‘And God said, “Let there be light and there was light. God said the light was good.”’
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus tells his disciples, ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’ How many times are we actually encouraged to find the light of God already here within us? Moreover, not as a separate identity, not as a raisin is in a bun, as Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth wrote, but as the wave is of the ocean – one with God as our Source and Being. This is where I simply love Unity. For we are encouraged to discover and reveal our divine light, power, love and life that is the activity of God, waiting to find perfect expression within and as us. It is the gift given unconditionally to us all. It is the divine flow, waiting to be engaged, so that our united good can emerge. Thus, our practice becomes looking for and seeing the light within ourselves and each other; no matter how someone is expressing themselves. The Gospel of Matthew reminds us that when we seek, we find – when done sincerely of course! The important message is that we find and reveal our light together. For no matter how much we try, we are not supposed do this alone. Jesus had 12 disciples for a reason. When life is difficult or challenging, we help, support and encourage each other. We pray with each other. When life goes well, we celebrate with each other. In my current role as Chair of the Association of Unity leaders and ministries UK, I witness the many ways that our Unity leaders, in the UK and overseas, encourage everyone to shine their light, as well as come together to support each other as members of our Unity UK association. In my role as Director of Daily Word and our prayer ministry, Silent Unity UK, I witness the good reports and feedback we get from our readers and callers, about how much these services support and enrich lives. Recently I facilitated a 10-hour course on metaphysics. We had 11 students from eight different countries. Anywhere else, I may have wondered how we might get on. Would we even understand each other? However, in Unity, there was no doubt. For we all wanted the same thing – a real and personal experience of God to help us live a transformed life. That united desire and intention brought us together to listen, learn and reveal the light that we are – the light within us all. Together, let us pray, celebrate and shine our light. For as we do, our light becomes brighter and clearer. Together, we experience our good.
1 Comment
We recently successfully and I must say, joyfully completed a Unity study course on metaphysics, with eleven students joining from seven different countries and backgrounds, including Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. One might think that with all these different cultures, upbringing and languages, there may have been a problem connecting and understanding each other. Let alone agreeing with each other! However, what became inherently clear was that we all wanted the same thing: we were seeking God as a real and personal experience to help us live a transformed life. Charles Fillmore, Unity co-founder, said that everyone is looking for God. If we take the word ‘God’ out of the sentence and insert goodness, love, wisdom, joy, fulfilment, peace, which are the ways in which we experience God in our midst, we would probably all agree. For inherently we are all the same – we all want to have loving relationships, fulfilling lives, live in freedom not fear, live with abundance instead of poverty, live in harmony with nature and life around us. When we can understand that God as Presence or Pure Awareness is constant, unchanging, available to everyone all the time to connect us with our true abiding selves and therefore our good, as we explained in our metaphysics class, we find we are united. We are all the same. We are all one within the One. Let us find our common ground. Let us seek to connect with each other and see the similarities not the perceived differences. Together, we experience our good. Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft, Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK PS Please forward on this email to those you think may receive it. 
However, in life how often do you find yourself pushing for something that really does not want to happen? We may have ideas about what another person would do well to know or do. Or we may be so focused on a particular goal, that we miss what is actually right in front of us and potentially better for us. I have found that, instead of pushing for something to happen, or pushing someone to do something I want them to do, I allow God as light, wisdom and love, to work through me and those around me, so our good naturally unfolds. Yes, I plan and put things into action, but then I let go and let the God-energy move through the whole experience. This way, the right people show up, at the right time and in the right way. Recently we had to postpone our Summer Service get-together at Maidenhead, due to the weather. Several people have since told me that this is better for them anyway. For our forthcoming August retreat, I have requested more rooms. In both cases, I organise, let go and know that the flow of divine order, as highest good, is working through us all. It is so much easier! I invite you to allow the good to flow – let God be God through you – guiding you from within to the next step or decision. Less pulling or pushing and more allowing. You will find you have more energy to actually do what you want to do. Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft, Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK PS Please share this post to those you think may receive it. Click on the facebook or twitter links media below. Thank you
The Silence is often thought to be the most important subject Unity teaches. The fundamental starting point in our journey of awakening.
It is a practice within meditation and an experience of No Mind. For it takes us beyond the monkey mind, (thoughts jumping, mind never still, distracted by the world) to the deep residing experience of Oneness - One Mind, One Heart, One Being, where there is only stillness and deep abiding Awareness. It is here, in the Silence, that we come to know our Oneness with All That Is; our True Self, our Christ Nature. And it is out of the Silence that all true inspiration, realisation and knowing comes forth. It is from this experience that Jesus was able to say,"The father and I are one." (John 10:30) along with all the other 'I am' statements that declared the Truth of his being - and ours! We don't search for this experience, but gently invite the mind to stillness, using the repeated use of one word or sound, like Love, Peace, Shalom. Abba, Om, to help the mind move naturally beyond the word and the monkey mind, to stillness and deep abiding Presence. This is the most important journey we can ever make - the journey within. Take time each day, to practice going into the Silence and experiencing the wisdom, love, joy and peace that is the result. Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft, Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK PS Please share this post with those you think may receive it.
Our True self, our Christ nature is beautiful, still, whole and free, unencumbered by this world - yet all we seem to do as human beings is get caught up in the world, thinking we have to find solutions and fix everything. This is especially so when we are struggling. Yet this is the time, perhaps more than any other, when it is important to "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). When we can learn to be present to our human self (the suffering and the beauty that we experience) we can be present to our True self, for the One comes through our human experiences. Being present to our suffering does not sound logical. But as we give ourselves permission to simply be present to our self, whatever we are experiencing, we find we can be present to our Self - for this is our true nature, the ground of Being - the experience of God living in, through and as us. Give yourself permission to rest in Being (where 'The Father and I are one' John 10:30). Let prayer, meditation, mindfulness, nature, be the tools to help your mind be still. For here, all the good, all the love, all the wisdom, all the comfort and peace we need, is found. Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft, Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK |
