A friend of mine, experiencing severe pain, called for help from a Christian Science practitioner in the early hours one morning. She said the practitioner immediately sought to allay her fear, talking to her about the spiritual basis not only for conquering pain but for experiencing … [Read more...]

We know we’re supposed to do good and help others. That’s the right attitude to have. Yet we may feel a reluctance to step forward and offer help. What can get us past indifference or fear and compel us to act? It takes something powerful enough to reverse self-centeredness, overcome timidity, … [Read more...]

You can almost picture the wide-eyed, inquisitive five-year-old carefully taking hold of the pocket compass that his father had brought to his bedside for him to see. What impressed the boy most about the compass was not that the needle pointed in the same direction regardless of which way he … [Read more...]

Some years ago a friend of mine set an interesting goal for himself. He said he wanted to remove the words I need from his vocabulary. I know why he felt that way. We were working together in a brand new department; we had a heavy workload, inflexible deadlines, and very few resources. During … [Read more...]

The initial thought of having greater self-knowledge can bring with it what I call the dark attic effect. Venture up there and turn on the light and who knows what you’ll uncover. Imagine all the dust and nests and hidden creatures lurking in the darkness. Reason enough to avoid climbing into the … [Read more...]

In this noisy world it's easy to feel unheard, to think we have little or no influence on human lives or events. The fact is we can be so much more than inactive observers. Indeed, we can be moment-by-moment participants. How? A Biblical lesson on light is helpful in this regard. It comes from … [Read more...]

The thought of being “mostly free” from some on-going difficulty can come as a relief to the one who’s struggling along. It’s a step in the right direction. Still, it’s important to remember that mostly free isn’t the same as freedom, and if we slip into passivity about having complete freedom from … [Read more...]

If you asked most anyone what things they do every day, some things perhaps repeatedly throughout the day, you can imagine what would make the list. Handling demands at work, running errands, having or preparing meals, cleaning, reading, caring for family members, chatting with friends, being … [Read more...]

Most of us like the idea of being an explorer. The promise of adventure and discovery as we launch into the unknown. But then something changes. We have an opportunity to go somewhere new and off comes the explorer hat. We slip back into the old and familiar. It’s comfier to stick with what we know, … [Read more...]