PEACE… AND LETTING GO OF THE CONTROLS

Sometimes current events in the human situation cause us to lose a sense of peace and comfort.   When we read of terrorism, workplace violence, corruption and any number of troubling situations, we are tempted to lose our composure, our sense of peace and security,  and act out behavior that doesn’t reflect who we really are.     A recent short article by a dear friend, Laura Moliter,CS   on maintaining a sense of peace reminded me of an incident that I had some years ago flying a light airplane. But first, I invite you to read Laura’s inspiring words.

Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on him.”

(Psalms 62: 5, Contemporary English Version)

We all naturally seek peace. We know that we function with more freedom and are able to think more clearly and act more wisely when we are peaceful. We can attempt to gain that serenity, that quiet confidence, in many human ways. We can seek another’s opinion to assure us or look for a situation to change in order to feel better.

But these assurances can be variable and conditional. The outward may change but the inward composure is not truly there, real, and lasting. God, divine Love, alone can give us this “inward peace.” This is our true reliance and He is faithful to us. God’s presence  is  peace, and He is everywhere, actively being and expressing goodness, comfort, Life, and Love.

Mentally step away from the mortal mind’s conversations and complications. Listen to God’s voice of what is real and true—the genuine condition of things as He caused them to be. Give up the need to seek peace through material means and people and circumstances. Your loving God is at the ready, deep within, revealing His presence in your heart and His wisdom in your thought. Receive the richness of peace without argument. It is yours freely, now and always.

Laura’s article on letting God bring a sense of peace reminded  me of a lesson in “Letting Go” that I learned while learning to fly. 

I was piloting a small 4 place Aero Commander aircraft flying out of Dayton Ohio.    One day, early in my training, the air was pretty turbulent. In the light plane you notice turbulence more than in a large airliner. As I flew  the air currents juggled me around, the left-wing would dip down, then the right wing would dip, the plane was rocking from side to side as the turbulence affected the aircraft.  

As an astute and eager young pilot, wanting to impress my instructor that I was ready to “solo”,  I was furiously correcting the rocking with the controls, adjusting every two seconds trying to maintain level flight. I glanced over at Gary, the instructor and a very experienced pilot,  who was cruelly laughing at my plight and my solution!!  

He finally said, “Pat, just take your hands off the wheel.”

Of course I did as he suggested and it was amazing. The wings were still going up and down, the plane gently rocking in the turbulence,  but correcting itself and the trusty Commander 100 maintained level flight without all the human effort I had been expending to remain stable. The wings were not going up and down any more than they had before but I was able to sit back relax with my hands off of the controls and let the aircraft just fly in peace. It felt like the plane was smiling and loved being left alone to do it’s job.

I suddenly felt that PEACE that comes from letting go of the controls as Laura described.  We can FEEL that PEACE when we trust God, our Father, the Creator of the universe to govern our lives, letting go of the need to force things, to impose human will, to "make it happen". 

What a lesson that was for me. I still sometimes must relearn it over and over, not in an aircraft but in life.    But then I remember those flying days and how without my human intervention, the plane flew on a steady course easily handling the small bumps and updrafts.   It was a good example of how, in like manner,  when we take our hands off of the controls, dropping human will and outlining, we can trust the Father to keep our human wings and life level as we soar life’s’ airways.

The Bible has the prescription for overcoming turbulence and upheaval in our human activity.  It is “letting go of the controls” and embracing a spiritual sense of existence as Galatians 5 has it:   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

A hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal (216)  gives also us reassurance…

O he who trusts in God’s protection

And hopes in Him when fears alarm,

Is sheltered by His loving-kindness,

Delivered by His mighty arm;

If ye God’s law can understand,

Ye have not builded on the sand.

O wait on Him with veneration,

Be silent in humility;

He leads you after His own counsel,

His will is done and still shall be;

All good for you His wisdom planned;

O trust in God and understand.

PEACE BE UNTO YOU. (Christ Jesus)
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Article: Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on him.” Psalms 62:5
By: Laura Moliter, CS Christian Science Practitioner
www.beingfreenow.com
www.lamolitercs.wordpress.com

And the Best is LOVE

If you ever feel down and out, in a difficult relationship, facing medical problems, confused by the political static, the economy, frightened by the threats of terror, gun violence and war, or just wish for comfort and reassurance,  consider this message.  When Jesus of Nazareth encouraged us to "love one another" and counseled  "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark 12) it was not just a soothing placebo, it was practical truth for us to practice.  He taught that God IS Love... a real, operative, demonstrable and practical, active science that gives our lives meaning. And he promised that we can do the works that he did, and even greater.  (John 14:12) 

These selected verses that have helped me are from a poem by Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885) and put to music in the Christian Science Hymnal (Hymn 173). A wonderful prayer for Love....


"Love is kind, and suffers long,
Love is meek, and thinks no wrong,
Love, than death itself more strong;
Therefore, Give us Love.

Prophecy will fade away,
Melting in the light of day;
Love will ever with us stay!
Therefore, Give us Love.

Faith will vanish into sight;
Hope be emptied in delight;
Love in heaven will shine more bright;
Therefore, Give us Love.

Faith and Hope and Love we see
Joining hand in hand agree;
But the greatest of the three,
And the best, is Love."

An excerpt from a wonderful daily blog by Christian Science Practitioner Laura Moliter, this morning brought that wonderful hymn to mind. Her words follow:


"We may feel at times as if we have thoughts and ideas that feel inspired and right, and yet they also seem unclear to us, confused, or fraught with challenges to their realization. Don’t give up on those right aspirations. Neither should you feel as if your life is without a distinct purpose, a right reason to keep walking forward with joy and expectation.


The seed doesn’t know what the flower will look like, and yet within that seed is the purpose to be a glorious flower, as nature would reveal. Trust Spirit, God, to know what the finished product of your goals and of your very life must look like. It must look like Him! Your Life is intended to reveal God’s qualities in a unique and wonderful and necessary way. It already is doing so and will continue to bloom, to surprise, and to delight.


Rest your worries and your frantic need to know exactly what tomorrow must bring, and let God reveal the very right thing at the very right time in the very right way. Enjoy this moment, treasuring God’s loving care for you and your goals. It is safe to pause with God, divine Love. His purpose is a promise and it is always natural to us, and yet holy, powerful, successful, and beautiful."

                       


Thanks Laura and Christopher for the wonderful comforting messages of God's Love!!  And to Christ Jesus for proving that Love is not just a word but a healing spirit.


Too late to contact Christopher but you can read more from Laura at:

Laura Moliter, CS
www.beingfreenow.com
www.lamolitercs.wordpress.com

EARTHQUAKES AND OTHER SCARY STUFF

I could feel the floor starting to tremble under foot, first a jolt and then a gentle tremor. I saw my office door begin to swing slowly, then I realized...  Here we go again, still another earthquake. 

I happened to be on an important telephone call at the time and as the senior manager in my building I knew I should set a good example and evacuate immediately but, even though the ceiling tiles were falling, books being jostled from the bookcase and there were sounds of screaming in the hallway, I stayed on the phone for the a couple of minutes to finish the conversation. The guy on the other end, one of my staff members, was laughing at my plight as he was safely in his office in Oklahoma, far from my Southern California location. The screaming continued, I left the office for safety outside.

When the dust settled and we received an “all clear” from Security, we all returned to the offices and I addressed the source of the screaming. I called my administrative assistant

into my office. One of her duties was “Building Safety Coordinator. I told that I had seen her grab her “hard hat” and run out into the hall as the tremor started. That was good. But, we also discussed how that it was probably not appropriate for her, as the Building Safety Coordinator responsible for an orderly building evacuation, to run down the halls screaming “Run for you life! We’re all gonna die”!!!

I suggested that perhaps it would be better for her to give up that additional duty position and to accept another duty that was less stressful.

Now I personally know a lot about FEAR. I have sampled various fears many times in many of its disguises and know it intimately.

For example, Fear comes in many disguises. What is frightening to one may not be to another. 

SKEERD?  Not Me!!!!!

Panic Sets In!!!!

Fear is irrational. I have felt perfectly safe on a very bumpy flight, experiencing heavy turbulence, while the person next to me was reduced to crying and shaking. And, I have felt inexplicable fear in a packed elevator while others crammed in next to me laughed and talked, oblivious to what was frightening me, while I was about to implode.

If fear were rational, we would all fear the same things, which proves to me that FEAR is individual and within our own consciousness.

Courageous Burmese political figure, Aung San Suu Kyi is

quoted as saying: “The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.”   Intellectually, we know that it is important to stay calm, and we should exercise caution. Author Neale Donald Walsch says:“Caution is what causes you to look both ways before crossing the street. Fear is what keeps you frozen on the curb forever.” 

When FEAR lifts its ugly head, we all react differently. Fear and confusion often block intelligent actions, sometimes we seem to become immobile. A Flying Safety magazine article some years ago reported that the Landing Gear warning horn was so loud and insistent as his jet fighter aircraft approached the runway, creating fear and confusion in the pilot’s thinking, that ironically, he landed without lowering the landing gear.

Since fear is subjective, in our own thinking, I have often contemplated Job’s observation and its relevance to myself. In the Bible, in the Book of Job, we find:" For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." *1  

Is the fear, that "Gear Warning Horn" so loud and insistent,   “coming upon me” because I am entertaining it, giving it place, honoring its presence by believing it? If I didn’t fear, would the “thing” happen?

Now I am not saying that my Administrative Assistant caused the earthquake!! But her reaction certainly reflected a fear that was personal to her.   BUT, what causes fear? How can we conquer it? 

It seems that FEAR is a feeling that somehow we have become separated from our Creator, that we are alone without support. We may we feel that we are adrift in this world, vulnerable to something that is about to happen, or may happen, or will happen!! We feel a lack of firm foundation, and we ACCEPT those fearful, threatening thoughts and cling to them!

But do we have to believe everything that comes into our thought, everything we see, hear and feel? Are we “authorized” to sort the thoughts that come to us, do we have permission to keep the good ones, discard the bad ones, the fearful ones?

In her book, Rudimental Divine Science, Mary Baker Eddy cautions that : “Accepting the verdict of these material senses, we should believe man and the universe to be the football of chance and sinking into oblivion'.”*2   In her Bible companion book*, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she challenges us, when threatened by belief of disease or any erroneous belief, to guard the door of our thought: She counsels: " Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." *3 

God’s plan for us is never frightening, never leading to danger, doubt, discouragement, disease. We are never separate from our divine Source, never out of the Mind that holds us in His consciousness never threatened by God, who is LOVE.

Jesus of Nazareth, the humble preacher centuries ago, knowing that he was ALWAYS hand in hand with his heavenly Father, faced every situation fearlessly. He said, “I and my Father are ONE.”*4   And the apostle Paul comforted us by assuring us of our inseparability from God when he said:   “In Him, we live, and move and have our being.” *5   Definitely a statement of our true, spiritual existence.



Regardless of how solid, or shaky, material foundations may seem, they are really not “the rock” that we need as

security. The assurance and peace of mind of being “at one with the Father” comes to us in a way that some of us have experienced as children when, unexpectedly separated from a parent and experiencing that sinking feeling, looked desperately for their comforting presence. Then, reunited, hand in hand with our parents, we once again felt safe and secure. That same comforting presence of our heavenly Father/Mother is always available, here and now, and will bring that same sense of peace and well being.

This poem speaks of feeling God's everpresence: 

I walk with Love along the way,

And O, it is a holy day;

No more I suffer cruel fear,

I feel God’s presence with me here;

The joy that none can take away

 Is mine;  I walk with Love today.

Come, walk with Love along the way,

Let childlike trust be yours today;

Uplift your thought, with courage go,

Give of your heart’s rich overflow,

And peace shall crown your joy-filled day.

Come, walk with Love along the way.*6

*       The Holy Bible  - Job 3:25

**      Rudimental Divine Science - Mary Baker Eddy (MBE)

***     Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (MBE)

****    The Holy Bible  - John 10:30

*****   The Holy Bible  - Acts 17:28

******  Christian science Hymnal 427

Leap-The-Dip

Who thought it was a good idea to sit here in the front row? My stomach feels like a thousand butterflies are fighting to get out. I had a feeling that this was going to happen when I was standing in line. 

 When I was young I had heard about the Leap-The-Dips, a roller coaster built in 1902 at Lakemont Park in Altoona,  Pennsylvania and it sounded like such great fun, I had always wanted to experience that. But after standing in line for some time at this newer, higher, more modern roller coaster in Ohio, seeing how high the structure was, my resolve was starting to weaken. Now, in a front row seat, looking ahead at the tracks climbing skyward, reaching almost to the puffy clouds overhead it seemed, I wished that I could jump out of the car and run back to the ice cream stand that we had just passed.
I consoled myself that the Leap-The-Dips had survived for many years and I hadn't heard of anyone getting hurt badly. Before I could ruminate and build the level of fear any further, the car had filled and we started to roll slowly, clank, clank,…. clack, clack… and my heart was echoing that rhythm, beat, beat,... beat beat... inching our way up above the midway, the entire amusement park appearing below. Just when I wondered if the car would make the summit, suddenly the bottom dropped out and we rocketed down the other side of the coaster, going faster and faster, ears filled with screams of those on board, the funny, queasy feeling in the stomach, me not knowing whether to laugh, scream or cry and with a wrenching jerk we bottomed out and started up the next hill, heading towards another adventurous descent and a sharp curve at the bottom.

Thinking back, I am glad that I experienced that ride and a few other similar rides in following years. It was a great preparation for life. It’s funny how similar many of life’s experiences can be to those roller coaster rides, the ups and downs the fear and exhilaration, the moments of expectation and anticipation sometimes followed by fear and regret, that we face as we go through life.

Many of us can relate to that roller coaster ride. There are so many examples of the ups and downs that we face every day... the abrupt stock market fluctuations, perhaps our personal finances, strained relationships among countries in the world, our relationships with family and friends, or seemingly serious health situations involving our loved ones. Just as a roller coaster works because of gravity, a force that pulls things down, most often just when they are at the height of their climb, there is a sudden downward pull which frightens, discourages and at the least causes abrupt and sometimes extreme changes in our circumstances, our relationships and general quality of life.

At one time as I was working in an automotive manufacturing company.  The plant where my data center was located was an automotive stamping plant and this particular plant manager was being honored by the Corporation for excellent profitability, productivity and safety numbers.   Sitting in his office that day I congratulated him for the recognition and he told me, “Pat, in this business, when things look really good on paper they’re not as good as they look. And when our plant looks bad on paper it’s not really as bad as it looks.” And isn’t life like that?!!

That to me was helpful and I think of that often. That roller coaster, that juxtaposition of happiness and sorrow, of exhilaration and fear, of confidence and doubt are extremes which should be smoothed out by a calmer sense of what’s really going on in life. 

As I go back to my Personal User Manual, the Bible, I find such calming examples of how others in history have actually been able to smooth out the bumps and see life in a more spiritual context, see that relying on a spiritual view of life, as opposed to the discouraging and disappointing views that matter gives us, can solve our problems in practical ways. 

Christ Jesus was a great calming influence to his disciples and to others who were with him. In the midst of a storm at sea, the height of fear, when his disciples were sure that tragedy was imminent and Jesus was asleep, they awakened him and he immediately calmed the storm. To me, his action calmed their thoughts, removed their fear, as when a young child is fearful during the night and the father or mother goes into the bedroom to reassure them that all is well and that they are safe. 

In instance after instance, Jesus demonstrated in practical examples that the roller coaster of events in life can be smoothed out by reliance on God, our spiritual source, to provide food, drink, health, sanity, life where their opposites appeared to be. His greeting was usually, “Peace be unto you.” 

Another Biblical example was an occasion when the King of Syria was very upset with the prophet Elijah and sent a great number of men, horses and chariots to find Elijah and bring him back to the king. Elijah’s servant was very afraid as he awakened to see that they were surrounded by the king’s army. But, Elijah, a prophet that trusted in God’s care and protection reassured his servant. “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."    II Kings 6: 14

I am sure many have prayed to understand, as I have, 'What can I do to place myself on a more even keel? How can I experience more consistency, more harmony, less upheaval?'     Now we may not be surrounded by chariots and horses, but what if we could see the serene, calm picture of spiritual thought,  could see that the storm we are facing can be stilled, the multitudes of our needs can be fed, the illness healed, the tears turned to laughter, the turbulence smoothed by the calm abiding? How can we be a “God listener?"   See through the fog?  

Recent events in my own personal experience have reinforced the conviction that we can indeed slow down the coaster, quiet the fear, feel confidence and trust by turning to God for guidance. My solution is to turn to the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, a Bible companion used by people of many religions.

One of my favorite Bible “calmers” is found in Psalms 91.

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday."        I like to add here, “Nor for the roller coaster of emotion”!!!

When our thought is safely cloistered within that “secret place” where we are listening to God’s thoughts for us, quietly contemplating our oneness with God, our eternal Father, Creator, the source of all being, we can relax, get off of the coaster.

Mary Baker Eddy, an influential American author, teacher, and religious leader, noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health, which she named Christian Science, counseled this: "Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death."      "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." * 

We can turn the roller coaster into a gentle carousel, smooth the ups and downs, listen to the calliope playing a cheerful melody as we feel God’s calming reassurance.

* Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures - Mary Baker Eddy