​Lily left us at the end of August, so we rescued Raven from the animal rescue in Evans, Colorado in September. Raven loves taking walks with me in the day time and with Tony in the evening. It’s easy to see why God delights in His unique, spiritual creation. The spiritual qualities of joy, dominion, and goodness shine out at me in those fun faces every day!

Would you like a more spiritual concept of Thanksgiving? Maybe one that still appreciates the feast, but also helps you feel more gratitude for the good in your life? Every Christian Science branch church and society offers a church service on Thanksgiving day. They usually run about an hour and are definitely worth attending. 

​If you'd like to see about attending one of these services close to you, search your location here.

If you can't make a service on Thanksgiving day, but would still like to read a great Bible lesson on Thanksgiving, click here. 

For more ideas on Thanksgiving, gobble on over to my blog page.

I think this ad has something to teach us that goes far beyond where we buy our next fast food burger.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (The Bible, Matthew, chapter 6). This well-known line from the Lord's Prayer is interpreted spiritually by Mrs. Eddy as, "And Love is reflected in love" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ​p. 17). Love with a capital L is God. Love with a lowercase l is Love's action.

​We are all Love's creation, so it's natural for us to expect to see Love in action all around us. Yes, God is the source of compassion shown by those who help when they see bullying. And an understanding that infinite Love must be expressed in all ways by everyone lifts the standard of behavior around us. It actually has the power to prevent acts of hate. Where omnipresent Love and Love's omnipresent action are, no hate can be present. It's food for thought!

​Seventy-seven donated pianos later, the city of Fort Collins, Colorado has been bringing music to their community one artist at a time. Click here to learn more about this great program! 

If you'd like to read a blog on why music is so soothing, dance on over to my blog page!

Contributed by guest blogger, Judy McMillie​

Most of us have a favorite restaurant or two. We aren’t exclusive with it, but we frequent it often, once a week maybe. My husband and I love Avila’s Mexican Food. It’s a very special place for us, and we have a particular booth we like to sit in. We chat up all the waiters, waitresses, bus-boys and –girls, and we tip generously. It’s what we like to do.
 
Recently, when we went to Avila’s for some enchiladas on a cold and windy evening, the service was slower than usual due to a big party in the back party room and a large take-out order to fill. But we didn’t mind too much – Avila’s is a pleasant place to be.
 
My husband Buck whose career was in law enforcement -- he retired from the federal prison system -- was transferred to La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution near El Paso in December 1969. He, his wife, and two young children drove to El Paso from their previous assignment in West Virginia, and Avila’s was the first restaurant they ate in after arriving in this decidedly Mexican-food city. The love affair began all those years ago, and a few of the employees still working at Avila’s today were working at the restaurant way back then. Luis and Chiquita are two of them. There’s a special bond between them and us, although I came on the scene many years later.
 
The other evening when we went to Avila’s, we were just sitting, waiting for our food, when Buck spotted something shiny on the floor under the adjacent table. He thought about leaving it alone, but he was curious and we were just biding our time, so he went to the table and retrieved the item. It was a big beautiful gold and diamond man’s ring, a really lovely piece of jewelry. At that very moment, our waiter friend Luis passed by and asked what it was that caught Buck’s attention. Buck showed him, and he became visibly breathless and weak. It was Luis’ ring, and he had been searching for it for a long time. He had been to his car and his locker, he had searched the counters in the kitchen, the area of the restaurant where employees take their breaks, the dining rooms and everywhere he could think to search. He was extremely relieved to find the ring, and then he told us the story behind the ring.
 
Luis calls it his “anniversary” ring. He and his wife bought it when they married, and every year, on their anniversary, he would add a diamond. Luis and his wife divorced after 22 years, but it still was an outward and visible sign of their life together, the family they created, and he treasured that ring like no other. I can only imagine how upset he was when the ring went missing. And I was a witness to the relief that inundated him when the ring was found.
 
I am a firm believer that God places us where He wants us, and this incident seems to prove my point. Buck and I could have gone anywhere we felt like going that evening, but we went to Avila’s at that time, probably at the very minute Luis was petitioning God to help him through this stressful time. Life can be so sweet at times, and you know I’m a big fan of happy endings!
 
Luis ended up buying our meal that evening, although we protested as much as we could. He was very grateful to have such good friends, and so were we.
 
Luis certainly shouted his joy and gratitude to God and His world that evening!

Judy McMillie is a retired newspaper librarian, current newspaper columnist, self-avowed memoirist, great-grandmother, native Nebraskan, and Annette's "Aunt Judy" currently living in El Paso, Texas.


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If you ever find yourself in El Paso, go eat at Avila's!

Contributed by guest blogger, Patti Faulkner

It's easy to get caught up in issues and pulled into the political fray. When others don't share our views, it’s tempting to try to persuade them to “see the light.”
 
As a Canadian, I've been watching with interest, sometimes amusement, and even bewilderment, the U.S. presidential campaign. Though it impacts me less than Americans, I'm still concerned about the outcome, so I know how I would vote. And, it came as a surprise to learn recently that friends for whom I have a great deal of respect and with whom I share many values, will be voting for an opponent. I said nothing, but secretly wondered how they could do that. Seriously, had they not been reading the same stories I was? It turns out, maybe not.
 
I recently read an article that illustrated that often we don't read news stories that challenge our
viewpoints, but rather ones that bolster them. And I've realized with dismay that sometimes
when I'm listening to someone with an opposing view, rather than really listening and trying to
understand them, I’m formulating arguments in my mind about why they're wrong. Is this the
right way to treat others? Jesus’ guidance on this is pretty clear: “as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” (Luke 6:31).
 
Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science, included a favorite article “Taking Offense” in her collection of articles in Miscellaneous Writings. It offers this advice: “We should
remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills,
opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution,
culture, character, from all the rest; … Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest
expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything
beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not
wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental
disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 224).

"Let there be light," is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love,
changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.

~Mary Baker Eddy