"is there no balm in Gilead..."

"Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again..."

This video recording of The Adventist's Vocal Ensemble singing  "There is a Balm in Gilead"  was shared with me recently. It reminded me of an experience I had as a young mom.

Whenever I hear a choir sing, "There is a Balm in Gilead." I can't help but think of its contextual source from the book Jeremiah which reads:

"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?

Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?"

I have to admit that there is always something about finding that passage - as part of my Bible study - which makes me feel as if the whole of creation is truly "at one."  A gospel hymn sung by a choir, a prophet writing centuries ago, a mom sitting at her daughter's bedside.

But I digress.  For years, I always found that passage from Jeremiah both comforting and confusing. How could God be everywhere, but not in Gilead? Where was Gilead anyway? Etymological research was helpful -- sort of.  I found these definitions: "a rocky mountainous region, the grandson of Manasseh, a name given to a male child that means eternal happiness and joy."

Each time the passage would surface, I would seek deeper meaning, and I would pray for inspiration. But it remained a beautiful - yet confusing - passage for me.

That was, until our toddler daughter was struggling with an illness that seemed to be lingering. I'd been on-my-knees in prayer for over 24 hours when that passage flooded my heart:

"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?

Why then, is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?"

Yes, I thought, that is my question, too. And on its heels came the answer:

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!

for, behold,
the kingdom of God is within you."

That was when I "got it."  The balm, the salve, the comforting answer - it wasn't in Gilead.  It wasn't in an inspired passage, a wise person, or a well-written article. No, they were only waymarks -- pointing us towards the true location. The balm was not in Gilead, it was in "the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God which was always, already "within" the daughter -- and her mommy.  Within minutes, the symptoms completely disappeared and our daughter was playing happily.

I love Mary Baker Eddy's definition of "Children" from the Glossary in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which reads, in part:

"not in embryo, but in maturity"

My job wasn't to go searching for the balm -- in Gilead or anywhere else. It was my privilege to realize that the balm was already within our daughter -- the King's daughter -- who, as the Psalmist says is, "all  glorious within."

This experience was simply my opportunity to recognize her spiritual maturity. To see that our spiritually-wise daughter was ever-conscious of the presence of God.  She had every right to feel the fullness of His promise in her life -- as health, strength, wisdom, intelligence, purity -- as the All-presence of infinite good.

The "balm" - the comforting presence of the Comforter - is, never was, and never will be in Gilead, or anywhere else. It is, and has always been, in the kingdom of God -- which is always within you, and me, and "the daughter" -- and the son. This rhetorical question:

"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?

Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?”

stirs the human heart to ask -- where am I looking? And where do I place my trust?

God is All-in-all. Not All-in-some -- and the rest of us need to go searching for one of those wiser pilgrims. Not Some-in-all -- and we all need to find the someone, some place, or some institution with more "some" than others. But All-in-all. The kingdom of God within us all -- impartially and universally.

So the answer, for me, is, "no!" The balm, the physician, the comforting answer, is not in Gilead -- or anywhere else. It is within you, and me, and her, and him, and all.


offered with Love,

Kate

"the space between..."

"I have no words,
no words
that can heal..."

Oh my...

Dodie's simple  "No Words" is just the musical and poetic keynote for this morning's message. And it isn't really about the lyrics -- the words -- it is the feeling of this song, that settled my heart.

I woke up this morning with a story in my heart. It is one that Mary Baker Eddy relates in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"I was called to visit Mr. Clark in Lynn,
who had been confined to his bed six months
with hip-disease, caused by a fall upon
a wooden spike when quite a boy.

"On entering the house I met his physician,
who said that the patient was dying.

"Mr. Clark lay with his eyes fixed and sightless.
The dew of death was on his brow.

I went to his bedside.

In a few moments his face changed;
its death-pallor gave place to a natural hue.
The eyelids closed gently and the breathing
became natural; he was asleep.

In about ten minutes he opened his eyes
and said: “I feel like a new man.
My suffering is all gone.”

It was between three and four o’clock
in the afternoon when this took place..."

For me, this is one of the most instructive and important moments in Eddy's textbook on healing. And it's profound message lies is in the space between these two sentences:

"I went to his bedside.

In a few moments his face changed."

For me, this space gives form to Spirit.  It's substance lies between the period at the end of the first sentence, and the word "In.." - that begins the second.  In this space, Eddy tells us everything. For here, rests the ultimate stillness.

It is in this "space between," that the human mind gives up. It is in this moment of silent surrender that Truth is revealed. It is the abandonment of words -- giving space to "the Word." And this Word cannot be heard with the ears, it cannot be read on the page, it is not interpreted by Braille-fluent fingers -- it is felt in the heart.

I remember calling someone who was my mentor in the practice of spiritual law just after becoming an advertiser in the Christian Science Journal -- a publication that lists the names of Christian Science practitioners who have made themselves fully - and exclusively - available to those who are seeking healing through Christian Science treatment.

He wasn't someone who doled out advice. He trusted that each person had a direct relationship with God -- a relationship that provided all the guidance and correction they would need. But this day, he had a few simple thoughts to share. One of them was deeply sobering -- especially when I had called expecting a jubilant celebration of having taken this step in my life.

This is my best sense of what he said to me over 30 years ago:

"They will want your words, and you will be tempted to give them what they want. And that is understandable. Meet them where they are. But never forget that it is "the Word" of God -- speaking directly to their hearts -- that heals. It is this Word that will leave them feeling that they have known and felt the presence of God in their lives. It is this Word -- within them -- that will transform their sense of being."

I have never forgotten. Every word the human mind thinks, speaks, writes is only a compromise -- a "suffer it to be so now."  It is an attempt to describe an experience that can only be -- experienced. The more words we throw into "the space between," the less we surrender to the law of God's omnipresence -- in every human heart. The kingdom of God within -- is within each of us.  I trust this.  And it is this "gospel of the kingdom," that confirms the covenant God made with "His people," in Jeremiah - Chapter 31, and that Paul reiterates in Hebrews, Chapter 8:

"This shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel:

"I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man
his neighbour, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord:

for they shall all know me,
from the least of them unto
the greatest of them, saith the Lord."

This is the ultimate trust. This covenant - or promise - does not require our consent to be ratified. God is not waiting for us to give our buy-in. This covenant is divine law in operation. We need only be still and know that God is what He declares Himself to be -- impartial and universal Love, omnipotent Truth, infinite Principle, immortal Life, ever-present Mind, perceptible Soul, irresistible Spirit -- infinite, omniscient, irrefutable.  This knowing of God -- vs. thinking about God -- is what happens in "the space between."  And Love -- yes, so much love happens between "us."

To trust this promise as ever-operative -- is everything -- and there are no words.


offered with Love,

Kate