Meditating to Heal

I am a retired literature professor; I taught at a small Virginia community college. I loved it! And, I miss it!

One thing I always stressed was that regardless of what a student is reading, be it literature or history, it was a story. The story of mankind – never changing; always changing. This story has no beginning, and it is eternally unfinished. Our only beginning is God and our works, and our stories are His story (history); we merely add some flavor and many disappointments to them.

We read our Bible, or our Qur’an, or any number of religious books justifying what changes we try to make to God’s story. This is our history, and it has plagued us since day one. The eternal Truth and Unity of God’s story is all around us. . . if we only open our eyes to its beauty. I have read and studied many prophetic books of many cultures; the unifying idea is one God, no matter what name we assign to Him. If we truly believe in one God, we have to accept this as Truth. Our loyalties to God must be all inclusive, not separated by language or societal custom. He is one God, and we are made in His image.

The study of history and literature  is the study of storytelling episodes of the family of man. It begins with the story of creation and continues through all until today. And then into tomorrow! We must unite and put aside all discriminations that plague our communities. We are one mankind equal in all respects; at least according to God. Our avoidance to recognize the condition of the poor and our persecution of someone from another culture is evil in God’s eyes. The story of God is Love, and we sin against this story every time we persecute one another. There can be no love with this human persecution.

Let us continue our storytelling, but highlight how we have sinned against the story God wants for us. And change our future chapters back into storytelling of Love.

©Russell Kendall Carter

Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio says these upsetting words in the movie January Man, as they were about to capture a mass murderer. If we believe this, then we are born, we live for 60, 70, or 80 years and then we die. And all our deeds die with us.

So, why do these small, insignificant words matter?

Life is eternal; when our soul was implanted in our mother’s womb, we did not begin life, an important event occurred, our soul began a material existence. Then, when we are born, our life again goes through a change, we cease being fed and nurtured by God and our mother’s body and begin an independent life, spiritual and material. Unfortunately, as we age, we leave the spiritual side behind, placing it aside until we die, when we return to spirituality.

As we walk through our mortal lives, we are driven by stress producing physical and mental illness. Our bodies affect all types of problems for us. We are on a never-ending roller coaster of health and happiness, being controlled by our humanity. But think about this for a moment; before we are conceived and after our bodies dies, we live in an eternal world where these mortal failures do not exist. We are spiritual; we do not need to succumb to these short-lived material deficiencies in our eternal lives.

Turn around!  Open your eyes to Truth, to Wisdom, to God’s Love for us. God does not give us sickness and short lives; in God’s world we are eternal. Our futures are not problematic, are not hopeless. There are no false doctrines or dogmas hindering our spiritual growth. The is no bitter disillusionment. So, in 100 years, we will not be dead; we will be enjoying and eternal life of God’s Love.

©Russell Kendall Carter

What does it mean to say that God’s right hand holds me?

Over the course of our lifetime, we become so much attuned to what society wants of us that we forget who we truly are. Our spiritual side becomes covered by so many layers of vulnerable humanity that it is almost impossible for us to see our true selves.  Aren’t we fortunate that God comes to us and listens to our hidden cries of helplessness and hopelessness? This is repeated more times than we are aware.

Throughout our lifetime, we are on an endless journey whose destination is often hidden and therefore never reached. Both our purpose and our destiny seem to be without end, hidden by our institutionalized view of our lives. Hidden but not lost! When we see the Truth, the one God wants from us, we shudder, fearing the impossible, unbelieving to hear God’s voice reminding us of why we are where we are.

God breaks through the clouds of misunderstanding that humanity has taught us throughout our lifetime. Brotherly love replaces jealousy; affection and honor enrich our relationships. Our walls of artificial strength are pierced time after time by God’s Love and God’s message that we in fact become love. We become that perfect reflection of God, immortal, eternal.  

©Russell Kendall Carter

I really do not know how to say this so that I do not raise anyone’s hackles, but I speak from experience. We fail because we are weak!!! Read what Paul writes to the Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Phil. 4:13).” We are weak only because we want to be, only because we look for excuses for not being like others. We are not like others; we are individual children created by God.

When we realize, truly realize, that we are of God, there is nothing, nothing, in this world as beautiful, as wonderful as walking with God. When you accept and experience this, you will understand how wonderful life is. I was taught by my grandmother but did not really understand until I was much older, that when I confront a problem, I recognize that I need help to solve it and the best help comes from God. We serve God when we are strong; we serve God when we are weak. He loves us. He loves when we do His deeds, good deeds.

I also know that when I am in need and suffering, I find that when I go outside of myself to serve others, many times I am well-equipped to bring God’s Love and Comfort to those I serve. I call this strength through suffering, because in my suffering, the presence of God is so much stronger, allowing me to both serve and be relieved of my own problems. This is a blessing all around. In my own weakness I recognize the weakness in others and when serving others, I see the weakness in me. We both gain; we both share God’s Grace.

The story of my life with its many varied episodes boils down to one simple fact – I was lost, stumbling through my days until I accepted and remembered that God  loves me, and God loves all of us. I am weak, and I am tired; however, I am strong, and I am tireless. Isaiah teaches, “God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint (40: 29-31).”

Regardless of what happens, God is Love, and I am strong. God overcomes weakness and failure.

©Russell Kendall Carter

So many people are confused about who Jesus truly was. Most of the Christians believe that he came to bring mankind a new religion. He did not! Jesus walked all around an area we now call the Middle East. He was a man; He was a prophet. He performed miracles; He fed thousands of men with a few loaves of bread and a handful of fish; (there were also women and children present, but they were of no importance back then and were not counted). He also performed the miracle of raising people from eternal sleep (what we call death). Remember that Jesus often said, (s)he merely sleeps. And, he healed many people by touch or by word.

However, above all of this, Jesus was a teacher. He was and still is God’s professor of Divine Love. Mary Baker Eddy writes, “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time.” As a retired professor of literature, my intellectual side has much to argue with Mrs. eddy on what she writes, although I will admit her writings make so much more sense than other religious leaders of the day and today.

I consider myself to be a man of deep faith; I follow no religion but do adhere to many teachings of Mrs. Eddy. My faith readings center on the Jews of the first and second centuries living in the deserts of the Middle East and Egypt. they lived quiet, solitary lives believing in the message of Divine Love.  They were not Christians but followed the teachings of Jesus. When Rome assume the leadership of Christianity, they were labeled heretics.

With the help of my Sunday School teachers 65-70 years ago, I learned that Divine Love is Life. Divine Love is God; Divine Love Heals. I am mortal; I am spiritual. I will live forever; I will die. If we count the time I spent in my mother’s womb, in a few weeks I will have lived 81 years. I have witnessed war (but not fought in); I have witnessed peace. I have witnessed the rich; I have witnessed the poor. I have witnessed selfishness; I have witnessed gratitude. I have witness arrogance; I have witnessed gratitude.

Below it all, is love, the Divine Love that Jesus taught and healed with. Rich or poor, educated or simple, the core of all humanity is Love. This allows me to rub elbows with the rich at our local concerts, but with more importance, this allows me to live with, pray with, and love those who society have pushed to the side because of selfish greed. It is with these that I experience the Love that Jesus brought. These are the people Jesus lived with, taught, and healed. These lost peoples bring me back to the reality that Jesus still walks with us, teaches us, and heals us. All we must do is look, and listen, and have faith. God is our Divine Power of Healing.

©Russell Kendall Carter

“And God said to Noah. . .

‘Make yourself an ark of gopherwood. . .’” (Gen 6: 13-14)

I live in complete security; I am safely aboard The Ark! Outside influences can no longer harm me. I am the immortal son of our God. Although my body is an imperfect physical form, the soul within me, the one belonging to God, is eternal and perfect. I am surrounded by the comfort of God’s Truth and His Principle of a perfect existence. I am filled with His Spirit.

I know that this is quite a statement for others to accept. But let me share the world I see. First, let me say that my body does not represent the goodness and love that God gives. My body is completely human and therefore imperfect, riddled with the problems that 80-year-olds have. But being in this body does not mean that I am not also in God’s eternal light. I know this because of the gifts I receive on a daily basis.

I gaze from my window, watching the birds flit from feeder to feeder. I imagine them in a sunlit meadow of wildflowers, having their fill of God’s goodness. With them are the deer of the forests lapping up water from the small stream running through my meadow. The scene is beautiful. From the morning glow and the dew covered flowers to the evening shadow with gnats and ladybugs covering the flowers long-abandoned by the birds and the honeybees.

I am truly alive in this heavenly place knowing that I am not separated from God by the window in the shelter of my home nor from the broken body I inhabit. I enjoy seeing the Sun set in the late afternoon and the Moon glowing at night. I look to the night sky and see the multitude of stars, other suns surrounded by planets maybe just like Earth. I know not what is out there, but I do know that this is God’s universe, one that I cannot grasp the fullness of, which is why I am grasped by its fullness, God’s loving hand.

Brothers and sisters, we are not separated by earthy matters. We are united by God’s Love. This we must accept. This. . . is my unshakeable life of faith.

©Russell Kendall Carter

Believe it or not, we are born into the field of the Spirit. Our lives are filled with the glory of the Alaskan wilds, with the promise of God’s creation to both live in and absorb internally throughout our lives. As humans we can grow to the majestic heights of the Scots Pine or lose our way and only survive as an arctic lichen. It is our choice.

To live in the field of the Spirit, we must allow that Spirit to grow within our soul, the eternal Soul, which is God. There is no other way to flourish in eternal Life. However, we must also face the reality that our lives as humans are not always sweetened with the flavor of bittersweet dark chocolate. The reality is that we create our own hardships.

As mortals, we create an unproductive need of suffering. We race through our lives without down-to-earth acts of love and compassion. We avoid these gifts from God. We confuse our monetary worth with  eternal life’s blessing, becoming nothing more than a spreadsheet on a ream of paper. We get wrapped up in the unrealistic social stratification of false security and importance.

Our need for self-gratification is both unchristian and inhumane. If you live in the field of Spirit, you live a life of deep authentic Love, noy selfishness, not greed, not ego. You no long worry about what others think of you for your actions are based on the sharing of God’s Spirit dwelling within you. You are free share a unique freedom and joy with all people. Others may not even know your name, but they will know God’s Spirit.  

What does Job ask? “Where shall Wisdom be found?” I believe it is in the place of understanding, God’s Field of the Spirit.

©Russell Kendall Carter

Have you ever really wondered why? I have, almost everyday of my life.

Prayer is not just a conversation with God. It is also not a time to beg for something we really do not need. Prayer is Life; Payer is our time to hear God. Our day begins with prayer, ends with prayer, and lies hidden beneath the happenings of our day. We just need to recognize this and allow it to happen. Prayer is listening to God!

Prayer is what brings peace within me. I have a prayer list that is three pages long, two columns per page. I have no idea how many friends are on this list; I have no idea how many have died. Once on, all remain on my list. Each day I slowly read down one column of names. I think of these people and offer their names to God. I end with praying that all those on my list be comforted. I love them all,

This is the community I live with. I am active in my local communities and all whom I meet I silently pray for. All of the communities I have are precious and deserve my love. All are constructed on the love I share – God’s eternal Love. The Love of God is permanent; we just refuse to believe it sometimes. We tend to look for God in glorious objects and deeds. We may see Him there, but He is covered by glitter.

When I go to where my community lives, without the frill, without the glitter, I see God everywhere I turn. I see God in the war-torn villages of Ukraine; I see Him in every hospital room when I visit a friend. But – – I see Him most often and clearest standing at an intersection with a sign in His arms that reads homeless.

God is with us all; God loves us all; but I always feel the strongest presence of Him when I am with those who are left behind by society; this is where Jesus lived; these are the people He cherished and healed. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5).

God asks so little of us. All we need to do is be together; be supportive of each other; hear and listen to each other. We are all broken persons, many in hidden ways. We refuse to admit this because we are ashamed. We cover our brokenness with our pride.

God asks us to come together in one community, love each other, pray together; pray alone; pray for each other, because prayer is life.

©Russell Kendall Carter

. . . if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life” Galatians 6:8.

Gracious Father, You lead us to the True path of eternal Life. You teach us patience and humility because you are patient to us and in Your presence on Earth, You lived humility. You Word is Holy. Your Word is Truth. Your Word is Life.

The words of the prophets are Your words; Isaiah teaches us: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (41:10). Jacob wrestled with God all night and in the morning became a new man, Israel, the father of the Jews.

Sometimes, I feel that I have wrestled with You, God, all my life. I was forever stubborn; I was forever proud. For the vast part of my life, I did not listen to You. I fought with You at every turn of my life. Yet You were patient with me. . . the patience of a loving parent with a young child.

Each morning I arise, I am a new man living a new life that You create for me. You remind me that You are God; Your Word is my life. You touch me and allow me to grow as I spread Your Word to those entrusted in my care. The Spirit You have placed within me I share to my best ability.

You have planted me in Your Garden of Life. May I continue to be a trusting flower sharing the beauty of Your Word.

©Russell Kendall Carter

“The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” (Psalm 2:7)

I emulate the ancient prophets of God; I emulate the early disciples of Jesus. I carry God’s word to those I meet, yet my learning is not complete. As with most mortals, I stumble in darkness pretending to see God’s True Light in the world. Instead, I am saturated by my membership in society, facing the mortal reality of greed and power. . . and desire. I want!!!

Yes, I want; but it is not material wealth I desire, it is the desire to carry God’s Love to the poor, the needy, the sick and the dying. As I approach the end of my 80^th year on Earth, I want to walk the earth as the biblical prophets and God’s disciples did. But I cannot; I am lame! So, I write; I pray; I bring God’s Love the only way I can. I befriend everyone I meet; I befriend in God’s name.

I have learned that the mission of the prophets and disciples is God’s prophecy of the manifestation of Love. I demonstrate to others how I love in God’s name; I offer His proof. My meeting soon-to-be friends are times of allowing God’s Will to carry us both to the lighted path of Eternal Life and Love. I refuse the view that neediness as a sign of incompetence and any kindness toward those poor, those in poor health, those lacking mankind’s education is a waste of time. God’s poor are those Jesus lived with; God’s poor are the brothers and sisters I love.

When I pray, “Let Your Will be done,” I mean in all things. When I ask not to be led into temptation, I ask for help overcoming any mortal prejudice hidden deep within my earthly lessons I have so eagerly learned. I pray for God to lead me into where my life should be lived, with God’s Spirit gently moving me closer to eternal Love and Life. I want to be one of God’s begotten children.

©Russell Kendall Carter