The learning and growing continues!

Reading through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I found that it consisted of a series of signposts to lead one to live in the kingdom of heaven or, as Jesus pointed out, to recognize that the kingdom of heaven lives within one.

Until this assignment, I had never read through the three chapters as a whole. Once I had, it was clear why Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “To my sense the Sermon on the Mount, read each Sunday without comment and obeyed throughout the week, would be enough for Christian practice” (Message to the Mother Church ’01 11:14–19). Mrs. Eddy also mentions the idea of “practice” in this statement: “The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth. Truth is revealed. It needs only to be practised” (Science and Health 174:17).

In the Glossary of Science and Health, the definition of heaven is followed by the definition of hell, which is a perfect foil for the definitions of heaven and kingdom of heaven. A hellish consciousness presents an earthbound existence with all its limitations and pitfalls. Mrs. Eddy quotes Scripture with this assertion: “It is ‘easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,’ than for sinful beliefs to enter the kingdom of heaven, eternal harmony” (Science and Health 241:31-1). At another point, she emphasizes what living in the kingdom of heaven involves: “Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love – the kingdom of heaven – reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear” (Science and Health 248:29).

This quote was another source of insight concerning living in the kingdom of heaven: “A germ of infinite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven, is the higher hope on earth, but it will be rejected and reviled until God prepares the soil for the seed” (Science and Health 361:25–28).

I am grateful for God-given receptiveness, which has allowed me to learn from others around me. For example, by observing the care and respect in the long-term boyfriend/girlfriend relationships of those younger than myself, I have been led to re-evaluate my own relationships and treatment of others. A simple comment regarding being considerate of others in conversation has awakened a greater appreciation for those with whom I come in daily contact. I have also seen how a simple act of God-impelled love gently untangled a snarl in a relationship. These discoveries have been guiding me to a greater sense of the kingdom of heaven, here and now.

Furthermore, through the privilege of serving as a Sunday School teacher, I have become a more active listener of JSH-online, and this has been a continual source of education about God, man, and the kingdom of heaven.

I have not had any spectacular healings this year, but am grateful for the opportunity to refute suggestions of various bodily complaints through my study and right thinking. The learning and growing continues!