we will never accomplish this thing because of our age, our personality, our experiences, other people, etc., etc. Isn’t this view depressing and doesn’t it even make our present moment shadowed and heavy and full of apathy or at the very least, lethargic?

Spiritual law has an entirely different plan for you and it is one that starts with satisfaction and joy and ends with an expanded sense of that! Don’t let a material sense of what life is, was, or could be, dash your hopes for something wonderful. A spiritual calculation will lead you to a much better conclusion–one which excites, energizes, and opens the heart, the thought, and the eyes to blessings beyond what we can imagine.

Life was not meant to fit into a box. Life is God, Spirit, and His activity is broad and infinite and ever revealing more and more goodness. This is your Life. And no, it won’t look just like everyone else’s. The greatness of God has countless ideas and you get to live the best one, the one crafted just for you—today, tomorrow, and forever!

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7: 13-14)

The narrow way is really the better way. That “strait” gate that leads us safely home to goodness, harmony, heaven, requires the key of our devotion to enter and obedience to God’s wise directions in order to find the road within and follow it. Focus and precision, some inspired listening and disciplined acting, will be necessary on this true path of Life.

The “broad” way is the material way. It is running with the pack and essentially running amok. It may seem the easier way because we only have to follow what everyone else is doing, but that, too, is the reason it fails to please us. Your life is not meant to be just like everyone else’s. It is meant to be yours uniquely—expressing the full radiance of God’s qualities in you and serving a holy purpose that offers the most to the world and to yourself.

Be a standout from the pack and fearlessly choose to try that other door, the one that beckons you deep in your heart not merely through your senses. Don’t limit your life by taking the easy way. Your choices don’t need to follow some proscribed path for human success and happiness (as if there really was one!). Such an uninspired life will only lead to destruction, to a feeling of dissatisfaction and discomfort and endless yearning.

The narrow way means one where there are pauses to listen and to follow; to watch others settle for whatever seems most popular and easy, while we choose a different direction, off the beaten path but on the real highway to freedom—God’s way. And remember that while this gate and the path of this Life may seem narrow, in Truth this only means we are being led in a more direct way to the very place where we belong, where our true happiness waits for our grateful, expected arrival.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.” (Science and Health, page 162)

The Truth can’t help but stir things up. Don’t panic if you feel a little less than comfortable, if what you’ve come to rely on has become unreliable and you feel a little off your game. It’s not a sign of trouble, but a harbinger of progress, growth, and healing. Calm down and trust.

Letting go of long held beliefs can be difficult. We cling to the familiar because it is familiar, even comfortably uncomfortable at times. It is what we know, even if it is limiting, even if its premises lead to conclusions that are not so promising or peaceful. But this Science of God, this higher understanding, has to get our attention, to show us that those limits are arbitrary and unnecessary, and that life is about so much more. Our eyes need to adjust to the new light. We have to give up our faith in a flat earth now that we have discovered it is round. The human mind has been stirred up so that it is awakened and attentive.

And then the yielding comes. The Truth that changes our base of thinking is gentle, good, and it makes sense. It comforts and enlightens. It is power and it is love. Our new and true understanding of Life as limitless Love becomes the very cozy armchair we can settle comfortably into. It just feels right and natural. And now our weary minds and bodies are ready to relax, rejuvenate, and rejoice in this new clear and pleasing view.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“Every time I think of you, I thank my God. And whenever I mention you in my prayers, it makes me happy. This is because you have taken part with me in spreading the good news from the first day you heard about it.” (Philippians 1: 3-5, Contemporary English Version)

Paul took the words right out of my mouth! It gives me such great joy to share these ideas with you, and to keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers. Your inspiration and love supports me and awakens me to God’s good news more and more every day. My persistence in spreading the good news has so much to do with your devotion, your love of goodness and Truth, and your enduring hunger to know more and so to heal.

Every time I think of you I am thankful and happy. I feel uplifted in knowing that there are warriors out there joining me in this cause, which is to know and express divine Love better. We are all students together and being among a classroom of eager learners is a blessing. It raises the bar for discovery, encourages receptivity, and gives me comfort as I work to know better how to live and to love.

I love that we are in this together. I know that if there are fellow believers, practicing this Truth in new ways every day; that my cause is a good one; not only because God told me so, but because my loving, faithful friends agree!

Thank you for reading my thank you note this morning. Paul’s words touched a place in me and I couldn’t be silent about your contribution another minute! God bless you all.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“…you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6: 13-18, JB Phillips New Testament)

The material world and its suggestions of gloom and doom, sin and sickness, danger on every side, requires an alertness and readiness. We can’t simply roll over and let the tyrant take our good lives away! But we can’t take a stand that is thoroughly victorious without thoroughly preparing in the way that is most powerful–spiritually.

We need to build up a strong defense as well as a confident offense. How do we do that? What is this armor and weaponry that Paul tells us about here? Are we fighting material sense with its own weapons, or are we equipping ourselves from the armory of Spirit, that which is indestructible and omnipotent? Our preparation to battle down the false beliefs presented to us, whatever their form, and to live in our own land in peace, comes from God.

I think that Paul’s description of what is needed mirrors Mary Baker Eddy’s description of God’s attributes, the seven synonyms, in her textbook Science and Health. We have Truth, which girds us. We have Principle which upholds and protects our hearts and our lives. We have divine intelligence, the perfect and saving Mind as our helmet, our protected and clear thinking. We have that Gospel of peace which is certainly a Life that is Love. We have that full armor, that wholeness that is oneness with Soul and its integrity, its completeness. And we have that Spirit, that animating ideal that cuts through material lies and limits with unflinching certainty and power.

And so in God’s armor, equipped with His intention, we can win the day and share the rich bounty of peace and joy and love with the whole world.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28: 15)

Our lives are in good hands. God’s plan for us is sound and safe and He is accompanying us in every aspect of it. That means that His Truth, Life, and Love hold our hand in every place, whether it be dark and unknown, or a place of play and rest. He will never leave us, for we are the very ideas in His creative Mind, living forth His own right concepts, here, there, everywhere.

No physical journey will take you away from God. No travels into the wilderness mentally ever go unwatched and unloved. You are guarded on all sides and God’s intention for you is unimpeachable, guaranteed, prepared, and already complete. He is always leading us home to the awareness of ourselves as His own children, as the ones He caused in order to show forth His own glory and goodness, here, there, and everywhere.

Never fear that you will stray too far from God’s purpose, your right life and mission. This plan is not yours to lose or to mess up. It is God Who accomplishes His purpose, and the Omnipotent does not allow obstructions to His vision for us. He is conscious at all times of what we need and of how we will bless others. You are always and now in good hands and so no matter where you are, you are truly home—loved, comforted, supported, and at peace.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13: 35)

Jesus didn’t have a special insignia for his disciples. They weren’t recognized as part of his club through a secret handshake or some physical distinction of their hair, body, or dress. Jesus’s followers were known to be true disciples, true students of his teachings, by the love they expressed to one another.

This should be our goal as well. The signet we wear should never include behavior that excludes others or is rigid. Our mark of distinction should not be that we have more intellectual understanding than some other individual or more degrees after our name. The clear symbol of our true devotion is the manner and the extent of our love.

And as Jesus reminded us, when we love God supremely we are naturally able to love one another as well. And as this is a true love, reflected of divine Truth, it isn’t mere personal affection or an outward showing of niceness. It is a pure love containing all that God’s own love would require—mercy, tenderness, understanding, respect, honor, patience, helpfulness, and compassion.

This love must extend beyond those who are on our “team,” who believe just as we do. This spiritual love recognizes the principle that Jesus taught—that God is love and His children are beloved by Him. Therefore, all are lovable, worthy, and our very own brothers and sisters to cherish and appreciate. And by this genuine love we feel, we show the world that we are followers of the Christ, that active Spirit of God that is universal and perfect Love and that lovingly, naturally, heals.

This is today’s e-inspire. These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lamolitercs@aol.com. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.