Nothing left out

There’s a story titled

A Generous Spirit

It goes like this: “One day a shy, quiet child named Chad came home and told his mother he’d like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, ‘I wish he wouldn’t do that!’ She had watched the children walk home from school. Chad was always behind them. They laughed and hung on to each other, but Chad was never included. Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with the idea. She purchased the paper and glue and crayons. For three whole weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made thirty-five valentines.

“Valentine’s Day dawned and Chad was beside himself with excitement! He carefully sacked them up, put them in a bag and bolted out the door. His mother decided to bake him his favorite cookies and serve them warm with a glass of milk when he came home from school. She knew he would be disappointed. Maybe that would ease the pain a little. It hurt her to think that he wouldn’t get many valentines - perhaps none at all.

“That afternoon she had the cookies and milk on the table. When she heard the children outside she looked out the window. Sure enough here they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear. He walked a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst into tears as soon as he got inside. His arms were empty, she noticed, and when the door opened she choked back the tears.

“‘Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you,’ she said.

“But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow, and all he could say was:

“‘Not a one. Not a one!’

“And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!’ 

Isn't this the way it is for those whose minds are focused on giving to others? A great happiness is reserved for the person with a generous spirit.

This story touches my heart because it’s in line with the teachings of Christ Jesus. Not a one. Not a one, is exactly what Jesus showed us, -- we all are welcome into his Christianity. 

Jesus certainly teaches us, through his words and acts, that God never forgets us either. 

God doesn’t forget a single one. Just as this little boy didn’t forget any of his classmates, so God doesn’t forget any one His of children. He’s always present, available. And when we focus on having a generous spirit, a loving spirit, a consciousness aware of Him, we feel His presence.

Taking this illustration a little further, we begin to understand that all that composes man, God's child, such as love, health, holiness, perfection, peace, and all other God-like qualities are never missing from our character or our lives. 

 All the compound ideas which constitute God’s child, as His image and likeness, are never forgotten or left out. That is, every idea that man reflects, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is completely expressed. God’s attention to the detail comprising man is meticulous and it’s what has made you, you.

When the pitcher goes to the mound and pitches the ball, he puts a particular spin on the ball. It may be a curveball, a fastball, or a spitball. But whatever spin the pitcher puts on the ball, stays. That is, it doesn’t change in midair to another kind of pitch. The cause, or the pitcher, controls the effect, his spin. 

The same is true with God and His child. 

The cause, God, governs His effect, His idea, man. 

Man, God's image, never changes. He doesn't go from matter to Spirit or Spirit to matter. The image of God is sustained as God's image, -- never ebbing and flowing, but always having all that God gives. 

The gospel of Mark records that when Jesus called Simon and Andrew to “come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (1:17, 18) that “straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.”

They forsook their old way of living, thinking, to embark upon a sea of deeper spiritual understanding. And with their launch into the safe waters of spiritual understanding they served others, they gained a generous spirt.

Like the disciples, we can do more, too. Today we can forsake our old way of living. We can learn to serve others. We can embark upon the sea of spiritual sense. We can ask ourselves: Have I forsaken my nets? Have I left behind the ship of materiality, abandoning the nets of materialism that would entangle me? Am I successfully putting off old ways of thinking and acting to follow the Christ? Am I doing it as unreservedly as Simon and Andrew?

Is my spirit generous enough that it is reaching out to bless others or am I clinging to materialism, mortality, fear?

There is one net that we all need. It’s a net we must have in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It’s made from the seamless woven fabric of Spirit, God. Cast on the right side, it becomes the net of successful fishermen. It’s the net of spiritual self-knowledge.

Spiritual self-knowledge, is knowledge of ourselves as spiritual ideas of God. It's the higher understanding that acknowledges our true composition as ideas of God. These ideas are God-given. They include the idea of health, substance, joy, energy, harmony love, -- and an infinite number of other God-derived qualities. 

Self-knowledge is a spiritual awareness of who we are as God's image. It enables us to not only to catch others and lead them to the shore of healing, but to catch ourselves and lead ourselves safely to this shore. And, we do this by embodying more and more the qualities that God has made us with.

Casting our net on the right side, the side of God, good, makes us fishers of men. It makes us fishers of man, of our real spiritual selfhood, because the more we spiritually recognize our real being, our spiritual selfhood, has never been touched by matter the less our nets break.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Miscellaneous Writings, “Faithfully, as meekly, you have toiled all night; and at break of day caught much. At times, your net has been so full that it broke: human pride, creeping into its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then, losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and possibly blamed others more than yourself. But those whom God makes ‘fishers of men’ will not pull for the shore; like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets on the right side, compensate loss, and gain a higher sense of the true idea” (Misc. 111:4-13).

Our utilization of the higher sense of the true idea, of man, makes us successful fishermen. This higher sense recognizes God as divine Mind and man as His perfect idea, completely unhindered by materiality.

Throughout her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy gives us biblically-based principles that help guide our thinking and living. One of these principles is that man is constituted solely of ideas and is therefore undisturbed by matter. She teaches that an idea, man, just simply can’t be hampered by matter. Let’s give some thought to this.

Think, for a moment with me, of the number ten. Now think of how you thought of this number. Wasn’t it immediate? Wasn’t it perfect? Wasn’t it complete? That is how God thinks of you, His very expression. Just as immediately, just as perfectly and just as completely, the divine Mind conceives of His idea flawlessly. He holds man in thought, better yet, man is God’s thought. He is God’s idea. So just as you think of the number ten as perfect and complete, God thinks of you as perfect and complete. And He does it without vacuums, without a lapse of time or space - it’s instantaneous.

Now, your number ten is an idea, it’s not an object. And because it’s an idea it can’t be touched by matter. If I suggested to you that you number ten is pink with stripes would it be true? Or perhaps the suggestion is that your number ten is sideways and checked. Would that be true? No. An idea can’t be touched with a hand, a scalpel, or even a suggestion. Your number ten may appear to be touched by matter if the suggestions of materiality were to deceive you. But, the fact is, your number ten, an idea, is never really touched by matter, a deceiving suggestion. Suggestions are self-assertive, they are not facts of being.

Now, what if we’re talking about an arm. And what if the suggestion is that our arm is diseased or painful. It’s still suggestion isn’t it? And if we allow the suggestion to take hold of our conception of our arm then the suggestion is manifested. The result? Our thought is manifested in our experience.

This analogy is true whether we’re talking about a leg, a head, or a business, because they’re ideas. And ideas constitute man. In fact, man is the spiritual aggregation of all right ideas. So, we can reason, that since man is the spiritual aggregation of all right ideas, any concept that is wrong or inharmonious isn’t an idea. It is simply a lie about man. It is falsely mental, a mental mistake, just like two plus two is five is a mental mistake. 

Getting clearly within thought the fact that matter is a mere image of false consciousness, helps us see that the only thing we ever need to get rid of is a false belief. Mrs. Eddy writes, “... matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind” (S&H 116:18), and she gives us the antidote for mortal mind when she says, “In reality there is no mortal mind” (S&H 103).

These scientific facts that there is no mortal mind, and that matter is merely a false concept in thought, is what makes a clear line of demarcation between man, made in God’s image, and mortal man, a falsely mental concept of the real man.

Minnie Smith said, "I am as my creator made me, and since He is satisfied so am I."  We all can be satisfied with the way God created us. This doesn’t mean to be satisfied with matter and its imperfections, but to be satisfied with God’s creation, the real man, the real you. It is to be satisfied with our self-knowledge as the perfect image of God. It is to be satisfied with thought aligned with God.

Here, Mrs. Eddy elaborates, “Continuing our definition of man, let us remember that harmonious immortal man has existed forever, and is always beyond and above the mortal illusion of any life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter. This statement is based on fact, not fable” (S&H 302).

This statement is about you. Your world springs from Spirit. It’s untouched by matter. As immortal man you have always existed and will forever exist as God’s idea. As immortal man you dwell beyond and above the nets of carnal illusions. And because you are man, you have the right apprehension of your origin. You can’t be fooled in believing that there’s any possibility of a false presence, power, substance, or law, that could touch or harm you. 

Not a one. Not a single one. Not a single idea is forgotten in God’s creation.

s class. Her heart sank. She thought, ‘I wish he wouldn’t do that!’ She had watched the children walk home from school. Chad was always behind them. They laughed and hung on to each other, but Chad was never included. Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with the idea. She purchased the paper and glue and crayons. For three whole weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made thirty-five valentines.

“Valentine’s Day dawned and Chad was beside himself with excitement! He carefully sacked them up, put them in a bag and bolted out the door. His mother decided to bake him his favorite cookies and serve them warm with a glass of milk when he came home from school. She knew he would be disappointed. Maybe that would ease the pain a little. It hurt her to think that he wouldn’t get many valentines - perhaps none at all.

“That afternoon she had the cookies and milk on the table. When she heard the children outside she looked out the window. Sure enough here they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear. He walked a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst into tears as soon as he got inside. His arms were empty, she noticed, and when the door opened she choked back the tears.

“‘Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you,’ she said.

“But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow, and all he could say was:

“‘Not a one. Not a one!’

“And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!’ 

Isn't this the way it is for those whose

 minds are focused on giving to others? A great happiness is reserved for the person with a generous spirit.

This story touches my heart because it’s in line with the teachings of Christ Jesus. Not a one. Not a one, is exactly what Jesus showed us, -- we all are welcome into his Christianity. 

Jesus certainly teaches us, through his words and acts, that God never forgets us either. 

God doesn’t forget a single one. Just as this little boy didn’t forget any of his classmates, so God doesn’t forget any one His of children. He’s always present, available. And when we focus on having a generous spirit, a loving spirit, a consciousness aware of Him, we feel His presence.

Taking this illustration a little further, we begin to understand that all that composes man, God's child, such as love, health, holiness, perfection, peace, and all other God-like qualities are never missing from our character or our lives. 

 All the compound ideas which constitute God’s child, as His image and likeness, are never forgotten or left out. That is, every idea that man reflects, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is completely expressed. God’s attention to the detail comprising man is meticulous and it’s what has made you, you.

When the pitcher goes to the mound and pitches the ball, he puts a particular spin on the ball. It may be a curveball, a fastball, or a spitball. But whatever spin the pitcher puts on the ball, stays. That is, it doesn’t change in midair to another kind of pitch. The cause, or the pitcher, controls the effect, his spin. 

The same is true with God and His child. 

The cause, God, governs His effect, His idea, man. 

Man, God's image, never changes. He doesn't go from matter to Spirit or Spirit to matter. The image of God is sustained as God's image, -- never ebbing and flowing, but always having all that God gives. 

The gospel of Mark records that when Jesus called Simon and Andrew to “come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (1:17, 18) that “straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.”

They forsook their old way of living, thinking, to embark upon a sea of deeper spiritual understanding. And with their launch into the safe waters of spiritual understanding they served others, they gained a generous spirt.

Like the disciples, we can do more, too. Today we can forsake our old way of living. We can learn to serve others. We can embark upon the sea of spiritual sense. We can ask ourselves: Have I forsaken my nets? Have I left behind the ship of materiality, abandoning the nets of materialism that would entangle me? Am I successfully putting off old ways of thinking and acting to follow the Christ? Am I doing it as unreservedly as Simon and Andrew?

Is my spirit generous enough that it is reaching out to bless others or am I clinging to materialism, mortality, fear?

There is one net that we all need. It’s a net we must have in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It’s made from the seamless woven fabric of Spirit, God. Cast on the right side, it becomes the net of successful fishermen. It’s the net of spiritual self-knowledge.

Spiritual self-knowledge, is knowledge of ourselves as spiritual ideas of God. It's the higher understanding that acknowledges our true composition as ideas of God. These ideas are God-given. They include the idea of health, substance, joy, energy, harmony love, -- and an infinite number of other God-derived qualities. 

Self-knowledge is a spiritual awareness of who we are as God's image. It enables us to not only to catch others and lead them to the shore of healing, but to catch ourselves and lead ourselves safely to this shore. And, we do this by embodying more and more the qualities that God has made us with.

Casting our net on the right side, the side of God, good, makes us fishers of men. It makes us fishers of man, of our real spiritual selfhood, because the more we spiritually recognize our real being, our spiritual selfhood, has never been touched by matter the less our nets break.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book

Miscellaneous Writings, 

“Faithfully, as meekly, you have toiled all night; and at break of day caught much. At times, your net has been so full that it broke: human pride, creeping into its meshes, extended it beyond safe expansion; then, losing hold of divine Love, you lost your fishes, and possibly blamed others more than yourself. But those whom God makes ‘fishers of men’ will not pull for the shore; like Peter, they launch into the depths, cast their nets on the right side, compensate loss, and gain a higher sense of the true idea” (Misc. 111:4-13).

Our utilization of the higher sense of the true idea, of man, makes us successful fishermen. This higher sense recognizes God as divine Mind and man as His perfect idea, completely unhindered by materiality.

Throughout her textbook,

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 

Mrs. Eddy gives us biblically-based principles that help guide our thinking and living. One of these principles is that man is constituted solely of ideas and is therefore undisturbed by matter. She teaches that an idea, man, just simply can’t be hampered by matter. Let’s give some thought to this.

Think, for a moment with me, of the number ten. Now think of how you thought of this number. Wasn’t it immediate? Wasn’t it perfect? Wasn’t it complete? That is how God thinks of you, His very expression. Just as immediately, just as perfectly and just as completely, the divine Mind conceives of His idea flawlessly. He holds man in thought, better yet, man is God’s thought. He is God’s idea. So just as you think of the number ten as perfect and complete, God thinks of you as perfect and complete. And He does it without vacuums, without a lapse of time or space - it’s instantaneous.

Now, your number ten is an idea, it’s not an object. And because it’s an idea it can’t be touched by matter. If I suggested to you that you number ten is pink with stripes would it be true? Or perhaps the suggestion is that your number ten is sideways and checked. Would that be true? No. An idea can’t be touched with a hand, a scalpel, or even a suggestion. Your number ten may appear to be touched by matter if the suggestions of materiality were to deceive you. But, the fact is, your number ten, an idea, is never really touched by matter, a deceiving suggestion. Suggestions are self-assertive, they are not facts of being.

Now, what if we’re talking about an arm. And what if the suggestion is that our arm is diseased or painful. It’s still suggestion isn’t it? And if we allow the suggestion to take hold of our conception of our arm then the suggestion is manifested. The result? Our thought is manifested in our experience.

This analogy is true whether we’re talking about a leg, a head, or a business, because they’re ideas. And ideas constitute man. In fact, man is the spiritual aggregation of all right ideas. So, we can reason, that since man is the spiritual aggregation of all right ideas, any concept that is wrong or inharmonious isn’t an idea. It is simply a lie about man. It is falsely mental, a mental mistake, just like two plus two is five is a mental mistake. 

Getting clearly within thought the fact that matter is a mere image of false consciousness, helps us see that the only thing we ever need to get rid of is a false belief. Mrs. Eddy writes, “... matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind” (S&H 116:18), and she gives us the antidote for mortal mind when she says, “In reality there is no mortal mind” (S&H 103).

These scientific facts that there is no mortal mind, and that matter is merely a false concept in thought, is what makes a clear line of demarcation between man, made in God’s image, and mortal man, a falsely mental concept of the real man.

Minnie Smith said, "I am as my creator made me, and since He is satisfied so am I."  We all can be satisfied with the way God created us. This doesn’t mean to be satisfied with matter and its imperfections, but to be satisfied with God’s creation, the real man, the real you. It is to be satisfied with our self-knowledge as the perfect image of God. It is to be satisfied with thought aligned with God.

Here, Mrs. Eddy elaborates, “Continuing our definition of man, let us remember that harmonious immortal man has existed forever, and is always beyond and above the mortal illusion of any life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter. This statement is based on fact, not fable” (S&H 302).

This statement is about you. Your world springs from Spirit. It’s untouched by matter. As immortal man you have always existed and will forever exist as God’s idea. As immortal man you dwell beyond and above the nets of carnal illusions. And because you are man, you have the right apprehension of your origin. You can’t be fooled in believing that there’s any possibility of a false presence, power, substance, or law, that could touch or harm you. 

Not a one. Not a single one. Not a single idea is forgotten in God’s creation.