Article December 23, 1996 Issue

Unexpected Christmas blessings

Ellen Moore Thompson

I was standing in a line some thirty people long at my local post office. It was Saturday, a week and a half before Christmas. As people scurried to get inside before closing time, many threw up their hands in dismay, leaving as quickly as they had come in. I suggested to the woman behind me that we could be grateful for this gift of quiet in our otherwise busy schedules, and I silently thanked God for the opportunity to feel a measure of stillness in a world prone to hasty activity at this season.

More than just a cessation of human activity, spiritual stillness is heartfelt communion with God. In these quiet moments we understand Him to be the very source of our being. In Retrospection and Introspection Mary Baker Eddy emphasizes the value and power of this stillness. She writes, "The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action" (p. 93).

This particular Christmas I devoted myself to serving God and became aware of many little evidences of God's guidance in my experience. Holidays, and every day, we can safeguard our desire to be God-centered by following the direction in Psalms "Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10). It's refreshing to affirm that in the kingdom of heaven perfect order already reigns and that, as God's spiritual idea, we reflect the divine order. Understanding this, we can expect harmony to be expressed in our experience.

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