{"id":2166,"date":"2013-09-19T08:08:09","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T12:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayspirituality\/?p=2166"},"modified":"2016-10-19T08:58:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T12:58:39","slug":"lightning-strikes-for-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2013\/09\/lightning-strikes-for-ideas.html","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Strikes for ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been getting some intense lightning\/thunder storms here in upstate New York. The electrical storms light up the pitch black sky for hours at a time. Thunder rolls and booms and shakes the house.<\/p>\n

The storms move in fast.<\/p>\n

I got caught driving home in lightning yesterday and had to admit admiration for Benjamin Franklin who discovered that electricity and lightning was the same thing.<\/p>\n

How did Benjamin Franklin overcome his fear of the lightning enough to think, \u201cOh hey, I will go outside in this storm with a kite and key and test this theory.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work led to the invention of the lightning rod which had the dramatic effect of preventing structures from igniting and burning as the result of being struck by lightning.<\/p>\n

Not only are building structures saved because of rods, but electricity has been harnessed to transform our lives, the same electricity fiercely flashing across our skies. I use electricity to wake up, cook, work, contact others at a distance on the phone, vacuum, the list keeps going.<\/p>\n

I wonder: Is there something in my life that seems really scary? Can I use it for good<\/a>?<\/p>\n

From 21st<\/sup> Century Science and Health, \u201c<\/i>Erring power is a material belief, a blind miscalled force, the offspring of false intent and not of wisdom, of the human mind and not of the spiritual. Human power is the reckless flood, the devouring flame, the tempest\u2019s storm. It is lightning and hurricane, all that is selfish, wicked, dishonest, and impure\u2026Moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who gathers the \u201cwind in the hollow of the hands.\u201d[1]<\/b><\/a> This metaphysical teaching agrees with Science and harmony. In Science, you can have no power opposed to God and the physical senses must give up their false testimony. Your influence for good depends on the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a mockery of strength, which before long betrays its weakness and falls, never to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/b><\/a> Prov. 30:4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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