Today is the Unity World Day of Prayer 2017. This year’s theme is “Peace In The Midst,” which not only inspired the talk title for this past Sunday’s services led by Rev. Kristen Grandon, but also the title and theme of this week’s blog article. One of the grandest traditions in Unity history is the Silent Unity prayer ministry, which has maintained a 24/7 silent prayer vigil for over 125 years. One day a year, Unity churches around the world join with Silent Unity in maintaining their own 24-hour prayer vigils as part of the Unity World Day of Prayer.
Starting at 8:30 PM last night, volunteer members of the UCOH community commenced a 24-hour silent prayer vigil in our chapel. Each prayer participant has been serving in 30-minute or one-hour increments throughout the night and on through today. This evening at 7:30 PM, the Unity Church of the Hills community concludes the 24-hour prayer vigil with a special community service for the last hour, as we affirm in prayer together that “peace in the midst” of all circumstances is possible.
Perfect Peace Is Rare, But Not Impossible
If you have been following the recent blogs, you know I write about peace a lot. I also think about it, talk about it, meditate on it, and even write songs about it. For me, peace is the end game, the reason behind every choice I make. You could say that experiencing the energy of peace as often as possible is my main mission in life. This is not to say that I experience perfect peace. As Dr. David Hawkins reminds us, perfect peace is rare, and I agree. However, rare does not mean impossible. It just means that very few actually achieve and embody the energy of peace full time.
In his book, Power Vs. Force, Dr. Hawkins also notes that those who do demonstrate the elevated energies of peace often tend to withdraw from the world. Hawkins suggests they do so because “the state of bliss that ensues precludes ordinary activity.” For me, I have no desire whatsoever to withdraw from the world in order to maintain my peace. On the contrary, I desire an experience of peace that keeps me engaged with the world. Even when the “ordinary activity” of the world challenges my peace, I remain open to the experience of “peace in the midst” of those challenges, even if I don’t do it perfectly
Peace & The Ordinary World
Every single day, the “ordinary activity” of the world presents opportunities for us to blow up our peace. However, even in the midst of life’s many challenges, there are also abundant daily opportunities to create an experience of peace. For example, just in the past few weeks, the lives of millions of Americans from Texas to Florida and beyond have been devastated by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Personally, I have lost count of the number of friends and family members whose lives have been radically and forever altered by these historically unprecedented hurricanes.
The personal stories of my own family and friends are multiplied exponentially all across the Gulf Coast and Southern states, enfolding the experiences of millions of people I will never know. Nonetheless, they need help just like my friends and family do. In some cases, entire towns were decimated by hurricane force winds and inescapable storm surges. In others, historic rainfall totals created massive flood events that destroyed tens of thousands of homes and businesses. The physical destruction and financial loss is overwhelming.
Even as I write this, an untold number of Americans remain either displaced from their homes altogether, or having to perform emergency renovations in order to save their homes. Millions are without basic services like power, water and phone services. Food and energy supplies are threatened in many areas. It will be weeks or maybe months before the basics are fully restored for everyone, but it will be years before the physical and financial recovery is completed. The human toll may never be fully known, and in some cases, may never be fully recovered. How are we to find peace in the midst of such large scale crises?
Aligning With The Inward Nature of Christ Consciousness
In her talk on Sunday, Rev. Kristen suggested that we find “peace in the midst” of life’s storms by going within, into the “inward nature” of our own being and wholly aligning our lives with our Christ Consciousness. Without a commitment to live in alignment with the “inward nature” of our Christ Consciousness, peace is impossible, and our capacity to serve is also limited.
To live in alignment with our Christ Consciousness is to imagine and express our creative power to its fullest potential. Imagine how powerful is your personal capacity to express unconditional love. If it were expressed to its fullest potential, peace would not only be possible, it would be inevitable. Because our capacity to express love is unlimited, our potential to create “peace in the midst” of any challenge is also unlimited.
So Much Potential, So Little Time
While our capacity to express love and create peace is unlimited, our time, energy and resources are not. When we are faced with such overwhelming tragedy and human needs, how and where are we to contribute to help create most good? What is the most effective way to help, when we literally cannot individually help even just the people we personally know?
In large scale natural disasters such as Harvey and Irma, there are always more people who need help than any one of us can personally serve. When so many have lost everything all at once, not being able to help everyone can leave us feeling guilty, as if we haven’t done enough. This kind of thinking is not productive. It robs us of our personal peace, and actually limits our potential to help. How are we to help create an experience of “peace in the midst” of such tragic conditions, if we cannot create peace for our own selves?
Every Little Bit Of Peace Helps
The first thing to keep in mind is that hurricane relief efforts in the wake of Harvey and Irma will be going on for years. The recovery is just getting started. This means that we will have many opportunities to serve in the coming years. In the immediate aftermath of such large scale disasters, our first reaction is to do something quickly and boldly, to make a grand gesture. However, what is more important is to do many little things over the long haul.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once stated, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” We do not have to go around the world to serve others, we can do our “little bit of good” right where we are planted. By doing it consistently over time, the good accumulates and has exponential effects and consequences, not only for those who benefit from our service, but also within the inner realms of our own Christ Consciousness.
When my own thoughts, words, and actions are in harmony with the Christ Consciousness, peace is the natural result. One thought at a time, one prayer at a time, and one action at a time, this is how I create a consciousness of peace. There is the possibility for peace in the midst of every circumstance. No matter the challenge, peace is possible. Regardless of apparent obstacles, the potential for peace is ever present.
The best thing we can ever do for one another is to contribute to an experience of peace. By making our personal peace a priority in our lives, we develop our capacity to express “peace in the midst” of any experience. Every little bit of peace we create for ourselves contributes to the collective peace, and ultimately heals the world.
