Renewal happens

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.

Like an early-spring sunrise that shifts the whole winter landscape into retreat and also brings hope to a solitary sparrow that stayed and rode out the storms of winter, the renewing power of God affects both the very large and the very little. The Psalmist suggests as much. He says, "Thou [God] renewest the face of the earth" (104:30). On a different scale, he also prays, "Renew a right spirit within me" (51:10). God's renewing power resolves concerns that are planet-wide – and sparrow-small.

Today, too, humanity's needs come in both sizes. At one extreme, an entire nation's infrastructure – its roads and bridges, its dams and levees, and more – demand repair or replacement. At the other extreme, a lone individual – perhaps faced with an internal organ that is shutting down – may be overwhelmed by fear and fighting for survival. The renewing power of God offers help in both cases and can bring fresh solutions to where it seemed there were none.

These solutions are always in keeping with God's nature. A nonmaterial God doesn't replace corroding matter with gleaming matter. He never exchanges diseased or decaying matter with functioning matter. God isn't operating within a material framework. Rather, He is expressing His spiritual nature. That's renewing. As one realizes this in prayer, it grows easier to shed material beliefs for spiritual understanding. Then new views of God's renewing power begin to open up.

Think of God as divine Love. Love cherishes its own creation right now, each second. Because this divine cherishing proceeds from almighty Love, it renews the hopes of any individual who might feel hopeless. Fear and despair lose their grip and drop away as the assurances of Love take hold in thought. Healing follows.

Or think of God as infinite Mind, the source of all intelligence. Mind knows its own ideas. Each idea is being made anew because it's being known anew, being constantly realized afresh. This renewal occurs in consciousness and is a spiritual event. Yet evidence of this renewed consciousness shows up in daily life – perhaps in a workforce freed from old and inefficient patterns, one that is open to more streamlined, more productive approaches to problem solving.

Other names for God reveal other dimensions of His renewing power. Principle establishes and orders its creation, and keeps every aspect of that creation in right relation to every other aspect of creation. Omnipresent Principle is constantly acting on our behalf, universally.

Immortal Soul identifies and perceives each of us as constantly new. Our Soul-maintained identity has no declining elements, only ongoing strength and rightly performing faculties. And indestructible Life invigorates, enlivens, and quickens. Life can't be resisted. And as the emanation of Life, we are refreshed every moment.

Divine Truth's liberating action never lets anyone linger in the imprisoning cycle of decline. When we become conscious of Truth's freeing action, our revitalized consciousness helps renew the planet. And realizing our own spiritual freedom can help free others. We can help to heal and renew others, even if just one person at a time. As Mary Baker Eddy explained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew" (p. 425).

Let's rejoice that renewal happens now. Because Spirit, everywhere guarding, maintaining, and caring for its creation, constantly inspires a refreshed awareness of life and spiritual renewal in every human heart.

Adapted from The Christian Science Journal.

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