"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
With the overnight flight and time difference, as well as the noise outside the hotel room in Beijing I was having difficulty sleeping, and went about four days with practically no sleep. I was praying whenever I could throughout this time. Colleagues at our China office were concerned and commented on my ‘panda eyes!’ As there was no improvement, I felt I should call a practitioner but the call was not able to go through.
So then the inspiration came to continue working on the Association assignment. I had brought with me Miscellany. Picking up where I had previously left off, on page 131 MBE writes, "Where God is we can meet, and where God is we can never part."
Reading this, I realized that I had been anxious about a number of meetings scheduled over the two weeks, whether we would be able to come to agreement on a number of issues. This statement filled me with hope and peace that the meetings would express unity and harmony, which subsequently proved to be the case.
Reading on to the next page MBE writes, "The Christian Scientist knows that spiritual faith and understanding pass through the waters of Meribah here - bitter waters; but he also knows they embark for infinity and anchor in omnipotence."
I had been struggling with the aggressive claim of being a mortal with a personality and undesirable traits that I was stuck with. Also with a material body that could suffer from travelling through time zones. It seemed to me that this struggle is the "bitter waters" MBE refers to. It was very comforting to know that this struggle is only temporary, we pass through it to perceive the infinity and omnipotence that have been there all along. I was able to sleep properly that evening and was back to normal the next day.
A few weeks later I found further inspiration to help overcome this claim of being a mortal with all its limitations in the expanded version of We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, pages 140 and 141.
When C. Lulu Blackman was leaving the class of 1885, Mary Baker Eddy held her hand, looked directly into her eyes and quoting from the Bible said "Thou are mine, saith the Lord, and none shall pluck you from out my hand." A few weeks later MBE wrote to this student "My beloved student: You have neither struggled nor prayed, except in belief. Place yourself like a child in the arms of Christ, Truth, and you shall know the Truth and the truth shall make you free."
I read "tuck" instead of "place", to rhyme with "pluck"...”Tuck yourself like a child in the arms of Christ, Truth...” These statements were easy to remember and refer back to during the day and helped to lift my thought to see more clearly that the claims of the mortal senses, even my struggles, are simply just lies about my true identity, no matter how long they seem to have gone on.
Am so grateful for the Manual provision of annual Association meetings, which impel us forward on our spiritual journey.