By May Rowland
HAVE YOU realized that there are people in every nation of the earth who love all humanity, people who are seeking to bring peace, understanding, and brother hood into the world in which we live? These people are instruments of God wherever they are. Sometimes, as we think of world affairs, the outlook seems dark. We see only the working of evil forces and the preparation of instruments of destruction. But God, who created this world and called it good, is still in charge. Let us align ourselves with this tremendous power of God. Let us co-operate with God in bringing peace, love, and understanding into the world in which we live. It is up to us who live on this planet to learn the first secret of life — we are children of God. And co-operation in expressing Him is essential.
Many years ago William Bradbury wrote a song entitled, "O Life, That Maketh All Things New." It may be in your hymn book. One of the verses tells us:
"From hand to hand the greeting flows;
From eye to eye the signals run;
From heart to heart the bright faith glows;
The seekers of the Light are one."
The chorus affirms:
"United in the Truth we stand,
Proclaiming peace to every land."
1. Know who you are in Truth
In every nation of the earth the seekers of the light are one. It makes no difference what creed or dogma they follow or what they call their faith. The prayers of all people, seeking the light, unite as a part of the great good of the world.
Sometimes we in Silent Unity are asked to join other peace movements, but we do not feel that this is necessary, because we are all united as seekers of the light. In our unity of purpose we seek ways to bring freedom, justice, and peace into the lives of people the world over.
We, as "seekers of the light," are united in an invisible bond of love for all humanity. We have faith in mankind. We know that good shall be victorious and that nothing can defeat it.
In the beginning God named our world a planet of light. When He said, "Let there be light," there was light. And light is very definitely the keynote of our planet.
Science tells us that the energy of this planet is acted upon by light and that any planet, to produce life, must have light. The latent energy of the earth is acted upon by the light of the sun. This produces growth and development in the earth.
2. Know that peace and understanding is possible
The light of the Christ means to man what the light of the sun means to the earth. The seed of man's eternal sonship is within him, and it will grow into a beautiful expression as the light of the Christ nature stirs within him.
The light of man's spiritual nature can turn darkness into light, it can change a barren life into a productive life. Through prayer this is constantly happening in the lives of individuals.
We are living on a planet whose nature is light. Light is within us, and all about us. We are truly children of light. Have you ever thought of yourself in this way?
3. Know that you can be a great light
You will have a different feeling about yourself when the light of your spiritual nature sheds its radiance upon every part of your life.
Before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah said: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light ... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Jesus realized that He came into the world as a radiant son of light. You will remember that Jesus constantly identified Himself with light.
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
And Jesus brought us right into the picture. He did not come to this planet just to show us that He was a light in the darkness, but that the light also is in each one of us.
"Ye are the light of the world ... let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
You can be sure that we are created as children of light, and Jesus came to show us the path of light.
When the light of understanding dawns upon us, it warms us, and love is quickened within us. We commence to respond to the spiritual urge within us to express more and more of the goodness of God.
Just as the light of understanding enabled Jesus to become the Prince of Peace, so also we can become expressions of love and peace to the whole world. In the light of understanding there is but one world, one people, all children of God, children of light.
4. Don't go alone
Were we to see the poverty, the frustration, the hardships and the despair that some of the people of the world suffer, we would want to do all within our power to help them. We do contribute in a measure, through our government and other organizations. Whatever we do to help the peoples of the world, let us do with warm, loving hearts and sincere prayers so that we may always be fair and understanding of the people in every land.
Benjamin Franklin very beautifully expresses our sentiment about other lands in the following words:
God grant that not only the love of liberty, but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set foot anywhere and say: "This is my country."
5. Accept challenges with a loving heart
The world can be united through loving, understanding, warm hearts. People at home and abroad respond to love.
Not long ago I was asked to make some talks to our Unity friends in various parts of England. The groups were not large, and many of them were newly formed, but in each group there was displayed a great faith in the successful future of the Unity work in England.
My sincere desire was to take to our friends in England some of the warmth and love that are so generously expressed at Unity.
6. Be a blessing
We frequently speak of giving someone our blessing. A blessing is the essence of the highest spiritual realization that we can give to another. We can give a blessing silently or we can speak it aloud. I felt I could take a special blessing of love to England, because the day I was to leave by jet plane, the Daily Word message seemed — as so many of our friends say — just written for this occasion. This was the first sentence of the lesson for the day:
"I love you, I bless you, I have faith in you."
The Silent Unity group used this prayer for me. Then we prayed for the people of England. We felt our unity with all our Daily Word readers in the various lands throughout the world. Daily Word at this writing is published in ten different languages. We felt that this message of love was encircling the world, and that there was tremendous power in the idea. All Daily Word readers were saying to their families, their friends, and to each other: "I love you, I bless you, I have faith in you."
The idea brought out in the lesson was that "we do not withhold our love and blessing from anyone. We love as God loves." These ideas prepared the way for the work in England. The response to the idea was warm, loving, and understanding. I felt very close to every person I met in England, not only to Unity friends, but to those whom I met on the streets, waiting for busses, in the hotels, and in restaurants. Everyone seemed to be a beloved child of God and acted as though he were. There was not one discordant note any place on the trip.
"I love you, I bless you, I have faith in you." These are magical words. They will bring you a satisfying, unifying feeling of oneness with all people, as they have brought Silent Unity a feeling of oneness with all people.
7. Pray daily for world leaders
We receive letters from people in practically every part of the world, and to many people Silent Unity has become a symbol of peace.
One of our dear friends in Greece addressed her envelope to Silent Unity in this way:
"Peace on earth, good will toward men."
Lee's Summit,
U.S.A.
For many years we have printed these words of peace on the back of our envelopes. This friend in Greece was happy to know that far off in America there were people praying for peace for the world. We in Silent Unity love to be thought of as a center of peace. We pray daily for world leaders that they may find unity in thought, purpose, and understanding, that they may be inspired to right action for the mutual good of all mankind.
We pray daily for the United Nations that they may deal justly and with understanding in relation to all problems that are presented to them. We have faith in these leaders and in the United Nations and we bless them every day.
A few years ago a professor of theology came to visit us at Unity Village, and he was especially interested in our prayer services in Silent Unity.
He seemed to understand that we would pray for individuals who called on us for help, but he seemed surprised that an important part of our daily prayer service is to pray for world leaders and for peace and understanding for all the nations. He asked interestedly, "You mean that you keep in touch with things going on in the world and pray for the right outcome in these matters?" Naturally our answer was, "Yes." We have daily prayer services for the healing of the nations. This is one of our great projects.
8. Each one of us has a special contribution to make toward peace.
When I was on a tour of Europe I was much impressed with an article which was handed to me with my passport. It was information for bearers of passports, entitled "Your Attitude." It read:
Robert Oppenheimer once said: "The best way to send knowledge is to wrap it up in a person." Your United States Passport gives you the status of Good-will Ambassador for our country, and it is primarily through you and other travelers that people in foreign countries know America. Your presence abroad can aid international understanding in helping the United States to be understood.
As seekers of the light we all would like to say to people of other nations: "We want peace and friendship with freedom and justice for all."
The healing of the nations depends on the healing of the people in the nations and it depends on how much they are willing to contribute toward peace. Each one of us has a special contribution to make toward peace.
In one of our Silent Unity meetings during World War II, each one present decided that he would like to make an individual contribution toward peace.
Each of us decided that the way to do this was to cleanse his mind of thoughts of prejudice, intolerance, and all of the attitudes of mind that are a part of the warring consciousness. We knew then, as now, that peace is made up of love and good will, tolerance, and understanding.
About this time we commenced using a prayer which in its original form was sent to us by a woman in Australia:
"Almighty Father, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." We have changed the last part to read "let it begin with love and peace in my heart." The next time you feel perplexed about world conditions, use this prayer, and you will find that there is much you can do in your own consciousness.
We all want peace, but usually we want the other fellow to be peaceful first. But we are all children of God and fully endowed with the ability to live in a friendly, peaceful, harmonious atmosphere of our own making. So we must also be willing to do our part toward the healing of the nations.
Some persons seem to come into the world as harmonizers and peacemakers. They get along with everyone. They hunt for points of agreement with others. When they walk into a room everyone immediately feels their inner peace, poise, and strength. There are others who have but to walk into a room to agitate most of the persons present.
9. Begin with your Christ center
Every family has its peacemakers and its harmonizers. We find the same situation in the world. The way to heal the nations is to start in ourselves, in our own consciousness, and to become peacemakers. Let us get in touch with the great spiritual reservoir of love and harmony within ourselves. Then let our harmonious radiance brighten our own home. Then let it radiate out to our government, and then to the whole world and all of its people.
Peace begins in the center of our own harmonious consciousness. It starts from the Christ center within us.
No leader, no group of leaders can thrust peace upon us. It is first an individual matter.
When we get our thinking straightened out and our heart filled with love for all humanity, we shall be on the way toward establishing the kingdom of God upon the earth.
Emerson states: "A man is the word made flesh, born to shed healing to the nations."
Perhaps the nations of the earth have never yet found healing because we have not recognized this great truth, that man is the Word of God made flesh. When we become more keenly aware of this truth, we shall make some tremendous discoveries about ourselves as spiritual beings. We have ignored this gold mine of reality and now is the time to be awakened to it. For everyone is very important in bringing "healing to the nations."
10. Trust the Way of Jesus
Jesus Christ is the living symbol of God's good in any form. He took Truth out of the abstract, and made it a way of life. He brought it into the realm of man's experience. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, was the embodiment of all that God is. When we ask in His name, we are asking in the name of peace, love, understanding, and joy. We are asking in the name of all that is good.
We have a great work to do. We believe this planet is under the direction of Jesus Christ. Through the practice of His teachings we can be led into paths of peace, love and understanding.
In the nations where Jesus and His mission are not understood and accepted, there are principles of Truth by which people can live and be led into paths of righteousness and peace. As we awaken to our importance as children of God, we will do our part in bringing His goodness into the world. We will commence to prove the truth of the Scripture: "And he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth."
—Reprinted from Daily Word
Lee's Summit, Missouri 64063
PRINTED U.S.A. S.I 1-10M-2-64-SEEK
