Archive for February, 2011
Aaron, my angel
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I was in the woods, cold, pacing back and forth, squinting at 3×5 cards in the moonlight.
I had to familiarize myself with an hour-long speech, a speech about God and the effect prayer has on mental and physical health. I could remember half the talk, but the rest just wouldn’t stick.
I was in the woods because I was serving as an assistant Scoutmaster at my stepson’s Boy Scout campout. I only had two days to get the speech down, so I had brought it along on the campout. I was bordering on the frantic. The boys were supposed to be in their tents, sleeping; but there was Aaron.
Aaron had been labeled a trouble-maker. He seemed very needy. He was always in your face, looking for attention, talking when he shouldn’t.
“Mr. Wommack, what are you doing?” He walked up, stood too close, and grabbed the cards out of my hand. “What are these?” he asked while I did the grown-up “give me my cards back” thing.
“Notes for a speech,” I told him. He said, “I’ll help!”
My heart sank. Cold, frustrated . . . and now Aaron.
He wouldn’t give the cards back and started pacing with me. As we paced, though, things changed. He gave hints when I was stumped or he would force me to think harder, refusing to let me see the cards. And his tenacity worked. I started to remember the speech.
As we worked, Aaron would remark every so often, “This is neat stuff, Mr. Wommack.” And, “This is cool, I never knew this before.”
Then after almost an hour of pacing, Aaron sat down on a stump, looked up at me, and asked, “Don’t you think, Mr. Wommack, that the same God that gave you the ideas for this speech also gave you the ability to memorize it?”
“Aaron the problem” had turned into “Aaron the angel.” His words hit me like a brick along side the head. I had that speech down before we left the campsite.
I gave that talk many times all across America. And whenever I needed help, I thought about Aaron and the cold night in the woods. That memory frequently reminds me that I always and effortlessly express God’s intelligence, just as Aaron truly expresses God’s qualities of helpfulness, kindness, and unselfishness.
Thanks, Aaron.
This post is modified from its originally published form found at TMCYouth.com.
Find Keith on Twitter: @TexasCS
Related post: Paris > Texas: Melody and Health, God impelled
Signs of changing times
Posted by: | CommentsGuest post: Think you’ll find Signs of changing times, by Russ Gerber, a relevant and interesting peek into the future of medicine. Russ is a spiritual thinker and healer. I enjoy his unique take on life. Read all Russ’ posts at Religion & Media 2.0. —-
Looking out my window at home I still see several inches of snow lining the walkway. As is routine for New Englanders in mid-February I won’t take a step outside without my winter coat and gloves.
But this time there’s a hint of something unexpected. Change is in the air.
Look carefully and you see tiny buds coming through on some of the trees, and once in a while when you step into just the right sunny spot you feel a momentary warmth that tells you winter’s cold spell is loosening its grip.
Seasons are changing in the world of medicine as well.
I like how Dr. Larry Dossey characterizes the different eras of modern medicine and how the field has gradually but dramatically changed over many decades. Era 1 medicine began in the mid-1800?s, a period when physicians treated human bodies as mindless machines. Era 2 in the mid-1900?s saw physicians acknowledging that the human mind did have a bearing on one’s health. Research into the placebo effect and how stress and anxiety negatively impact one’s health paved the way for what we know today as mind-body medicine.
Era 3 is the future of medicine, as Dossey sees it, which is dawning on society. It’s an era in which a fuller understanding of consciousness is central to understanding our universe and realizing the mental nature of health care.
By the way, one more indicator of that made headlines this week when the BBC reported on a new study that shows how the effect of painkillers can either be boosted or completely wiped out by the expectation of the patient. An Oxford professor who saw the results suggested that physicians may need to change their focus from physiology to the mind.
Not everyone agrees. Some argue forcefully that the future of medicine resides in a greater understanding of matter, not of mind — Era 1 thinking.
But others, myself included, see a monumental shift taking place in society’s view of health. What’s emerging is the significance of consciousness in the context of spirituality, and how a transformed consciousness affects one’s health. People are experiencing the benefits every day.
Where will this take us in terms of health care? It’s conceivable that down the road medicine may need to be redefined as having mental and spiritual components, and users of this medicine — a new kind of health practitioner — will be qualified to fill that role because of their spirituality.
Of course that’s hardly how the world of health and medicine look today. We have a long way to go before we’ll have shed many of our long-held materialistic views.
But change is in the air. A small number of observers see the unmistakable signs of a transformation taking place. We’re going in the direction of mental and spiritual treatment being considered as legitimate an approach to health care as are drug-based treatments.
Like the change of seasons it isn’t happening dramatically, but it is happening. One day it will be as obvious and as natural to us as the arrival of Spring.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCSRelated post: When a child is sick? – Spiritual treatment & healing!
Lady Gaga & Snoop Dogg teach you … about God?
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Neil Strauss, in The Wall Street Journal article God at the Grammys: The Chosen Ones, writes:
Before they were famous, many of the biggest pop stars in the world believed that God wanted them to be famous, that this was his plan for them, just as it was his plan for the rest of us not to be famous. Conversely, many equally talented but slightly less famous musicians I’ve interviewed felt their success was accidental or undeserved—and soon after fell out of the limelight.
This faith gap, I’ve noticed in the interviews I’ve done, is often what sets the merely famous apart from the ridiculously famous. It can make the difference between achieving what’s possible and accomplishing what seems impossible.
This isn’t to say that every person who tops the charts believes in God’s will. There are plenty of exceptions, but fewer than you’d think.
Some may say, after reading Strauss’ piece, that these musicians are delusional if they believe a God handpicked them for mega-success and left the rest of us in the dust.
However, perhaps there is more to this story.
What if God made us all to be at the top of our game? What if God hasn’t been picking and choosing? Maybe, the supreme creator bestowed star-power and over-flowing talent on each of us. Perhaps, you and I are chosen ones, as well.
Wouldn’t low self-esteem begin to vanish if we accepted that the divine Spirit made each one of us to be spiritual, dynamic, and show-stopping?
Stars like Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, and Christina Aguilera may have caught a glimpse of a magnificent life, a life that celebrates the unlimited, divine qualities available to each of us. Whether they know it or not, perhaps their real gift may have been their stubborn refusal to let a material sense of talent and individuality smother the grand spiritual lives they were destined to live.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: 5 Simple things to make you a better healer
Travels with Twig – My Skateboarding Dog
Posted by: | CommentsSince we Texans love our dogs too (my wife and I have 3 of em living in luxury at our house), I knew you had to read and see today’s guest post. In this wonderful piece, Bob Clark, our good friend and colleauge from Florida, allows his dog, Twig, to show off her talents.
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“Your dog skateboards?”
She sure does. Twig came along with my wife and me on a recent trip to Tallahassee, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach. On the way back we stopped in Apalachicola, one of Florida’s coastal treasures. Twig skated all over town. Check out her video here.
When we first got Twig, a Shetland Sheepdog, she was just a tiny fluffball. We discovered her fearless nature when we took her for a herding instinct evaluation. She was twelve weeks old. Six pounds of Sheltie vs six-hundred pounds of sheep. No contest.
So we knew she was fearless. Then a few years later, she started showing interest in my son’s skateboard. We soon discovered a new aspect of Twig’s credo…no fear AND no limits.
She wanted to skate and she learned to skate, step by step. As soon as she learned to stay on the board on flat surfaces, she went to inclines. Then came curbs and ramps. Next up? Learning to propel herself and carve turns. And then… STAIRS! Who knows what’s next. Anything’s possible.
What seems natural for Twig is often elusive for people. Living without fear or limits isn’t easy. But it is possible. My religion has taught me this. No fear…no limits.
The phrase “Be not afraid” occurs more than 50 times throughout The Bible, which is the foundation of Christian Science. And you know, all the Bible heroes I can think of, from Abraham to Paul, removed limits by trusting God. Fear and limits disappear together. There’s great joy in witnessing that, whether the limits are your own or someone else’s.
Twig is an inspiration to me and many others here in Florida. She has performed at a Florida Marlins’ game, pet expos in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Largo, and retirement centers in the Tampa Bay area.
She amazes people and draws a crowd wherever she skates. There’s a sense of wonder in how fearlessly she jumps on her board and skates down steps. She makes it look easy.
People go away smiling and thinking about dogs…and maybe limits… in a new way. I love that.
You can see more videos on Twig’s website. ——–
See all of Bob’s great posts here.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: Texas: Rich History of Spiritual Healing
Read the Bible? Why?
Posted by: | CommentsThought you might enjoy this timeless story. –
A man was living on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning, he was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his worn-out Bible. His grandson wanted to be just like his grandfather and tried to imitate him in every single way.
One day, the grandson asked, “I try to read the Bible just like you, but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?”
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, “Take this old wicker coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water.” The boy did as he was told, yet all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You will have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather it was “impossible to carry water in a basket,” and that he would use a bucket instead. The man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough.” Then the man went out the front door to watch the boy try again.
The boy, now, knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would still leak out. So, the boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, “See, it’s useless!” “So you think it’s useless?” The man said, “Look at the basket.”
The boy looked at the basket and, for the first time, he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty, old, wicker coal basket, it was clean.
The man said, “That’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.”
He continued, “Take time to read a portion of God’s Word each day; it will change you even if you don’t think you are retaining a word.”
Take time to read a portion of God’s Word each day. It is Christ’s message. It is Christ speaking to you in the way you can understand. It will change you and heal you. It will make you a better man, woman, husband, wife, and friend.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: Spiritual shock & awe: inspiration from a Bible Lesson
Shake/battle – be free
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Years ago, my brother and I were called by a casting director to act in the movie Ballad of the Sad Cafe because she needed twins who could sing. The movie was filmed outside Austin, Texas, during the heat of the summer. My brother and I had the use of an air-conditioned trailer while on the set, but the extras in the movie dressed and relaxed in tents without air-conditioning.
One afternoon, while on the set, I heard that a young girl, one of the extras, was not feeling well. She had a high temperature and was in pain. I went to the extra’s tent and asked the young girl’s mother if she and her daughter would like come to our trailer where they could be more comfortable. She agreed. The mother and I walked the girl to the trailer and made her comfortable on a couch.
I’d been practicing prayer-based healing for some time and I had learned health to be, in the long run, a state or manifestation of Mind. This Mind should not be confused, however, with the human mind, the cause of problems. The Mind that health belongs to is the divine Mind, God. Health is an experiential, spiritual fact now. When the human mind yields to the divine Mind, God’s harmony and order are felt.
Therefore, knowing that healing was possible, I asked the young girl if she’d heard the story of the horse who fell in the well. She said she hadn’t. So, I explained that there was an old horse on a farm who fell into an empty well. The owner of the farm, feeling that neither the horse nor the well was worth the expense of freeing the animal, decided to fill the well, burying the horse.
The farmer began to shovel dirt into the well, but each time he threw in a shovel full of dirt, the horse would shake it off and stand on top of it. The more dirt the farmer threw into the well, the higher the horse rose, until he was finally high enough to walk out of the well.
The young girl laughed.
Then I told her it didn’t matter what was dumped on her, she could always shake it off and walk out of any well she found herself in. It didn’t matter whether her body hurt or she felt alone or empty, she expressed God’s joy and well-being.
At that point, she said that she felt fine and went back to the extra’s tent – happy as a clam.
Once again, I saw that as the human mind yields to the divine Mind, God’s harmony and health are felt. Prayer-based healing, however, must never ignore troubles. It must battle and erase them by showing God to be the foundation of health and of life itself.
Find Keith on Twitter: @TexasCS
Related post: Paris > Texas: Melody and Health, God impelled
Love stuff
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Happy Valentine’s Day. Since love is in the air, so to speak, I thought I’d share this post with you that was published at TMCYouth.com in 2007. You can find the original post here.
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I was in the fourth grade when I first noticed Karen Bell. Well, I suppose that’s when I first noticed that girls existed in general. And I wanted her to notice me, too.
I had no clue about how to catch her eye. Then it hit me. I’d write, “Will you go steady with me?” on a piece of paper. I’d toss it over to her seat, she’d read it, and voila.
I scribbled the note, wadded it up, and let it fly. It went sailing right past her ear. She immediately whirled around, glared at me, shot her arm in the air, and yelled, “Mrs. Griffith, Keith just threw a spit-wad at me!”
That’s when I got the impression that the love stuff was going to be tricky.
When I was thirteen, I began a search for spiritual answers about life, including falling in love and communicating with the opposite sex. What I learned was rooted in the concept of reflection, like the reflection you see in a mirror. A mirror reflects exactly what’s in front of it. I found that God is Love and I am Love’s reflection. When I accepted that I reflected Love, I began to feel Love — and I could express it better (at least better than a scribble on a piece of paper).
More recently, I’ve started to see how this kind of love-showing has impacted my marriage with my wife, Joanne (not surprising, I didn’t marry Karen). Seeing myself as a reflection of Love has helped me understand that instead of being fearful or needy or controlling, I can be peaceful, satisfied, and loving. With increasing spiritual poise and confidence, my communications with Joanne have been flavored with joy, understanding, and tenderness.
An example: I noticed that responding promptly to my wife’s requests has made our life together much better. There was a time when I used to grumble if she asked me to do something—“Why now? Doesn’t she know how important what I’m doing is?” But when I try harder to be Love’s reflection, I can see that listening to Joanne and helping her when she needs it, is Love’s way of shining through me. And Love’s way keeps the family peace. Love’s way helps me be a better listener. Love’s way keeps tenderness in the home.
Of course, even this change didn’t happen with the snap of a finger, and I still have more to learn. But, being willing to shift, to be more of Love’s reflection, has been the foundation of the communication that has made our marriage stronger.
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God loves you, right now, more than you will ever know.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: 5 Simple things to make you a better healer
“Hey, knucklehead!” – Have you been tempted?
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It happened while I was living at 28th and 1/2 Street near the University of Texas in Austin. In a split-level house, my bedroom was on the second story. It had eight floor-to-ceiling windows. It had been peaceful—until a fraternity moved into a two-story house nearby.
One night, a party started. A stereo and TV blared on a balcony. The sounds boomed into my bedroom through my closed windows. I prayed, grumbled, tossed, and turned.
Around 4 in the morning, the yelling stopped, but the stereo and TV were still booming. I had had enough. I dressed, walked to the corner, then downhill to the fraternity house, past a car with a young man asleep in the backseat, stepped over two individuals lying in the backyard, and climbed up a trellis to the second-story balcony. I turned off the stereo, unplugged the TV, picked it up, and carried it to my house. I then climbed into bed. Ah, peace and quiet.
That’s when I heard a message. “Hey, knucklehead, get up! You just stole your neighbors TV. You pray to help others by following God’s commandments, but you just pulled off a second-story heist!”
I’d been fooled into believing I was a victim of another’s immaturity and self-indulgence. But it was I who was indulging in a big dose of the same error. It was really a false sense of God’s man that was disturbing me, not the noise outside my windows. This false sense or error was bubbling to the surface of my thought to be removed.
Humbled, I got up, dressed, hauled the TV back to the balcony, and came back home, a bit transformed. Since then, I have strived to see everyone as God made, loved, wise, and guided. I don’t mean to say that I don’t get fooled, now and then. But I’m much quicker at recognizing when I am and utilizing spiritual/mental might over temptations. God gives you and me the authority to do so. And guess what? Not surprisingly, no other party ever disturbed me while I was living in that split-level house.
God yearns to show me who I really am.
Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: 5 Simple things to make you a better healer
Texas, are you in the hands of angels? Mark Kelly now thinks so
Posted by: | CommentsTexas has angels. Don’t really know if they are bigger than the ones in Rhode Island or not. What I do know is, I’ve seen them. Well, OK, I’ve felt them and been guided by them. Plenty of times. Apparently, Mark Kelly has finally felt them too.
At her USA Today blog site, Faith & Reason, Cathy Lynn Grossman described in a recent post Mark Kelly’s new found faith. Kelly is the astronaut husband of Tucson shooting victim U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He spoke at the February 3rd National Prayer Breakfast.
Grossman writes:
In the church-of wherever-you-are, says Mark Kelly, is a sacred space, a place of prayer. And hosts of angels, hovering beyond our sight, surround those for whom we pray, lifting them to the divine. [Kelly,] who had never been a religious man, spoke of such things as if they were an epiphany. …and it was Kelly’s newfound awareness of God and prayer-power [that] brought the event to a moving close. Most of the media have mentioned how he came to be believe in ‘fate’ — not the usual term for faith in God but he clearly connects it.
Kelly stated at the Prayer Breakfast, “I thought the world just spins and the clock just ticks and things happen for no particular reason.”
But now, after the shooting, he recalls his three trips to space from a new perspective, seeing the planet, ‘as God created it, in the context of God’s vast universe.’
And then the man once unaware of fate stood on faith with a prayer that brought the breakfast to a moving close. He gave the words recited at Giffords’ bedside, the first night after the shooting, when Tucson Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, who married the couple in 2007, invoked a host of angels:
In the name of God, our God of Israel, may Michael, God’s angel messenger of compassion watch over your right side. May Gabriel God’s angel messenger of strength and courage, be on your left. And before you, guiding your path, Uriel, God’s angel of light and behind you, supporting you, stands Raphael, God’s angel of healing. And over your head, surrounding you, is the presence of the divine.
The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, described what I’ve come to understand about angels. She wrote:
ANGELS: God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures)
When tragedy strikes, when loneliness looms, — when a moment of profound spiritual strength is suddenly required — yes, I’ve found that angels are present. They help in every situation. They help in Texas. Even in Rhode Island, I believe.
How have angels helped you?
Find Keith on Twitter: @TexasCS
Related post: It is Christ …
Quarterbacks with poise
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Crossing Bridges (Annette moves thought with a Christian Science perspective – a touch of Spirit)
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I love football. I’ve learned many lessons from watching games. Although my team isn’t playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl, I’ll still be watching.
In a recent game, a quarterback took a bad snap. The football dropped to his feet, but he didn’t yell at his center for the obvious mistake. He didn’t throw his hands in the air and stomp to the sideline in frustration. He didn’t scramble frantically for the ball only to knock it further away.
With poise, he calmly stopped the rolling ball, picked it up, and made a great play — a play that resulted in a touchdown. Unfortunately, the touchdown was scored against my favorite team.
However, I couldn’t help but be impressed. Just before what could have been a game-changing turnover — on the ten-yard line no less — the quarterback’s poise enabled him to make the best out of a bad situation.
Maintaining our poise is about maintaining balance, confidence, and composure. Our steadiness, stability, self-assurance, grace, and polish keep us ready to respond to demands of the moment.
It is our poise that enables us to problem-solve and to do so quickly. Our coolness and composure is what helps us know what to do and when and how to do it.
We can’t be poised and panicked at the same time. And I can speak from experience that panic, also known as irrational behavior, tends to blur vision, stupefy reason, and confound judgment.
And no good quarterback can make game-saving plays if he is unable to think clearly — if he is rattled, astonished, or perplexed.
No, a good quarterback is able to make the best out of every play even if it means running the ball himself to get the first down. And a good quarterback never lets one bad play, or a series of bad plays, lower his expectations or dampen his determination to win.
As I watched the bad snap turn into a touchdown, I began to think about how Christian Science has taught me to be more poised in all situations. A poised quarterback doesn’t ignore blitzing linebackers; and in the same way, Christian Science doesn’t avoid or ignore problems. Christian Science has taught me that prayer enables me to see beyond the blitzes and find the open receiver, so to speak. Prayer enables me to calmly face trouble, recognize there is a spiritual law operating, and embrace the exact right idea and action that overcomes trouble and brings healing.
The poised quarterback’s calmness and confidence helps him make the right moves to avoid the sack and still make a good play. Prayer helps me make a good play, no matter what comes my way. It stops fear and irrational behavior.
The poise gained from Christian Science takes its lead from the Master Christian himself, Jesus. Jesus maintained his poise even in the middle of a storm at sea, an angry mob, and during the worst of evil –his crucifixion. He knew God’s protection, love, and care were always available and present even when the human circumstances suggested otherwise.
Jesus’ poise was clearly the basis of his prayer. With this same poise, we are prepared to meet each difficult and challenging circumstance. This poise or confidence enables us to express God’s power and to understand that He is always in control.
There is much I have learned from watching football. There is much more I’ve learned from Jesus’ words and actions. He could be called the ultimate quarterback.
I pray to be ready for all challenges and difficulties. A quarterback and Jesus have taught me that with poise, problems can be overcome and surpassed.
I’ll be watching on Sunday for more game-saving plays.
Find more of Annette’s writings at: www.AnnetteBridges.com
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Find Keith on Twitter:@TexasCS
Related post: 5 Simple things to make you a better healer
