The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love.

Mary Baker Eddy

(Science and Health, p. 113)

How many Christian Scientists have attended a Wednesday evening meeting where every one gave a testimony? At one such meeting there were only five present, their ages ranging from twelve to eighteen years. Tears of gratitude filled the eyes of the Reader, as one by one the fresh young voices spoke lovingly of the help which Christian Science had been to them since they had last met there. They were all faithful attendants at these meetings, and one boy said that the truth helped him a hundred times a day. In the long cold walk home, one forgot the passing of time, and in listening to their joyous words we felt as care-free as themselves, so that the battle with the elements only made one stronger to press on and “fight the good fight of faith.”

By E. Shoebotham

From the April 1911 issue of The Christian Science Journal

I’m going to share something with you that I have on my desk. I have it framed and it inspires me. I’m not sure where I got it, but I framed it so I can see it every day, right next to my computer. Maybe it will inspire and comfort you too.

It’s titled “Love”

“There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; No disease that enough love will not heal’; No door that enough love will not open: No gulf that enough love will not bridge; No wall that enough love will not throw down; No sin that enough love will not redeem.

It makes No difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, How hopeless the outlook, How muddled the tangle, How great the mistake; A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If you can love enough, you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.”

I hope that helps you. It does me. Stay safe and take care, and have a fantastic week!!!

all my love, Danielle

https://www.daniellesteel.net/2-15-21-love

Secretary Pete Buttigieg Makes History As First Openly LGBTQ, Senate-Confirmed Person to Lead a Department

https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/secretary-pete-buttigieg-makes-history-as-first-openly-lgbtq-senate-confirmed-person-to-lead-a-department

Peace I leave with You

By Danielle Steel

01/18/21

“We each have to find our own way to cope with it, how to relax, how to breathe, how to hang on, how to believe and know that things will go back into good order eventually, and we have to make the best of it until then. Whatever works for you, as long as it’s legal and safe and doesn’t hurt you or anyone else, is fair. Exercise, meditation, spending time with a loved one, or alone, listening to music, doing a painting, reading a book (yes, please!!), watching something on TV, helping someone in worse shape than you are, praying, going for a walk. Getting a glimpse of beauty, or finding something to laugh at. There is an expression in French for these situations: “Raise the Hearts”, which applies here. We have to raise our hearts, even if we feel like our hearts are dragging, even if we’re scared or anxious or angry that any of this is happening. We will come through it, we HAVE to hang onto hope. There is no other choice. And gratitude helps too, no matter how small what we are grateful for.

At times like this, I turn to spiritual inspiration to find balance and strength. For others, it’s exercise, or other things. The love and comfort of the people I love gives me strength too. But sometimes, we don’t even have that, and we have to find courage and strength on our own. In my darkest hours, after my son’s death, working on the streets with the homeless gave my life purpose and brought me back to life again. I would lose myself among them, working to serve them and bring them supplies and comfort, dangerously and sometimes even foolishly brave because I didn’t care what happened to me, but all those kind people I supposedly helped, actually helped heal my broken heart. And today, we don’t have the same freedoms, since we need to be careful of Covid, we can’t hug a stranger or touch a hand, and have to use caution, but there are ways to help others even now, without putting yourself at risk. Whatever works for you, and is safe.

I found a passage in the Bible today that brought me comfort, and I share it with you. Even if that’s not your form of comfort, I share it with you, in case it helps. From John 14:27  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you…Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Have a peaceful week. We’ll get the mess sorted out, and the closet of our lives sorted out neatly again.

I send you love and comfort, and a hug,  Danielle”

https://www.daniellesteel.net/1-18-21-peace-i-leave-you-with/#comments

Response by Rob Scott

”In my darkest hours, after my son’s death, working on the streets with the homeless gave my life purpose and brought me back to life again. I would lose myself among them, working to serve them and bring them supplies and comfort, dangerously and sometimes even foolishly brave because I didn’t care what happened to me, but all those kind people I supposedly helped, actually helped heal my broken heart.”

Amen.

I get it, Danielle.

Loved your book; “A Gift of Hope, Helping the Homeless.”

In my darkest hour, after losing my home, giving away all my material possessions, and over whelmed with hardships, it was my students in Mexico who pulled me out of depression and healed my broken heart. I just wanted them to have good lives and to never give up. We read inspiring material and their homework was to come to class and tell everyone something they were grateful for. Most shared gratitude for family and God. You could have heard a pin drop it was so sacred and beautiful as they spoke and shared.

For me, the second part of your blog post brought me comfort, peace, and hope.

The Bible passage from John is one I know well. There is a stillness around it that brought me peace as I write this.

“Raise the Hearts”.

Amen!

Sending love and comfort, and a hug right back at you.

May God Bless Us All,

Rob Scott
ABQ, NM

bty

“The God-inspired walk calmly on though it be with bleeding footprints, and in the hereafter they will reap what they now sow. The pampered hypocrite may have a flowery pathway here, but he cannot forever break the Golden Rule and escape the penalty due.”

Mary Baker Eddy

“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”, page 41

An Interview: on racial prejudice

Would you care to mention any personal experiences you’ve had in coping with racial discrimination?

I’ve had many, and I hope I have learned more of the meaning of love from each experience. I once visited a Christian Science church where I was told that the custom of the community did not permit the races to mix in church services. Seeing that I was a black man, an usher met me on the sidewalk and asked what I wanted.

“Is this not a house of God?” I answered.

“Yes, it is,” he said somewhat sheepishly.

“The invitation read by your First Reader at each services, ‘All are welcome’—is it real?” I went on. “I am a weary traveler seeking a cup of cold water in Christ’s name.”

I am grateful for Christian Science as I continue to work out my own salvation with it.   My own mother did not have a proper understanding of Christian Science by ridiculing gay people or those she perceived to be gay while I was growing up and in my developmental years.

Thus I had to throw out the bathwater and keep the baby so to speak.  Or perhaps she threw me out for being gay.

I’ll always remember her last words before I left for college. “Being gay is the most horrible thing a man can be”.

My father made the following observation.  He said he suspected our cousin may be a lesbian because she lived in a major city and never dated.  He then laughed and stated:  “She probably has AIDS.”  He then retold the same  comments again because nobody else laughed or responded to his so-called joke.

During class instruction my own teacher stated: “We don’t want gays and lesbians in our church”.

Sometimes this healing Science can get lost along the way from the ignorant messenger performing badly used Christian Science.

Comment Section from Ted Talk Below:

I hugged a mom with a “free mom hugs” sign at pride last year and instantly burst into tears.  Something that small really is so much more powerful than a lot of people realize. Bless this woman!

It’s so nice to hear a Christian who actually sounds like a Christian.

ACE

“I chose my child” got me in tears, and I don’t cry easily. Bless this mother!

ART

This is so amazing, I love that she emphasizes that she didn’t reject religion, she adapted her views while keeping her faith and that is SO IMPORTANT!

Why I chose my LGBTQ daughter over the Evangelical Church | Susan Cottrell | TEDxMileHigh

What happens when the most important parts of your life come into conflict? When Evangelical Christian mom Susan Cottrell’s daughter came out, she faced an impossible choice: her LGBTQ child or her non-affirming church. In this heartwarming talk, Susan explains why she chose her LGBTQ child and how she fights for progress inside the Christian Church. Susan Cottrell is a prominent voice for faith parents of LGBTQI children. She is an international speaker, acclaimed author, and public theologian with a Masters in Theological Studies. After spending 25 years in the Evangelical church, she founded FreedHearts to champion the LGBTQI community and their families. She served as the Vice-President of PFLAG Austin (Texas) and was endorsed by The Human Rights Campaign and The Gay Christian Network. She has five children, two of whom are in the LGBTQI community, with her husband of 30 years, Rob. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cottrell_why_i_chose_my_lgbtq_daughter_over_the_evangelical_church

https://www.freedhearts.org/

“I was just overwhelmed with emotion,” Kim, 38, told NBC Asian America. “It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”

Behind the viral photo of Rep. Andy Kim cleaning up at midnight after riots

Excerpt by Claire Wang | NBC NEWS

Unlike many of his congressional colleagues, Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., was in his office in a separate federal building when President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. So he didn’t actually see the damage live until nearly midnight, after the House had voted down the last challenge to the presidential election result.

When he finally did walk around the rotunda — his favorite and arguably the most storied room of the building — the disarray left him speechless. Water bottles, broken furniture, tattered Trump flags and pieces of body armor and clothing were strewn on the marble floor as if it were an abandoned parking lot.

“I was just overwhelmed with emotion,” Kim, 38, told NBC Asian America. “It’s a room that I love so much — it’s the heart of the Capitol, literally the heart of this country. It pained me so much to see it in this kind of condition.”

So for the next hour and a half, he crouched down and filled a half dozen trash bags with debris. When he finished cleaning up the rotunda, he began working on the adjacent rooms, including the National Statuary Hall and the Capitol crypt downstairs.

Then he returned to the House floor to debate Pennsylvania’s vote count, a session that lasted until 3 a.m. By Thursday evening, he’d been awake for more than 36 hours.

On a day in which video of mayhem and bloodshed inundated social media, a widely shared photograph of Kim, alone on his knees, picking up the final pieces of garbage in a nearly empty rotunda, was a radical break from — and rejection of — the violent impulses that drove the country to the brink of collapse. Many people labeled him a “true patriot.” While Kim said he didn’t dwell much on the symbolic heft of his actions, the term was on his mind.

“I feel blessed to have this opportunity as a son of immigrants to be able to serve in Congress,” he said. “Democracy to me is this place of opportunity that is affording me a chance to do something extraordinary.

In 2018, Kim became the first Asian American to represent New Jersey in Congress, flipping a predominantly white district that voted for Trump in 2016 and did so again in 2020. (Kim won re-election in November despite voting to impeach the president last year.)

The irony of a history-making Korean American lawmaker dusting up after a white supremacist riot is not lost on Kim. But he also pointed to the progress that’s been made.

“I represent a district where the vast majority of people do not look like me,” he said. “But they’ve voted for me twice now to be their representative, and that’s a beautiful thing. There are others who seek to make me seem like an ‘other’ whether it’s because of skin color, or gender, or sexuality. But that’s not what this is about. We’re all Americans.”

“The depth of the divisions that we have isn’t something any single law can wipe off the face of our planet,” he said. “We also need to recognize that how we get through that is by seeing the humanity in each other. There are ways we can have debates and disagreements but not resort to violence.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/behind-viral-photo-rep-andy-kim-cleaning-midnight-after-riots-n1253519

Voting—and giving voice to God

Happy New Year – 2021

Isaiah 66:13

“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

King James Version (KJV)

No one can be without mother love. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, says in her book Science and Health, “Love, the divine principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.”¹

Just as it was necessary in the little tiger’s case for the mother tiger to be quickly replaced by another mother, it is also sometimes necessary in a human household when the mother’s place has become empty. Love fills it again. The Bible promises, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.”² This is what God is telling all His children, big and little. His words have power, and He keeps His promises.

God’s great care knows no emptiness; every place is filled—sometimes by a foster-mother, or by a housekeeper, or other friends. But the love is always there.

SUSAN COTTRELL, a prominent voice for faith parents of LGBTQI children, was featured on ABC’s 20/20, Nightline and Good Morning America, on NBC News Out, on The Advocate Magazine’s National Coming Out Day, Mother’s Day, and other viral videos – as “our favorite affirming matriarch.” – and is a devotional contributor on the Our Bible app.  She is an international speaker who was featured on the TED stage for 5,000 people at TEDxMileHigh, a public theologian, acclaimed author, and consultant. Through her nonprofit organization—FreedHearts—Susan champions the LGBTQI community and families with her authenticity and tender-hearted zeal. She challenges Christians to love as the foundation of faith. She spent 20+ years in the non-affirming Evangelical church, has a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and served as the Vice-President of PFLAG Austin (Texas). Her books “Mom, I’m Gay”—Loving Your LGBTQ Child and Strengthening Your Faith; True Colors – Celebrating the Truth and Beauty of the Real You; and Radically Included – The Biblical Case for Radical Love and Inclusion are critically acclaimed. She and her husband Rob have been married for more than 30 years and have five children, two of whom are in the LGBTQI community.

“Susan has this fierce, loving, don’t mess with me, Mom vibe.”—Rev Ashley Harness, Auburn Seminary

 “I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing”.

Mary Baker Eddy

(“The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” p. 262)

Merry Christmas, 2020

e-inspire, December 24th, 2020

“Midnight foretells the dawn. Led by a solitary star amid the darkness, the Magi of old foretold the Messiahship of Truth.”

(Science and Health, p. 95)

We can join the wise men who recognized in the night what the dawn would bring. We can commemorate that amazing occasion where the world was led to a humble place to embrace a powerful promise.

Let’s not fail to glimpse that star. We can find it in others, in experiences that inspire, in scriptural verses, in angel ideas that come to us just when we need them. We can find that star in our own hearts—a light within beckoning us to follow through, to trust that this saving radiance is to be appreciated deeply and accepted gratefully.

We have this light of Love in us. It encourages us forward not only to see that Christ-Truth and to accept the glorious message of freedom, but to freely share it as well. We can follow that star as it leads us out of personal darkness, to the reality of God’s presence, forgiveness, peace. And we can keep on following it, walking not only toward that Christ-idea, that Christmas glory, but with it.

Let’s enjoy the midnight hour, even the mystery of the unknowing, and wake with expectation of the goodness to come.

Laura Moliter, Divine Purpose Coach and Spiritual Activist

www.beingfreenow.com

More Than Comfort

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” has been quoted for nearly nineteen hundred years, and is a universally known and beloved statement of Jesus. It will continue thus to be known and loved and quoted as long as there are “heavy laden” ones on the earth; for it is a statement of divine Truth, voiced by the Way-shower of men. And like all the sayings of the Master, it is so clearly stated that even the most material may in some degree understand it. Jesus’ statement has been, is, and will continue to be of universal interest, because even a slight degree of understanding of it gives a proportional amount of comfort, producing that peace and rest which all desire. In short, the quotation is believed because it is taken from the most respected of books, the Bible, and was given by the most loved of men, Christ Jesus; and also, because “he may run” who understands some degree of its truth. To understand it even in a slight degree is a step toward peace, toward trust, toward spirituality.

In saying “Come unto me,” Christ Jesus meant that we should realize the truth; that we should follow “the way;” that we should know that, even as he said he could do nothing of himself, we also are unable to do anything of ourselves. It is the Father that works; we only reflect His activity. Our weariness, then, is without a real cause. What makes us seem weary is the false sense that we are working as gods, by ourselves—that we are originating something; whereas in reality God does the work, and we merely reflect divine activity. To lose the false sense of working is indeed to “come unto me,” to realize the truth that God alone originates, that He is omnipotent and never grows tired, and that we have only to reflect. That will indeed give us rest.

By Jamie Gangel and Paul LeBlanc, CNN

Updated 8:30 PM ET, Wed December 16, 2020

“Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country,” Bush had said. “The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can.”

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/politics/bush-christmas-card-trump/index.html

 “Business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity.”

Mary Baker Eddy

(Science and Health, p. 128)

Testimony from the 2006 Gay Games – Chicago

by Rob Scott, CS

WHY WE WROTE THIS

A Most Beautiful Thing Trailer #1 (2020) | Movieclips Indie

Pulling together: Lessons from first all-Black high school rowing team

October 19, 2020

By Harry Bruinius Staff writer

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2020/1019/Pulling-together-Lessons-from-first-all-Black-high-school-rowing-team?

e-inspire, originally aired on December 7th, 2020

“And how does a man benefit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process?”

(Mark 8: 36, the Living Bible)

Let’s tend to our souls. Let care for the inner spirit, the essence of who we are individually, and awake to our greater purpose.

It may seem like gaining riches and fame, ease in the material world, is the ultimate goal. And there certainly isn’t anything wrong with prosperity. But our motives and methods make a difference. For to seek gain at the expense of others, is costly to our souls. It moves against that love within that makes us whole and keeps us secure in our being.

If we seek power in order to feel we can control others, to show we are better than them, or to achieve accolades, we deny God Who is good and the only power. We try to take what isn’t ours to have, and in doing so, we lose the integrity that is also our protection. We may gain attention, but we lose our faith, our goodness, our security, and our hearts.

Let’s pause and strive for what is right and good, knowing we can achieve more with God and His intention, and we can keep our souls intact as well.

Laura Moliter, Divine Purpose Coach and Spiritual Activis

www.beingfreenow.com

Virginia Harris, C.S.B. – Gratitude – A Force for Progress!!

Gratitude – A Force for Progress!!

Posted: 23 Nov 2020 06:56 PM PST

https://www.daniellesteel.net/11-16-20-popcorn-time/#comments

When I was a very young girl, about thirteen, my grandmother gave me a beautiful antique book with an embroidered cover and blank pages inside. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Write a story? Do drawings? I was more inclined to draw than to write. Then I began to find quotes I liked, wise words, often about love and the alleged meaning of life. And I began writing the sayings down in the book. It took me years to fill it. None of it was written in my own words; they were all quotations of other people’s wisdom. I would read through the book from time to time, and loved what I had gathered.

The habit of collecting quotations stayed with me. I would find sayings that I liked, even anonymous ones, clip them out of magazines or greeting cards, and save them. I didn’t research the sources or seek to verify them. It was the message that was meaningful, and I accepted the attributions. The wisdom of the words was what touched me. Sometimes I would make collages of them and give them to friends. Eventually I began framing the quotations, in several languages, and hanging them on my walls. I hang them mostly around my desk and the places where I work, even above my computer. I put them there so that on a bad day, I can look up and see something inspiring, or something that makes me laugh, to lighten the burdens and challenges of the day.

I suppose it’s not surprising that I’m in love with words and always have been. I make collages, fill little notebooks with sayings that I like. I do artwork, using vintage letters to make a word that’s meaningful to me. I love paintings and sculptures with words in them, and jewelry made with words, either in the form of a word or with words engraved on them. Words have become my career and my life, and my inspiration.

The right words can bring you back to reality or make you dream, can comfort you when you’re in despair or make you laugh out loud. The right words can open your mind or give you hope. I use the quotations I save and frame to do just that: to remind me of what I need to know, that life is not as bleak as it appears sometimes, that there is always hope, and love, and joy. The right words give me courage, strength, and peace.

I hope that some of these sayings that I cherish (or that make me laugh) will be the right words for you and give you just what you need at the right time. Please take them in the spirit I offer them to you, with love, as I share with you these words that have brought me great warmth and comfort.

Believe in miracles. Expect a miracle. Miracles DO happen, just as the quotations say. Life is a miracle, friendship is a miracle, laughter is a miracle, and so is love.

And I hope that these words touch your heart and make you smile.

Love, Danielle

I spent time working on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign at the end of 2015 to help pass the Equality Act which would prohibit discrimination in housing, education and employment against LGBT people in 29 states which currently have no protection. The Equality Act is currently before Congress. 

 
One college student shared with me that he signed up as a member of HRC because he has two moms. He shared that he is a well loved man because of it.

I was touched by one heart breaking story in particular. One woman shared that she had a friend whose son was gay. His family ostracized him for being gay so he left home with no further contact with them and perhaps felt pressured to leave his faith behind too. He died at age 26 from AIDS. Perhaps he died of famished affections due to a lack of love and acceptance from his family and church. But this same women also told me she has a gay son but she loves him unconditionally and their family welcomes him. As a result, he is now happy, healthy and well adjusted which demonstrates that love is the cure as stated by Sir Elton John.

It’s time to unite and heal.

What brings us together as Americans is so much stronger than what tears us apart.  

We the people will not be silenced or bullied.  

There are no blue states or red states, just the United States.

Joe Biden

11/03/2020

 “Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their discrimination as to the person, property, and parental claims of the two sexes. If the elective franchise for women will remedy the evil without encouraging difficulties of greater magnitude, let us hope it will be granted”.

Mary Baker Eddy 

(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 63)

I spent time working on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign at the end of 2015 to help pass the Equality Act which would prohibit discrimination in housing, education and employment against LGBT people in 36 states which currently have no protection. The Equality Act is currently before Congress. 

 
One college student shared with me that he signed up as a member of HRC because he has two moms. He shared that he is a well loved man because of it.

I was touched by one heart breaking story in particular. One woman shared that she had a friend whose son was gay. His family ostracized him for being gay so he left home with no further contact with them and perhaps felt pressured to leave his faith behind too. He died at age 26 from AIDS. Perhaps he died of famished affections due to a lack of love and acceptance from his family and church. But this same women also told me she has a gay son but she loves him unconditionally and their family welcomes him. As a result, he is now happy, healthy and well adjusted which demonstrates that love is the cure as stated by Sir Elton John.

POLITICS 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-equality-act-lgbtq-rights-legislation_n_5f9ab8eec5b6c7fe582c6af7

e-inspire, October 22nd, 2020

by Laura Moliter

“For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.” (Science and Health, page 17)

This is an all-encompassing assurance for us. We can let this statement welcome us into its majesty and its sweetness.

This powerful sentence is inspired by the Lord’s prayer, Jesus’ healing words to his disciples and all of us. It sums up and seals the deal. For the awareness and acknowledgment of God as All, tells us all we need to know about what is real, true, and at hand. God, good, is infinite. He fills all space with His nature, and this endures eternally. He is not only a power. He is all-power, omnipotent kindness, intelligence, protection, peace.

This boundless Almighty is also the very substance of Life. His being is active and immortal, and His creation is the expression of this divine being. The eternal Truth of God is Love, and this Love is what governs us, saves us, comforts us, uplifts us, and forever includes and embraces one and all.

Laura Moliter, Divine Purpose Coach and Spiritual Activist

ww.beingfreenow.com