Neighbors Left a Pit Bull Chained to a Tree

Eve, a pit bull, lived next door tied to a tree with a heavy chain. One day her owner moved and left her there, tied to the tree. My husband and I made phone calls to different agencies. We either got recordings or the shelters were full. As a last resort we called Animal Control. They came and put a notice on the house next door. They never came back. In the meantime I was feeding Eve and making sure she had water. I would also let her off the chain for short periods so she could run and play. Despite a pit bull's reputation and her mistreatment, she was sweet and loving.

I know we can't be separated from our Father/Mother Love. God is loving and caring for each of His/Her ideas. I had been praying during this time, asking God what to do. Where does she belong? Please show us, Father. We had two dogs of our own and didn't want another one. But I continued to pray, "Father, please show me".

One day I came home from church and Eve had gotten loose from her chain. She'd crawled through a bar of our gate into our yard. There she was with our other two dogs, inside our fence looking out at me, all wagging their tails. Some dogs want out of fenced yards. She wanted in! She looked so happy and content in our yard. She was showing me where she wanted to belong. Eve now lives at our house. She gets along fine with our two dogs. We're so glad for this addition to our family!
-Nancy

Eternal Life: Through Faith or Love?

Originally published March 24, 2005 in The Geauga Maple Leaf, Chardon, Ohio

FAITH OR LOVE?

In the time of Jesus’ ministry he was asked an important question. “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus gave a very simple and clear answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” No jumping through hoops, no odysseys to undertake, no mysticism or magic. Just live the life of love. This is why the defining quality of a Christian is love. Now, some will say it is faith, but Paul set aside that notion in his first letter to the Corinthians. He wrote: “Faith, hope, charity (love), these three. But the greatest of these is charity” (love). Jesus told his disciples, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love, then, is the underlying Principle of Jesus’ teachings and therefore, of Christianity.

St. John spoke directly about the need for love in mankind. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.... If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.... We love because he first loved us.” (NIV, I John 4)

Well, then, where does the significance of faith come in? Didn’t Jesus tell many of those he healed that it was their faith that had truly brought it about? Furthermore, he admonished his disciples for their fear when the storm arose on the Sea of Galilee. “Where is your faith?” Did they not trust their divine Father’s protection? We have to start somewhere. Is not trust our starting point,--trust in the all-power of the All-mighty?

Mary Baker Eddy, in her enlightening book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures addresses this issue: “In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's ‘own salvation, with fear and trembling.’ ’Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!’ expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shall be saved!" demands self-reliant trustworthiness which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God…. (p 15) Trustworthiness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we cannot receive holiness.” (p 23)

So, in fact, both faith and love are necessary. And, both are indications of a true Christian. Both are qualities which make great demands upon the believer. Paul told his Galatian students “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” And, further, he said that as we “live in the Spirit, we should also walk in the Spirit,” He went on to identify the qualities of the Spirit we must walk with. First, in that list, is love, and faith is there, as well as joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and temperance. Practicing these qualities we will each be law-abiding and worth of the Kingdom of Heaven and everlasting life.

- Toni Alexander

Terri Schiavo

Mary Baker Eddy, well-known American writer of the late 19th century, wrote at the end of a poem:"My prayer, some daily good to do To Thine, for Thee; An offering pure of Love, whereto God leadeth me." Those words came to our attention as my colleague and myself heard of the death today of Terri Schiavo. We took time from our busy day to pray and have a sense of peace about this situation. We wanted to focus on an unconditional prayer that only knows about love and not misunderstandings. A prayer that brings people together, that promotes good will, that elevates everyone to a higher sense of life, that brings peace, redemption and most of all healing. We can all unite at this very moment with the family through our prayers, in recognizing unity, that will wipe away personal sense and promote affection and acknowledge that God governs, controls, and rules each one of us.
- Roberta & Cristina