The dignity of your life

Nothing is more effective in our experience than to come up with a healthy and constructive way of how we approach life's tasks. It is important to consider how we start and end a project, a task like teaching a class or cooking a meal, how we start and end a day. What is it all about? What is the frame-work? What is the method? What are the ingredients to work with? I thought about this recently, when I listened to reports from fellow-students in a French class I am taking. One of the conversation topics was how we start our day. I was interested to learn that most people either get up as late as they can, have breakfast and leave for work or immediately turn to their iPhone or Instagram account or TV, answer emails and then continue with their day.

I bowed mentally with gratitude to the spiritual teaching of the Bible as I learned it with the help of Christian Science, to learn to put God, good, first, and to value our own being as worthy, important, and worth of attention. Where is the time you take for Truth, God? When is the time to think deep, let thoughts flow and thank Truth, God, for what it is, the Cause of our existence? This may sound as a spiritual routine, but it shouldn't sound more religious than it actually is. I know that most people living the larger Life will say, that this practice is the best they can do for themselves, and there is nothing routine about it. Often it means to get up earlier, to have moments just for quiet communion with God and quiet communion with your spiritual being. Spending time with reality.

I often use in the Christian Science Practice Mary Baker Eddy's definitions of "morning" and "evening" from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. There is a glossary of Biblical terms in its back, which I use a lot, and those terms are defined there. (on pages 586 and 591). You can find part of the definitions in the photos "harnessing" this blog post, little artworks I made.

And harnessing is the term. Your day is framed by a start and an end, and the morning is different from the evening. It is all good, but as in music, there is sound and there is silence, and all good music displays as much mastery of sound as it does of silence. A new day is a fresh start, yesterday is no longer here, today is the day. The light of Truth is revealing itself to us, and what does it say? Progress is what the morning and the unfolding day is about, not the same old story, not the same pain you felt yesterday, not regret, doubt, resentment, or fear. Progress is unfoldment of good, and since God is Spirit, Life is forever unfolding Spirit, the only substance there is.

It is equally important to settle in for peace and rest. Built up yourself spiritually by allowing topics and themes to rest and to adjourn. Let the diversity and complexity of the experiences of the day be put aside and prepare for peace and rest. Whatever was said or experienced, whatever happened to you - the evening is the time to move back into the realm of harmony and recharge your battery by mentally putting it out of your responsibility and into Life's hands. Less story-telling of other lives (be it through binge watching of series or photos of other people's vacations), less electronic activity, most importantly less regret, doubt, resentment, or fear. Even if it seems impossible to let go of them completely, you can put them aside, put them on a mental shelf and prepare for something else. Make room for peace and rest and prepare for an active night in the healing and restful realm of good, the dimension of the divine, the presence of Love. Both wholesome and refreshing states of being are divine and inclusive. Your own peace is only yours when it includes everybody and everyone. We rest in the whole of goodness and feel its beneficial effect. And a good night's sleep settles all questions, as human thinking comes to a halt and our spiritual being is all there is.

Here is the possibility to live the good life, the meaningful life, in respect for the dignity and worth of Life, God. You are not one a trillion beings, insignificant and part of the masses. You are worthy and seen by God. Today the words we use are different, but the basic concept is eternal. Life is divine, every life has its own dignity, granted by divine Love. Harnessing your day is realising what the Psalmist sang about and promised centuries ago:

...the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song will be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 42: 8