Thank you for listening

Wherever we may be, we can listen for divine inspiration that guides us to health, harmony, and safety.

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

When I was growing up, whenever I’d leave the house, my mother would say, “Thank you for listening.” She was seeing me off with the expectation and prayer that wherever I was heading – work, school, to hang out with friends, or on an adventure – I would be listening for the guidance of my divine Father-Mother, God.

The Bible says, “The Lord shall guide thee continually” (Isaiah 58:11). And, “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21). The nature of God, divine Love, is to guide, and our nature as children of God is to listen and to follow.

Human thinking may be well-intentioned; but disconnected from God, it is limited and subject to fear and ego. Spiritual consciousness – the true consciousness of all of us as God’s spiritual offspring – is connected to God and is inherently responsive to divine inspiration. When we listen spiritually and follow trustingly, our steps are purposeful and protected. This is because God, divine Mind, continuously communicates His goodness and purity throughout creation.

A friend once shared with me that he strives to practice listening to and following God even in the little things. Then, when bigger things come up, he is already in the practice of listening, yielding, and following.

While serving in the Marine Corps, I too sought to listen to God in the little things. Once, while I was on a mission, the thought came clearly to me, “Get up and move.” I was in the mind-set of listening, so it felt natural to follow this intuition. I moved, and the sergeant who was with me followed. As we sheltered in the new location, a series of mortars landed and exploded where we had been moments before, and we were both protected.

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote a poem called “‘Feed My Sheep,’” which begins, “Shepherd, show me how to go” (“Poems,” p. 14). Later it says, “I will listen for Thy voice.”

We can trust that God, our heavenly Shepherd, shows all of us how to go, and that we can listen and hear just what we need.

For an extended discussion on this topic, check out “Listen to God,” the Nov. 29, 2021, episode of the Sentinel Watch podcast on www.JSH-Online.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Thank you for listening
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2021/1207/Thank-you-for-listening
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe