Running with wings

Running down a public path, along side the Charles River in Waltham, is one of my favorite activities. I find the peace and beauty to be very refreshing. I also find that running is a helpful way to take advantage of the day and enjoy being outside.

There are many different routes I take throughout my town, but all of them take me to this beautiful river path at some point.

Just as I love to run in a beautiful place, I’ve found thinking harmonious thoughts are also something I like listening to while I run.  This led me to a question: what kind of thoughts, or spiritual scenery, do I want to behold while running —beauty or ugliness?A view of the Charles River from the running path.

This lead me to an analogy: witnessing beautiful qualities is like running through a beautiful scene.

To help unpack this I realized that while I’m trotting down the road, I often think of the spiritual side of running. In other words, I take into account the God-like qualities that I associate with activity and excercise: strength, grace, harmony, peace, and joy. 

This is where I like to be. This beautiful view makes me feel good.

I admit sometimes there are tough days. On those days I find I may be acceptiong opinions about the physical side of running: how my body feels, how out-of-shape I feel, or what I’m doing wrong. When I recognize that trend in mind, that’s when I recognize that I’m unconsciously flowing down a stream of ugly thoughts toward a waterfall of negativity. 

That’s also when I realize it’s time to wake up! I don’t want to go down that unconscious stream toward a scary waterfall. 

Rather I can change course immediately with a single thought. 

I’ve learned that these false opinions can be rejected by simply acknowledging that God is my Life and source of being, harmony, and strength. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy showed me that all adverse suggestions are temporary because they are not from God, divine Mind— the Creator of every benign idea. And when I’ve listened for and held onto good ideas about God and myself, those untrue opinions dissipated quickly and lost their grip in my thought and I felt harmonious immediately. 

I’ve seen this over and over: freedom is quickly won through Christian Science, God’s loving power, which upholds, strengthens, and frees us from disease and pain.  

Next time you take a stroll, go for a jog, or are just heading into work in the car, be listening for only good ideas that lift up your thought and help you soar.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
—Isaiah 40:28-31

The beauty of Soul — You!

Do you long for beauty? How do we find more beauty in our lives?

This morning I was looking out the window over breakfast and I was enthralled by all the lush green leaves and grass outside. Spring is in full force, and I can’t say I mind in the least. I love the lilac bushes, the flowering trees, and the stunning flowers. I have say I’m a big fan of color, where ever it shows up. I love the amazing range of hues, saturation, and depth color can offer. The range of colors that exist fascinate the eye. Simply put, color is beautiful.

But beauty’s origin is not found in physical appearance, body type, or in wearing expensive clothes. Beauty is more than physical and material forms. Beauty is a quality of thought and its origin is found in divine Mind, or Soul — the source of all lovely goodness.  

To find more beauty in yourself, start by acknowledging the qualities of good as being in God, or Soul, and therefore eternal, infinite, and unlimited. Because beauty is found in Soul, it is not subject to time, age, social status, orFloral arrangement found at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston money. The beauty of Soul is unlimited and is found in you, now!

To understand this better, start by taking the time to write down the qualities you love, whether they are qualities you see in yourself or qualities you’d like to have more of in your life. Take those qualities and associate them first with God, divine Love, and deeply consider their unlimited supply.

Then, take these qualities, and acknowledge that because all beauty comes from God, Soul, all good qualities are in you, too! You are Soul’s image and likeness — you are therefore soulful and beautiful. Then, look for ways to put them into practice. One quick way to do so, which requires only a little bit of time and thought, and no money — see these good qualities as present in your friends, family, roommates, schoolmates, or co-workers, just as you would for yourself. Even if it takes 10 minutes, look for and acknowledge the good in the people you see in your daily life.

If you want to see beauty in yourself, sometimes the best place to start is by seeing the beauty that is in others. Sometimes all the ugliness we accept in the world around us, also taints the way we see ourselves. Or, it is the other way around: by accepting ourselves as disfigured, we feel everyone else is ugly and disfigured, too. 

If there are qualities of beauty you’d like to see more of in your life, don’t accept the opinion that they are not a part of you, or certain mortal genes. Rather, see them as ever-present, or eternal — a permanent part of your complete spiritual design and make up. Soul, the great architect, designed beauty and when Soul designed you, you were made beautiful. 

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings…
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. 
— Psalm 17:6-8, 15 

Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Being possesses its qualities before they are perceived humanly. Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.

The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony. 

— Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.247