Spiritual Short

On a summer vacation, I was feeling especially proud and assured as my motorcycle galloped the sinuous blacktop in the hills of Northern California. I put the bike on cruise control, and was feeling invincible and on top of the world.

I love giving away flowering bulbs to my friends during the winter months. Last year, I tried to think spiritually about these flowering bulbs, to look beyond their promise of material beauty to something more substantial.

When I hurt myself as a child, often scraping my elbow or knee as I learned to roller skate, I would tearfully go to my mom or dad for comfort. I remember them giving me a gentle kiss, and it helped me calm down and feel safe and well.

One day, after hearing more news about disagreement and impasse in negotiations between countries and leaders, I finally asked myself, “What’s needed here? What can I do to help bring unity and agreement to these meetings?” The answer came, “What’s needed is spiritual mediation right where there seems to be confrontation. ” But what is spiritual mediation? I knew that it didn’t have to do with believing in spirits, or anything otherworldly.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” wrote Robert Frost in his poem “Mending Wall. ” And I certainly shared that sentiment the other day as I thought about the walls of separation that seem to sprout up in so many ways—between family members, political and cultural groups, communities, and nations.

Leaving the pool after a Saturday morning swim got me thinking about weight. People of all shapes and sizes had enjoyed a swim that morning.

One day I received phone calls from an unknown number every single hour. When I checked the number, I learned that it was a scam call from outside the country for which I would automatically have been charged a high fee had I answered the phone.

In studying the Bible, I have learned that man’s perfection as a child of God is eternal and unchanging. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God” ( p.

When I made the journey from the United States to South Africa for my brother’s wedding, my airplane route was not direct. I was scheduled to fly from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Chicago O’Hare, then overnight to London Heathrow, followed by another overnight flight to Johannesburg, then to Durban, South Africa.

For several days I had been striving to feel the harmony and joy of divine Love’s presence but was finding it difficult to forgive a relative’s unkindness toward me. Then I remembered a potent statement Christ Jesus made about perception: “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness” ( Luke 11:34 ).