“I want the peace of God.”
To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything.
If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no
further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time.
Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of
God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.
No-one can mean these words and not be healed. He cannot
play with dreams, nor think he is himself a dream. He cannot make a
hell and think it real. He wants the peace of God and it is given him.
For that is all he wants, and that is all he will receive. Many have said
these words. But few indeed have meant them. You have but to look
upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they
are. The world would be completely changed should any two agree
these words express the only thing they want.
Two minds with one intent become so strong that what they will
becomes the Will of God. For minds can only join in truth. In dreams,
no two can share the same intent. To each, the hero of the dream is
different; the outcome wanted not the same for both. Loser and
gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as the ratio of gain to
loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect of another form.
Yet compromise alone a dream can bring. Sometimes it takes
the form of union, but only the form. The meaning must escape the
dream, for compromising is the goal of dreaming. Minds cannot
unite in dreams. They merely bargain. And what bargain can give
them the peace of God? Illusions come to take His place. And what
He means is lost to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to his
gain and to another’s loss.
To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams.
For no-one means these words who wants illusions, and who
therefore seeks the means which bring illusions. He has looked on
them, and found them wanting. Now he seeks to go beyond them,
recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than all
the others. Dreams are one to him. And he has learned their only
difference is one of form, for one will bring the same despair and
misery as do the rest.
The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with
other minds, for that is how peace is obtained. And when the wish for
peace is genuine, the means for finding it is given in a form each mind
which seeks for it in honesty can understand. Whatever form the
lesson takes is planned for him in such a way that he can not mistake it
if his asking is sincere. And if he asks without sincerity, there is no form
in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and be truly learned.
Let us today devote our practicing to recognizing that we really
mean the words we say. We want the peace of God. This is no idle
wish. These words do not request another dream be given us. They
do not ask for compromise, nor try to make another bargain in the
hope that there may yet be one which can succeed where all the rest
have failed. To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain,
requesting the eternal in the place of shifting dreams which seem to
change in what they offer, but are one in nothingness.
Today devote your practice periods to careful searching of your
mind, to find the dreams you cherish still. What do you ask for in
your heart? Forget the words you use in making your requests.
Consider but what you believe will comfort you and bring you
happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their
form is not what matters now. Let not some dreams be more
acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for others. They are one.
And being one, one question should be asked of all of them; “Is
this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of God?”
This is the choice you make. Be not deceived that it is otherwise. No
compromise is possible in this. You choose God’s peace or you have
asked for dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them. Yet
will God’s peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you
forever. It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road,
to reappear unrecognized in forms which shift and change with
every step you take.
You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for
dreams. For them as well as for yourself you ask but this when you
make this request with deep sincerity. For thus you reach to what
they really want, and join your own intent with what they seek
above all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure to you. You have
been weak at times, uncertain in your purpose, and unsure of what
you wanted, where to look for it, and where to turn for help in the
attempt. Help has been given you. And would you not avail yourself
of it by sharing it?
No-one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. For
he merely asks that he deceive himself no longer by denying to
himself what is God’s Will. Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for
what he has already? Who could be unanswered who requests an
answer which is his to give? The peace of God is yours.
For you it was created, given you by its Creator, and established
as His Own eternal gift. How can you fail when you but ask for what
He wills for you? And how could your request be limited to you
alone? No gift of God can be unshared. It is this attribute that sets the
gifts of God apart from every dream that ever seemed to take the
place of truth.
No-one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift of
God has been requested and received by anyone. God gives but to
unite. To take away is meaningless to Him. And when it is as
meaningless to you, you can be sure you share One Will with Him,
and He with you. And you will also know you share One Will with
all your brothers, whose intent is yours.
It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the
need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond
despair, the love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has
sought to sever, but which still remains as God created it. With help
like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God
be given us?
Britney Shawley added:
I want the peace of God.
To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything. If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time. Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.
The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds, for that is how peace is obtained.