Together, We Light the Way

A Peace Message

Peace in our world seems to be more and more elusive. It is a frightening situation. My first reaction is denial. I try not to think about it, and try instead to pretend that all is well. I don?t have anyone close to me in Iraq and I don?t watch news, so it is easier to stay in denial.

The worst part about what is happening today is the feeling of having no control. The people who are making the decisions don?t ask my opinion and don?t seem to care what I think. They are feeding the fear which drives the need to attack and defend. Most of the time I think it is because those in charge are driven by their own fear, and in my more paranoid moments I am afraid their motives are centered around power and financial gain.

There is little I can do to influence the decisions of those in power other than to write my congressman and let him know that I am for peace and that I vote. But, that doesn?t mean there is nothing I can do to promote peace. I can choose peace on a personal level. If I wait until the world feels peaceful to experience peace in my life, I have a long wait. The world isn?t about peace. In fact, it is about the very opposite. The world is about separation, which fosters conflict and chaos.

In our separated state, every one is in conflict with everyone else in one way or another. We are constantly drawing a line in the sand. I live on this side of the bridge, they live on the other side. I am from Louisiana. This makes me different from those in other states. I want my congressman to put my needs ahead of those who live elsewhere. I am from the south, they are from the north. I draw another imaginary line in the sand where I perceive my country ends, and theirs begins. I differentiate myself by gender, by skin color, by culture. Every way I describe myself in some way excludes someone else.

Every time we foster separation, we are sacrificing peace. Our only hope for peace is Unity. Instead of looking for ways to make different, look for ways we are the same. Forget where I was born. Forget what language I speak, where I went to school, what kind of work I do. None of that means anything. None of that is going with me when I leave this life. All that I will take with me is what God created. All I will take with me is my Spirit, and in Spirit, we are the same; we are one. In our oneness there is only peace. So, one way I can foster peace is by looking past all that insignificant stuff and seeing in you only what is real.

In the end, peace is a personal issue. I look around at all that is happening and I think that peace is beyond my grasp. So much of what I see suggests anything but peace. I have a problem, I solve the problem, and another problem pops up. The problems will always be here. If I intend to wait until they are all solved in order to experience peace, I can just save myself the disappointment and give up now. But I can have peace, not because I have solved my problems, but in spite of my problems. How I feel about what is happening in my life is up to me. If I feel anxious and frightened; if I have given my peace away, I can choose again. I can choose peace. You can choose peace. We can choose peace, you and I, regardless of what seems to be happening all around us.

To make this work, we have to decide that the peace of what God is what we want; that the peace of God is all we want. Once we make that decision, it is only a matter of practicing peace until the decision for peace has become so much a part of our consciousness that we choose it automatically in every circumstance. I choose peace. My decision in this area has been made, and I feel the support of Heaven in my decision. I know that peace is possible on a personal level, and as this choice spreads to other people, the way we see our world will change. Eventually, through the weight of many, many individual decisions for peace, our world will begin to mirror heaven rather than hell.

Now that I have chosen peace, how do I practice it? First, I understand that I strengthen what I support with my belief. So I am very careful what thoughts I entertain. If I feel a loss of peace, I know that my thoughts are about war, instead of peace. I try to follow my feelings to the thoughts that caused them and then to the beliefs that foster those thoughts. For instance, the other day I was reading the paper and came across something that President Bush said which caused me to feel angry. I stopped and asked the Holy Spirit to look with me at this. My anger signaled me that I had lost my peace. What caused it? What were the thoughts that triggered this loss?

I see that I was thinking I disagreed with what the President said. I thought he was making a mistake. I wondered if he cared about all the young men and women whos lives he was responsible for. I felt powerless to change what he says and does, and yet I will be very much affected by his actions. No wonder I had lost my peace. Unless I deliberately go through this process, I simply feel anger and loss of peace, but am unaware of the thoughts that brought these feelings on. OK, I see my thoughts pretty clearly. Now what? I ask the Holy Spirit to help me get to the belief behind the thoughts.

The Holy Spirit helped me to see that I was feeling so threatened because I believe that I am weak and vulnerable. The reason I feel like that is because I think I am on my own, that I chose this state by denying God His Fatherhood. I literally turned my back on God, and now think He is mad at me, and has left me to fend for myself. God created me like Himself, but now I have turned the tables (in my deluded mind, at least) and have created Him to be like myself. I have given Him an ego with which to be offended, and so see Him reacting in the same way I would react. I see God as leaving me weak and vulnerable, without the power He created me with, as punishment for my choices.

I am free to continue to believe this if I want. God will not force me to accept His Love. He will not force me to see things differently, to accept that His Love is unconditional. However, I can invite the Holy Spirit into my mind and ask that He heal my thoughts, and He will. That is His joy and His purpose. He will never fail to respond to the slightest welcoming on my part. My invitation to healing is celebrated in Heaven.

As the Holy Spirit heals my thoughts, I feel the peace of God envelope me like a warm blanket on a cold night. As my mind is soothed, I become aware that He invites me to see President Bush as God sees him. I am able to see Bush and his assistants as the children of God that they are. I see that they are doing the best that they can. I am grateful that I am not in their place, and that the hard decisions are not mine to make. Through this healing, I am able to back away from my self declared war, and to live my life in peace.

So, I have taught myself to be aware of my feelings. I have followed those feelings to my thoughts. I have looked with the Holy Spirit at some of the beliefs behind those thoughts. I have invited the Holy Spirit to heal my mind, and He, of course, has responded to my call. Does this mean that I am through? Does this mean that I will never have another unpeaceful moment? Well, maybe, but probably not. It will probably take some practice to make this state of mind permanent for me. No problem; I will have many opportunities to practice.

Another thing I have learned is, I cannot compartmentalize my beliefs. If I want peace in one part of my life, I cannot practice war in another part. If someone makes me angry in my day to day life, and I decide to make my anger real and justified, I will lose my peace. Here is the thing; I cannot lose my peace a little; I cannot lose my peace in part of my life and keep it in another. If I give up my peace at all, I am not in peace. So, when I committed to the idea of putting peace first, I did so with the realization that it was a total commitment. I choose peace in every situation.

This seemed overwhelming at first. I couldn?t imagine how I would do it. And by myself, I could not. But, I am not by myself. I have the help of Heaven. I have the help of the Holy Spirit. I am guided and I am strengthened and I am healed. All I have to do is remember to ask, and give all the willingness I can muster to my acceptance of the help offered.

When I heard that my daughter,Susan would not be with me for Christmas, I lost my peace. I felt so sad. I felt a lot of anxiety. I worried about how she would handle it. I wanted it to be someone?s fault so I could project these uncomfortable feelings outward and get the temporary illusion of being rid of them, but I couldn?t think who to blame. I reasoned with myself about this, telling myself that it is just another day, and that she made the mature choice to stay and work instead of giving into her feelings of homesickness. But nothing made me feel better. I was not a peace. I was in conflict. I was at war. I started to notice that I was feeling tired. These emotions were draining my energy. I was also losing interest in the Christmas season. I wasn?t offering blessings to others with my actions, often not even offering a smile, the simplest gift of all. I began to look at my work as a burden I wanted to just get through even though this is usually my favorite time of the year at work. I knew that I had given up my peace with Susan not coming home, and by giving up my peace in this one area of my life, loss of peace had spread through the rest of my life like a rampant virus, eating up my happiness.

I remembered my commitment to peace and so took all these feelings and these thoughts to God. He reminded me that I was equating Susan with her body which can, indeed, be separate from mine, but that she is not her body. In spirit we are one in God, and cannot be separate. In God there is no space and no time. Through the Holy Spirit, I began to experience my connection with Susan and to feel the same love I felt when I held her as tiny baby in my arms. That love cannot be lost and cannot be taken from me by distance.

I regained my peace, and that peace spread to the rest of my life and touched everyone in my life. Just as they could feel my unease even though they may not recognize it for what it was, they could now feel my peacefulness. Peacefulness is of God and so it is strong, and it is extended, from one to the next. We accept it into our lives, and this makes it available to others who come into our lives. Peacefulness is attractive. When we see it in someone else, we want it for ourselves. This is how we spread peace.

I have talked about how I have lost my peace over what politicians are saying and doing; over war with other countries, and because Susan couldn?t come home for Christmas. The temptation is to put these in order of importance. Going to war with another country seems far more important than Susan missing Christmas at home. But, to my peace of mind, one is just as important as another. This is because if I lose my peace, I?ve lost my peace. It doesn?t matter why I gave it up, it is gone. So, in that way, all things that I allow to disrupt my peace are the same, and have the same solution.

In order to regain my peace I only need to take the un-peaceful thought, whatever it is, to the Holy Spirit for healing. With the Holy Spirit?s help, I will change my mind. No thought is harder to change than any other. If it seems harder, it is only because I am choosing not to change my mind. I am choosing to hold onto the thought. Once I release my resistance to changing my mind, I can regain my peace. It is never any harder than this, and never any easier.

So, this is what I have learned about peace. If I want peace for my country, for my planet, I must first choose peace for myself. Peace is a personal choice. It is a matter of looking at my thoughts with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to heal all those thoughts that do not foster peace. It is about rejecting separation thoughts and choosing to see our oneness instead. My peace will be attractive to others and they will want it for themselves. This chain of peace will gather strength as more join it. The combined choice for personal peace will bring peace to our world. My responsibility is to choose peace for myself. With God?s help, I can do this.

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution in support of this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution or become a member online, go to http://www.pathwaysoflight.org/polshop/home.php?cat=254.
Or send a check or money order to Pathways of Light, 6 Oak Court, Ormond Beach, FL 32174-2623 (USD only, please) Thank you for your support.