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LET'S NOT GET INTO A FLAP
FOR VARIOUS REASONS, I've recently been contemplating the idea of not getting excited. I don't mean avoiding enthusiasm about seeing a good movie, or getting a nice gift, or seeing a friend or family member I haven't seen for a while. Rather, I see a need not to let my thoughts get stirred up over scenarios for dangerous events down the line—such as the threat of a pandemic or some natural disaster.
The word excite can mean "to stimulate." And I feel it might well have been in this respect that Mary Baker Eddy used it in Science and Health, when she wrote that when it comes to disease, "The predisposing cause and the exciting cause are mental" (p. 178). Clearly, if what's in our thinking can predispose us to disease or stimulate it, we want to be watching our thoughts carefully. We wouldn't want to get "excited" in a way that brings on sickness.
About the author
Contributing editor Tony Lobl is a Christian Science practitioner living in Surbiton, England.

March 19, 2007 issue
View Issue-
LETTERS
with contributions from DOUGLAS EASTMAN, TERESA VON CARDINAL, JENNIFER NYLEN, ROSE STACKHOUSE, JAN TRUE JACOBY
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Birth—for non-parents, too
WARREN BOLON, SENIOR WRITER
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
with contributions from Tom Regan, Tim Funk
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CHILDBIRTH—LOVE ANNOUNCING, 'HERE I AM!'
BY KEITH WOMMACK
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CONCEPTION & BIRTH—THE SPIRITUAL BASIS
Warren Bolon with contributions from MARTA GREENWOOD
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LABOR OF LOVE
BY AMY BROOKE BAKER
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THE HOPE THAT SURPRISED ME
BY CARYL EMRA FARKAS
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TIME TO CLEAR OUT THE GUNK
BY MEG WELCH DENDLER
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HURT? FRUSTRATED? PERPLEXED? PRAY!
BY ANTHONY WHITEHOUSE
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Without help? Don't believe it!
Timon Keller
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DELIVERANCE
Bettie Gray
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LESSONS FROM MRS. WOLFE
ROBERT HOLCOMB
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LET'S NOT GET INTO A FLAP
TONY LOBL
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I ACCEPTED GOD'S BLESSING
KAY KEELOR
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FULL FREEDOM REGAINED
DOUG SYTSMA
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LUMP HEALED THROUGH PERSISTENT PRAYER
TERESA J. ALLEN