Prayer for a Peaceful World

Last month, I shared that I had joined a gym to get physically fit. I’m pleased to report that I’ve been going regularly and I’m starting to see the benefit: improved muscle tone, increased endurance, and better stamina. And, to my surprise and delight, I look forward to going to the fitness center and working out.

What I had not shared at the time was this was not the only aspect of my life I’ve been trying to improve. I want to be calmer and more optimistic instead of worried and anxious. Increasingly, I find the news troubling, even discouraging. I spend too much time doomscrolling on my phone. And I have been letting it erode my well-being. Like many people, I have been feeling the need for greater peace and a deeper sense of connection. Also, like many people, I’m not immune to the world around me.

I had an a-ha! moment recently as I remembered a passage from one of my favorite Unity books, Lessons in Truth by H. Emilie Cady. In it, she wrote, “[Jesus], who is our noblest type of perfect life, went daily apart from the world only that he might come again into it with renewed spiritual power. So we go apart into the stillness of divine presence that we may come forth into the world of everyday life with new inspiration and increased courage and power for activity and for overcoming.”

And suddenly I knew what I had to do. Just like I had realized years ago that getting regular exercise was a good thing, I could not reap the benefits until I started doing it.

I’ll come clean. I’ve gotten a little lazy with my spiritual practice. So many other things demand my attention and energy that prayer and meditation get squeezed out. I haven’t been prioritizing either one, and I’m paying a price for it, namely sacrificing my peace.

Understanding vs. Doing

Maybe you’re like me. Wishing you had more time. Knowing that regular meditation would calm and uplift you, better equipping you to be in the world. Feeling a bit of self-reproach for falling short.

I reminded myself of what we in Unity refer to as the Fifth Principle: It is not enough to understand spiritual teachings. We must apply our learning in all areas of life, incorporating them into our thoughts, words, and actions.

I learned about that when I became a regular gym-goer, and I had the sore muscles to prove it. And I didn’t feel a real benefit after I had gone a few times. But now that I’ve been at it for several weeks, I feel different in my body. I fully expect to feel this same kind of difference recommitting to a daily prayer and meditation practice. Specifically, I expect to feel calmer, more connected, and less affected by the state of the world.

That truth applies to all of us. The irony is that the less affected we are by the world, the more effective we will be in it. This is what Cady meant by renewed spiritual power. This power is the origin of every divine attribute we can use to create conditions for peace. It is how compassion, kindness, and decency grow in consciousness and inform our words and actions.

When we commit to regular prayer and meditation, we’ll be able to mindfully direct our attention and condition our thinking. We will no longer need to pray for peace because we will be peaceful. Indeed, the peace we have been seeking will flow naturally from us, and before long the harmonious world we have created within us will be the peaceful world we find around us.

This was a Daily Word editor’s letter. To subscribe to Daily Word, please visit https://shop.unityonline.org/subscribe.