Platform to Employment – hope for the unemployed

By Blogger Linda Ross

It is heartbreaking to be unemployed or to know the unemployed. 

A recent 60 Minutes segment highlighted the success of an experimental program – Platform to Employment – based here in Stamford, Connecticut. Scott Pelley began by saying, “Never in the last 60 years has the length of joblessness been this long. Four million people, a full third of the unemployed, have been out of work more than a year. These folks have been out of work two years, three, even four. They’re college educated professionals in their forties or fifties…they’ve fallen out of the middle class. Turned in cars, gone on food stamps, taken kids out of college and faced foreclosure.”

The segment focus then turned from describing the current plight of a new underclass of long term unemployed to the state unemployment office in southwesternConnecticut.  Its innovative program, Platform to Employment, is a partnership with area businesses that provides training coupled with an opportunity for an eight week internship with jobs needing to be filled.  It’s hoped that this experiment might be a model around the country for the other four million and counting whose lives have been broken by the Great Recession.

There have been several times in my life when I traveled down some of the same difficult terrain of my fellow Connecticut residents featured in the 60 Minutes story.  After graduating from college, years later when relocating, and then after a divorce were all times when I was challenged with lengthy unemployment or underemployment.  As is my custom, prayer and a deeper study of the Scriptures helped me to find relief from the nagging self-doubt and sense of hopelessness. The result was a humility that allowed me to hear “the still, small voice” mentioned in the Bible – what today is called intuition or angel thoughts.

The intuition I had during my first bout with unemployment after college was one that has guided me ever since.  It was simply, “God is my employer.” I believe that God gives me life and this life is complete and sustaining.  I have learned that these intuitions or angel thoughts must be followed by appropriate action on my part.  So I looked at every circumstance that crossed my path as an opportunity for employment.  I made sure I did justice to it with an excellent work ethic – by being thoughtful, thorough, and doing more than was required. Gratitude played an important role too, especially when some of the jobs required far less than my college degree and previous experience.

Over the years I have found work often in areas that I never would have imagined or thought possible.  I’ve also seen a pattern of ongoing professional (and personal) development and an actual wealth of opportunity.  Perhaps, one might say, I found a tried and true “platform to employment.”

Linda Ross is a Christian Science practitioner living in Connecticut.

Through the millenniums, God as Mother

By Blogger Linda Ross

What are some of your favorite mothering or grandmothering traits?  The first one that comes to my thought is unconditional love.  And considering the Biblical passage, “God is Love”, in this post celebrating Mother’s Day, I thought it might be interesting to trace evidence of God as Mother through the millenniums. The following are only a few examples of many to be found in history.

 

Wikipedia

The earliest record could be in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, written around 2100B.C.  Its first chapter concludes, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”  Mothers are often their children’s biggest fans, they seem to see them only as precious.  Just try beginning a day considering that God made you very good.  Even take that one enjoyable step further and look for at least a glimmer of that goodness in each person you meet.  Hopefully you may find, as I have, a more satisfying day and a touch of unconditional mothering love.

About 1400, Julian of Norwich wrote “Revelations of Divine Love”.  It is the first text in English that can be identified, with certainty, as the work of a female writer. In her book, Julian spoke of God as “fatherhood, motherhood, lordship… God is as really our Mother as our Father.  And why?  Because a mother’s {love} is the most intimate, willing and dependable of all…”

My last instance is from Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science church.  All through her books, articles and letters she refers to the nature of God as a mother as well as a father.  She explains, “To me God is All. He is best understood as Supreme Being, as infinite and conscious Life, as the affectionate Father and Mother of all He creates;”  I have found it particularly helpful to consider what I inherited as a child of this divine Mother and Father – and then express to my children and grandchildren. 

 

With these thoughts in mind, I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day!

Changing perspectives on spirituality in healing

By Blogger Linda Ross

How the approach to health has changed since I was a pre-med student in the 1970’s.  Up to that point in my life and that of my family and friends, prayer was a way to experience peace.  But a call from an insurance adjuster was the beginning of quite a change in my view of prayer and its transformative effect on the body.

Reviewing the damage done my car after being rear-ended, the adjuster said he had never known anyone to just walk away.  He thought my body was in a state of shock and had not yet begun to feel the effects of the trauma that would have been caused by the sudden blow to my car and its collapse against the driver’s seat. He asked me to have a complete physical before I signed a release of liability for the claim.

I had prayed the moment I had awaken from the impact of the accident.  I knew I needed to focus on God, not the problem, and began to ponder a passage from the Bible.  My strength returned and my neck normally supported my head again.  In fact the adjustments that took place were so gentle, I assumed there had not been an injury.  Following the insurance adjuster’s request, I went to my family doctor for x-rays thinking they would show nothing had occurred.

However, the physician pointed out in the x-ray he took of my neck, a white ridge indicating the vertibrae had knit back together. He said, “The way this has healed, you will not feel the effects of this accident for the rest of your life.”  That afternoon I told my parents about the visit to the doctor’s office.  My dad felt nothing had really happened to me in the first place.  In fact he was so concerned that I had decided to change my major from pre-med to business, that he refused to pay for any further college studies.

At the time I thought I was alone, even odd, in leaving the study of medicine to be free to pursue more deeply an understanding of healing through prayer.  The studies, books, and university courses on the role of spirituality in healing that exist today were rare 40 years ago.

An article I read last week shows me just how much the thinking about spirituality and health has changed.  Medical researchers at George Washington University’s Institute for Spirituality and Health will, according to the article, look to influence health policies by gathering evidence supporting the importance of spirituality in healing.  The work is made possible by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation.

Christina Puchalski, the institute’s executive director and a professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said  that with the grant money the institute will present data and evidence that shows why health care would benefit from a spiritual focus. Puchalski’s research team, which includes policy experts outside of GW, would look to find data that gives a clear direction for the future of spirituality in the health care system.

I look forward to following up this post with the findings of their study once it is published.

Sunday School and The Hunger Games

By Linda Ross

I was stunned when my three 13 year old Sunday School students told me that collectively they had read “The Hunger Games” 16 times and seen the movie nine times. When I asked what it was about the series that was so compelling, they responded with shoulder shrugs, “It’s really good!” and encouraged for me to see it myself – which I did

Having seen the film, the next week I was prepared with more specific questions.  This delighted the class to no end! Given that the venue for the discussion was our Sunday School class, my prayer was to find some related spiritual and moral path for them to consider.

They were much more talkative this time around knowing I had seen “The Hunger Games,” too. First we covered the more general themes, describing the action that kept them on the edge of their seats, the unrequited love, how much they liked the main teenage characters and the stars that played them.  But then I asked how they felt about the corruption of the rulers, the oppression, deprivation, and injustice suffered by the citizens, and the school where selected kids were taught how to kill.

One of my students told about an interview she had seen with the author of the book who had been inspired by the innocence of a 10 year old child that lived next door. Adults at times can marvel at its simple strength. The idea that innocence, not lost to exploitation, can lead to freedom is also found in the Biblical story of Daniel.  When asked why he had not perished after being thrown into a lion’s den Daniel answered, “My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight.”

My Sunday School class agreed that they felt the film left them with a sense of justice that comes from pursuing the right thing and winning.  They thought the following passage, by the founder of their church Mary Baker Eddy, was a good summary of what they took away from the movie:

“The right way wins the right of way, even the way of Truth and Love whereby all our debts are paid, mankind, blessed, and God glorified.”

A night thinking differently saved one life

By Blogger Linda Ross

It’s not easy to think differently from the crowd.  Often our education and culture encourages conformity even though in this modern age many experts, psychologists, business gurus and others write and speak about the importance of listening to our own inner drum.  We probably have Robert Frost – “The Road not Taken” (1920) – and M. Scott Peck – “The Road Less Traveled” (1978), among others, to thank for a lot of opportunities we have today to be different if we so choose.

A century ago, when conformity was even more common, a young man did take a “road less traveled.” Doing so saved his life the night the Titanic sank.

That young man was Lawrence Beesley.  His astonishing survival – only 14 percent of men in second class lived – from the sinking of the Titanic is retold by his grandson, Nicholas Wade in a recent New York Times Science Section. It’s part of the commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the great ship’s demise.

Mr. Wade’s article shares how, after the ship met the iceberg, his grandfather read and re-read the 91st Psalm.  Then, instead of following a rumor that caused the large group of men with which Beesley was standing to go over to the other side of the ship, he stayed put.  Shortly, he was asked to join a life boat leaving from the deck below him.  Wade concludes, “… I owe my existence to the fact that in those few critical moments he had the confidence to think differently from the crowd.”

Many of us have had experiences – sometimes in what seem dire situations – when we heard a thought to do something contrary than those around us.  For me, and many people of faith, such intuitions are sometimes referred to as “angel messages.” The Bible says the prophets heard God’s voice speaking directly to them as you and I might hear one another during a conversation.

We may never face something as life-threatening as the Titanic.  But we may feel at one time or another, an intuition or angel message from God leading us in a less common way than most would take.  Our challenge is to get better and better at responding to them.

Proven approach to a happy, healthy life

By Blogger Linda Ross

In my recent readings of little known individuals who became historical pillars, I marked another one’s story to share with you.  It’s interesting to note how Dr. George W. Calver’s early 1900’s philosophical shift from a traditional “fix sickness” to a “cultivate wellness” approach is what many of our recommended health models are emphasizing today. 

By 1928 members of the United States Congress were dying at an average of 20 per year.  Appalled by this trend, our representatives passed a resolution establishing the Office of the Attending Physician.  Dr. Calver was the first doctor to be appointed. Serving for 38 years, he made a preventative approach to wellness one of his most memorable contributions.

He became known for his “9 Commandments of Good Health”, which he widely posted on placards throughout Capitol Hill.  These included “eat wisely, drink plentifully (of water!), play enthusiastically and relax completely, go out at night twice a week at most.”  To summarize these he was quoted in the press as saying, “Don’t let yourself get off balance… Give 5% of your time to being well. You won’t have to give 100% getting over being sick.” 

Prevention is still a significant and much debated issue in healthcare.  The Prevention Institute (PI) in California encourages policy makers to increase public spending in this area.  Many of the Institute’s recommended steps to better health align with those of Dr. Calver from almost a century ago – healthy eating, good exercise and play, etc. 

Yet, a key component of achieving prevention and creating balance is missing  – namely, spirituality – from both Calver and PI. Just what is the best way to give that 5% (an hour or so a day) to being well?  Many have found adding spirituality to their daily routine helps to maintain poise, focus and greater health. 

For me, a daily Bible lesson continues to be my answer and often recourse for an expanding, satisfying lifestyle.  This morning one Bible passage of the several I read was, “Therefore, get your mind ready for action, being self disciplined…”  Though first written 2,000 years ago, it resonates with Dr. Calver’s 20^th century and our 21^st century approach to a happy, healthy life.

Easter’s Resurrection Message: You are loved

By Blogger Linda Ross

In reviewing the Easter story recently, I thought, “Oh, this is Easter’s resurrection message: you are loved!”  For me this idea affirms the reason for the joy in Easter morning church services I have attended since childhood.

As an adult, I want to understand better what impels the love that results in an uplifting joy and even at times better health. Pondering the life Jesus lived and taught, including its healing effect, the author of the Biblical book of 1^st John concludes, “God is love.” The Interpreter’s Bible Commentary offers a new insight on this passage, “God is reality…”

What a wonderful effect this understanding of God as Love has had throughout the Scriptures as well as in individual lives since it was written.  It parted the Red Sea, saved Daniel from the lions, and raised Lazarus in ancient times. Today it continues to bring guidance and transformation to anyone who seeks it in their lives.

This year when I hear the holiday greeting, “Happy Easter”, I will be reminded to carry a glimpse of the reality of God’s love – you are loved and I am loved – into all aspects of my life and work.

Stories of two pioneering women

By Blogger Linda Ross

Following last week’s post, I thought readers may find it interesting to hear the stories of some of the women I had researched.  Because of space considerations, I’ll select 2 of the many who I noted “traced the beginnings of their education to first finding a deep, abiding faith in a God that is all good.  This fueled not only a personal conviction of spiritual self-worth, but also lead them to effective, ground breaking invention and activism.”

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820.  The continual abuse she experienced caused her to escape from the South and become a key operative in what is known as the Underground Railroad. She is credited with leading during a 10 year period over 300 fellow slaves as well as some family members safely to freedom in the North.  Christianity Today records that Harriet attributed her own record of 100 percent success to the fact that “she would listen carefully to the voice of God as she led slaves north, and she would only go where she felt God was leading her.” Fellow abolitionist Thomas Garrett said of her, “I never met any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God.”

The National Women’s History Museum writes that Tubman also became a respected guerrilla operative for the Union Army, waging unconventional warfare against a variety of targets behind enemy lines. In addition to her role as a scout and spy, Tubman was respected as an able and caring nurse. At a time when more men were dying from infection and disease than from actual combat, Tubman’s healing powers were welcomed in military camps and hospitals by both black and white Union soldiers.

Mary Baker Eddy, a contemporary of Tubman, is another example of a woman who traced her success to a deep faith in God. Throughout difficulties that included the death of her first husband, chronic illness that caused the loss of custody of her only child, abandonment by her second husband, destitution – Mary held her Bible close.  A serious fall when she was in her mid 40’s was deemed fatal by the attending doctor. Her recovery from this after reading one of Jesus’ healings in her Bible, became what she described as, “the falling apple that led me to discover how to be well myself, and how to make others so.”

This discovery led her to put her ideas about how to be well in her major work Science & Health: With Key to The Scriptures, which was first published in 1875.  In 1879 she chartered the Church of Christ, Scientist, established “to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.”  Years later Mary launched The Christian Science Monitor, a leading international newspaper, the recipient to date of seven Pulitzer Prizes.

These women, two among many, show us what can be possible with an abiding faith in an all good God.

Linda Ross is a Christian Science Practitioner living in Connecticut.

Women’s History Month 2012: Education & Empowerment

By Blogger Linda Ross

One day, a number of years ago, I was stunned to discover that the compulsory history books and classes in my public school system ignored or wrongly attributed to men the significant accomplishments of women.  Apparently I’m not the first person to note this discrepancy since Women’s History Month was organized 30 years ago.  Celebrated during the month of March, it serves to highlight the contributions of women in history and today.

Library of Congress Photo

This year’s theme, “Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment” asks us to explore the distinctive link that shows educating women has often empowered them in their communities.  Through out the history of our country, whether exploring science, theology, or medicine, examples of women as trail blazers can be found.

Interestingly, many traced the beginnings of their education to first finding a deep, abiding faith in a God that is all good.  This fueled not only a personal conviction of spiritual self-worth, but also lead them to effective, ground breaking invention and activism.

Perhaps there is another perspective to explore here – the humility echoed in this passage from the Bible, “I will [in my thinking] stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make…”

Linda Ross is a Christian Science Practitioner living in Connecticut.

Across the US, beginning efforts to replace drug-based therapies

By Blogger Linda Ross

This is the second in a two-part series. Read part one here.

While preparing last week’s column, “Spirituality is a new component in Juvenile Detention Centers”, I discovered many more stories than could possibly be written in these posts. Across the U.S., beginning efforts to replace drug-based therapies with yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and faith-based practices in adult correctional facilities as well as juvenile detention centers are on the rise.  I’ll share two:

The Mind, Body, Awareness Project is currently carrying out a joint pilot program with Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland,California.  At the city of Alameda’s long-term youth detention camp, Camp Sweeney, physicians working with adolescents in the probation system are writing a prescription for mindfulness training as a way to counteract conditions that have been traditionally treated with drug based therapies.

The Mind Body Awareness Project was founded in June of 2000 by Noah Levine and a group of his close friends. As with many self-destructive kids, Noah’s search for meaning led him first to punk rock, drugs, drinking, and dissatisfaction.  Having clearly seen the futility of drugs and violence, Noah reached a turning point when he began practicing mindfulness-based meditation while locked up in the Santa Cruz juvenile hall. Meditation had a transformational effect on Noah, and he wanted to share what had changed his life with others.

At the Barbara Culver Juvenile Detention Center in Midland Texas, a youth lecture was given by a Christian Scientist. It is one example of talks on how youth can grow their spirituality to turn away from destructive behaviors, available to these facilities throughout the US. A portion (full report here) of what the speaker shared:

“I was lead to challenge them. I challenged them to be a thermostat, not a thermometer. A thermometer just rises or falls according to what is happening around it. However, a thermostat, on the other hand, regulates.

I challenged them to be healers, spiritual healers. I explained that by what they will learn in their spiritual journeys they could be regulators, thermostats. They could turn situations higher, holier. Everyone they will meet would be happier and healthier because of having met them.

I told them that Peter, one of Jesus’ followers, healed others when his shadow fell on them. Just so, the shadow or powerful mental weight of their growing spiritual maturity and understanding would help others. The more weight they put into the side of good, the more good they will do. They will use laws, spiritual laws, which heal minds and bodies.

At the end, a young man asked, “What is it like to come in here and change someone’s life?”  The smile on his face and tenderness in his eyes told me that he was taking up my challenge.”

These exemplary programs have been initially introduced on a small scale.  Their consistent success in transforming lives through first transforming thought, is the dawning of a new era in rehabilitative treatment.

Linda Ross is a Christian Science Practitioner living in Connecticut.