Michelle Wigginton C.S.

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” – Peace Pilgrim: Born Mildred Norman, a peace activist and spiritual leader

78 years prior to Peace Pilgrim becoming a peace activist, Mary Baker Eddy shared the idea that the thoughts we think are powerful.

“You are a law unto yourself. Sin and disease must be thought before they can be manifested. The wrong thought should be arrested before it has a chance to manifest itself.” Science & Health With Key To The Scriptures The body is governed by mind; and mortal mind must be improved, before the body is renewed and harmonious, – since the physique is simply thought made manifest.” Miscellaneous Writings

So I am striving to pay close attention to what comes out of my mouth. Reminds me of that Bible passage Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”  Well, we are the first ones to hear our own words, so those words better be building up and ministering grace to ourselves as well as those that hear us.

Simple Christianity is a test. Every day millions of sources are trying to influence us in some direction, trying to get us to believe something, get on board with an idea. We are exhorted to receive it on trust, accept it on assertion, just believe because they make their case with such passion, energy and seeming reasonableness. Christianity at its core precept says I Thessalonians 5:21 NLT “but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.” It’s up to you! Information is being passed to you every moment. Test it yourself, before you blindly accept it. Use that Golden Rule that is found in every religion on the planet and accepted by those who profess no religion. “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”  Luke 6:31 Does this information I’m receiving bless everyone, or is it singling out and vilifying?  Is it good – not just selfishly speaking, but good for all? If yes, hold the heck on to it and don’t let go! Simple Christianity – One Quick Test – Is this (information, suggestion, belief, behavior, etc.) good?

Christianity more than any other religion is one of free inquiry, examination.  It asks each individual to think, understand and act for themselves based on one little test.  Is it good?

There can be only One . . . one Father-Mother God, the infinite Creator who ordains only good for all Her creation. Check out Eph 4:4-6

“Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. . . . That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out.” Rom 15:1-3 The Message

“That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.” KJV Proverbs 8:21

“That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures. Douay-Rheims Bible Proverbs 8:21

How to fill up your treasure chest? Love God!

True happiness is not mere worldly shadows.

A report of a shooting taking place on the UT campus came across my newsfeed yesterday morning. I did not even take a moment to read the report. I turned to God in prayer. I humbly acknowledged His presence right here with me and right there on the UT campus 25 minutes from my home.  I was remembering the assurance we find in the Bible that, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, . . . And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”(KJV Genesis 1) As that statement flashed through my thought, I was suddenly struck by the command in that statement to all of us.  More on that in a moment, I have always followed up Genesis 1 with Christ Jesus’ simplification of the 10 Commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He goes on to say, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (NIV Matt 22:37-40) This is the clanging symbols, brick dropping on your head, car horn blaring, alarm clock buzzing, AK47 firing, wake up call to your true identity as the child of God. This is the “El Dorado” of how to think about and “do” life.

When I was learning Bible stories in the Christian Science Sunday School many moons ago, I thought anyone who healed was awesome and Christ Jesus was the epitome, the coolest dude to walk the planet. I’ve been trying to emulate the Christ idea he so perfectly expressed ever since. A statement that I learned while in Sunday School came to me while I was praying about the UT shooting. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discover and Founder of Christian Science in her landmark textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures makes this phenomenal statement, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.” Wow, wish I could do that . . .  actually I can and so can you!  Remember Christ Jesus also says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”(NLT John 14:12) How in the world, you might ask, do I do that?  That was the question I knew that needed to be answered.

So I come back to that command in Genesis 1:31. It is so simple a command, so profound and yet I’ve overlooked its presence for years. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”  Do you see it?  “BEHOLD” what a direct command! God has just informed us for all time that his creation, every aspect is not only good, but very good.  If we are seeing something not good, then we are miscalculating, not being obedient to the first commandment, not honoring God’s word, not loving with all of our heart, soul and mind. We are given a direct command “behold”.  Merriam-Webster Unabridged defines behold as: to look at: examine closely: watch: to receive the impression of through or as if through visual means: see intently and fully: apprehend, experience: look: used in the imperative as an interjection especially to call attention.  I must line my thinking up with what God has already declared to be law.  I must look at and examine closely how I am seeing each man and woman.  How am I seeing this shooter?  I followed God’s command to “behold, it (God’s creation) was very good.”  I saw this man and everyone else in Austin and around the globe as “made in the image and likeness of God” and therefore good, despite what the outward appearance was saying.  I knew in my heart if I had made a mistake I would still want to be loved, so I had to love this man.  I have made plenty of mistakes in my life, but my true identity, as well as the UT shooter’s and yours, as the child of God is worth holding to, clinging to, examining closely, learning about, simply . . . LOOKING AT WITH LOVE.

As I backed out of the garage the other morning, the car was enveloped by fog. My youngest daughter began to chatter about her 2nd grade teacher telling about climbing a mountain and seeing over the fog.  My littlest one proceeded to tell me that we were under a “blanket of fog.”  We talked quickly about the many times we have been in airplanes and soared above all the clouds and seen that no matter how dreary it looks on the ground, with a little height we see that it is perfectly sunny and bright.  She smiled as she got out of the car and told me to remember that it is always a sunny day.

I loved our conversation and it had me thinking about the fog and clouds.  One of the definitions found in Merriam Webster Unabridged for fog says: “a state of mental confusion, uncertainty, or obscurity”.  I love the certainty with which my little one reminded me “it is always a sunny day”.  I love the clarity she expressed.  She had witnessed the proof of “sunny day” numerous times as the planes we were on soared above the clouds.  We were afforded a different perspective as we climbed.

Aren’t life’s challenges loneliness, anger, lack, fear, (endless list of negatives) just like that blanket of fog sometimes.  That blanket makes everything look out of focus, dreary, depressing, but we have the engine necessary to rise above the fog, throw off the blanket . . . it is the Christ.  This engine of good thoughts expressed lifts us above the blanket of loneliness, lack, fear. Expressing the Christ – the activity of God, is proving “I and my father are one.”(John 10:30 KJV)  When we are expressing the qualities that Christ Jesus exemplified, we are understanding and putting into practice the Bible’s timeless message. “You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that.  God’s temple is sacred-and you, remember, are the temple.” (1Cor3:16,17 The Message) So let’s throw off the mental blanket of fog or negative impositions on our thought by recognizing the sunny day that is always present and doing good for all. What a different perspective we’ll have as we rise above the fog and clouds.

Have a fog free day!

God loves you this moment and every moment!