There are times in life when the road ahead feels steep, and the weight of our worries makes it hard to move. In those moments, it’s easy to wait for God to fix everything for us — but faith is not about standing still. It’s about trusting that when we take that first step, no matter how small, God will walk beside us and give us the strength to keep going.
 
A while ago, I had a serious fall that shattered my confidence in walking. Fear kept me trapped; whenever I went out, panic would freeze me in place. I prayed, “Lord, please take away my fear.” At first, nothing changed. Then someone gave me a walker — and slowly, step by step, I began to go out again. The fear eased, my confidence grew, and now I can travel anywhere I want.
 
Like a parent steadying a child’s first steps, God doesn’t move our feet for us — but is always there to catch us if we stumble. The courage to begin opens the door for God’s power to work through us.
 
So, like me, take that first move, however unsure it feels. You don’t have to have it all figured out — just trust that each step you take in faith is matched by the steady, loving support of the One who never let’s go.
 
Angus Irons
Unity member

 
As the days grow shorter, as yellow and orange burst forth, nature is showing us it is time to let go. The brittle leaves fall away revealing space between the branches. Creating openness. Creating potential. Showing us what truly matters. 
 
I honour the path that has got me this far.  
 
I rest in this moment of changing seasons. 
 
To help me attune with this energy. I shake the tree. Stripping back what is no longer needed. The dead weight. The stories I have told myself. The boundaries and walls I erect to protect me from pain. Like the leaves, gently, gracefully descending. I release my old patterns of behaviour and softly lay them down. Thankful for their service. Resting in the knowledge that all energy cycles around. That the dropped leaves will mulch down and become food and compost for other living things. That by releasing – I AM transforming! I listen for the leaves. When I hear that rustle. I release, rest and renew. Stepping forward into winter a little lighter, a little brighter.  
 
What are you being invited to release and let go of, to rest and renew yourself? The answer lies in your heart and soul. Ask, listen, wait, and you will know. 
 
Stefanie Bridges
Unity administrator

As I sit to write these words, I find myself juggling 101 things (I am sometimes prone to exaggeration!) as Paul and I are preparing to travel to South Africa for a 3-week holiday.
 
Do you ever find yourself juggling lots of different things? How do you cope? What do you do to support yourself through busy days?
 
My go to is nature – it feeds my soul, helps me slow down and reconnect with life outside the turmoil. This autumn I have been really drawn to trees – the colours have been amazing. And the natural calmness, strength and steadfastness I get from them reminds me to reconnect with the same energy in me.
 
Sometimes I need to get frustration out of my system – not at someone but just out of me. So much to do and so little time! When I have released this energy, I then remember to breathe, and reconnect with the stillness that is within me.
 
I experience the support from loved ones and colleagues around me, who are not seeking to change me but accept me as who I am – this is profound.
 
So again, when you get super busy, as can happen at this time of year, check in with yourself – what are you doing to support yourself to find the still, calm, voice within? Even a few seconds really help.
 
Then, as we prepare for Advent and the Christmas season, we can find calm in the midst of chaos. And know, whatever is happening, God and I are one.
Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft
Director of Silent Unity and Daily word UK

​

“The kingdom of God is within you.” — Luke 17:21
 
My spiritual path did not begin in the glow of ecstasy or the comfort of certainty, but in absence—in a sacred emptiness carved into my being by the missing embrace of maternal tenderness and the silent absence of a father’s guidance. It was an ache that offered no immediate resolution, but in time revealed itself as what I have come to call a therapeutic emptiness—a space hollowed out, not to punish, but to prepare. This void became my Gethsemane, where sorrow and longing gave birth to surrender.
 
Strangely, amid the lack, love endured. I still loved them dearly—those who had been unable to give what I needed. This paradox—that love could exist in the soil of unmet need—became the seed of a deeper spiritual awareness. It was in that hollowness, like the psalmist “broken and contrite” (Psalm 51:17), that I discovered something profound: prayer does not begin in fullness. It begins in the fissures of the human spirit, where the soul is cracked open just enough to receive something greater than itself.
 
Unity teachings offered me a language for this: “Prayer begins in life’s cracks—where we’re broken open enough to invite the Divine.” And into those cracks came a whisper, subtle yet unmistakable: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). This was not theology—it was visitation. The voice did not come from the heavens above but from the stillness within. It was not distant comfort; it was Presence announcing itself.
 
For many years, I sought the Divine through outward devotion. My spiritual longing found expression in the Radha Soami and Eckankar traditions, where devotion was focused on a Living Spiritual Master—an external embodiment of divine wisdom and love. I bowed to those radiant suns, believing that enlightenment came through proximity to them. Yet even in those years, something inside me asked: Where is the Divine in me?
 
The turning came slowly but definitively. Unity teachings shattered the glass of separation. Scripture declared, “You are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16), and this was no longer metaphor. It was revolution. Prayer transformed from petition to partnership. The Divine was not merely “out there” in a guru or master, but alive within, waiting to be recognized and invoked.
 
Where once I inhaled deeply to reach a spiritual figure beyond myself, now each breath became an act of communion with the Christ within. The silence, once feared as a void, revealed itself to be womblike—what Meister Eckhart called the “virgin ground”—a sacred interiority where the I AM presence begins to take form.
 
Now, I tend my inner Eden: I prune the weeds of inherited lack, sow constellations of “I AM,” and walk in the garden of Spirit as both created and co-creator. In this sacred remembrance, we do not find God—we awaken to the truth that has never ceased:
​
“The Father and I are one.” — John 10:30
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” — Romans 8:16
 
And so, the journey continues—not toward, but within. Breath by sacred breath, from the cracks into wholeness.
 
Alexandre Attipoe
Unity student, Ghana

One of my beautiful experiences in Unity is the awareness that so many people care about helping others through prayer. An action that comes not from fear, but love.
 
Sometimes, we use prayer as a last resort – once we have done everything we can, and it has not worked, we then turn to God in prayer. We have forgotten that in Unity, our first step is to pray, from a sense of faith and love. Then we act.
 
When it comes to world peace, we may think, what can I do to impact this? Just me, in my corner of the world … What we can do, first and last is pray, knowing we are not alone. Further, when many hearts and minds come together in prayer, from the experience of Oneness with each other and with God as our Source of peace, we feel different and potentially, lives are changed.
 
We experience this each year in September when we hold Unity’s World Day of Prayer, Now I write, sharing about an organisation who, annually, pray for a week for World Peace, this year running from 12-19 October.
 
Instead of our hearts feeling heavy or troubled by the news, we can know that many people around the world are holding others in prayers of peace and following through with good deeds and acts of loving kindness.
 
This week I encourage you to hold a vision of our world in peace, knowing that you are not alone. Every positive thought, prayer and action adds to a world consciousness of peace. We make a difference together.
 
Rev Kimerie Mapletoft
Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word, UK

​Recently, I have been leading some classes on The Christ. In the New Testament, the Greek word ‘Christus’ is used meaning ‘anointed’. In the Hebrew scriptures the term ‘Messiah’ is used which also means anointed so, they both mean the same thing. The Jews, at the time of Jesus, had various expectations of what their ‘anointed’ one would be, ranging from a warrior king (like David) to a supernatural cosmic judge to a priestly ruler who would interpret the Law (of Moses) for them. They didn’t anticipate someone who would suffer and die for his people.
 
Of course, in the New Testament (NT), this is what they got: Jesus of Nazareth as the anointed son of God. Thus, in the NT, the word ‘Christ’ tends to refer to a title, commonly synonymous with Jesus.
 
The common theme is that the terms both describe someone who would come and save the people hence, why Christianity tends to worship Jesus. Unity’s perspective is somewhat different.
 
In Unity, we use the term the Christ to refer to ‘the incarnating principle’ or the Presence that is within each of us, with Jesus as the historical figure who best demonstrated His oneness with that Presence. Hence why we refer to Him as our ‘way-shower’ – the person that we can each aspire to be like and find the oneness within ourselves. We use the term ‘Jesus Christ’ to refer to the individual who understood his Divine Potential. The Truth is that we each have the ‘Jesus Christ’ presence within, when we each demonstrate our own Divine Potential.
 
So, for me Jesus Christ is my elder brother, teacher and way-shower that shows me that I, too, have the ability to manifest my own Christ Potential – even if I have trouble remembering that!!
 
This week I invite you to reflect on your Christ Potential and remember the lessons that our way shower taught us: love one another and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That way we can each demonstrate the Truth of who we are.
 
Rev Paul Mapletoft
Unity Minister

​
October – traditionally a time of celebrating the harvest and the abundance of food from the land. A glorious time, when we acknowledge God as the source of all our good. 

This year, you may have noticed that there is an abundance of fruits and nuts in the hedgerows.

​Everywhere I walk I see apples and acorns on the ground, blackberries in the bushes. The term given to this abundance of food is MAST. It happens when the bushes and trees produce more food than the wildlife can eat.
Interestingly, this is most obvious after a year of struggle. Because of the severe lack of rain this year, it put the trees and shrubs under pressure. With the threat of extinction, they over-produced food to ensure their ongoing species survival. Why is this relevant to me, you may ask? Here are my thoughts …

When life is hard for us, we may struggle to cope or understand why this is happening. We may pray that the problem ceases as we do not want to struggle or have a hard life. Yet it is often through our challenges that we grow. We are called to dive deeper into our self – to seek out that which we recognise we need to let go of (old ideas and beliefs) and connect with that within us that is good and true: The God-principle, the inner Christ-energy potential, that we often take for granted and only call upon when life is hard.

Can you relate to that? Can you think of a time when you struggled with something, yet looking back now, can see that the situation helped you grow in understanding of who are you and how God in you, came through? If life was always easy, we would not experience these times of growth and indeed richness of living.

This is what Jesus, as our way-shower in Unity, came to show us. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) This in the story of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. When we keep Jesus, who lived his Christ potential so radiantly, as the example for us to follow; as we place God first in our minds and hearts, with us always; as we shepherd our own thoughts, this abundant life can be ours.

So, let us be grateful for the abundance of our harvest this year. And let us also know that when we are challenged to grow – it is simply that. Time to let go of outdated beliefs and take a step upward and inward. Time to build our faith and know that God is with us, with you, always. From this deepening awareness, our abundance flows.
 
Rev Kimerie Mapletoft
Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK

I love this Unity community because my personal spiritual fulfilment thrives on developing my own relationship with the unfolding of the universe. With Unity practises, I don’t need an intermediary.
Whatever “archetypal energy” you work with, the activity we call God, it is inherently good. It is love. It is access to existing in the world without living through our human wounds. Helping me stop, not to react through my neurosis, but to instead respond to life, through grace, through forgiveness, through love.


​The mind may try to keep us safe, keep us connected with the constant stream of new information and energy… but the breath, the breath connects us with the sacred.
The ineffable. With the eternal and ancient presence that resides in all things.
Who are you in the moments when you sit still and exhale?
Once you stop ‘doing’ and just listen.
What are you here to do?
Who are you here to be?
Forget what society expects.
Forget what you "should" be doing.
Forget placating relationships that force you to make yourself small.
EVERYONE has their gift!
Leader, Listener, Healer, Helper.
Empath, Inspirer, Activist, Realist.
We are all here to create something.
Don’t let society tell you it’s just a big bank account that counts.
What you leave matters. The love you give matters. The conversations you have matter. The boundaries you push to make it better for the next generation. They matter too.
Know that your life matters. Your every breath matters. What you do matters. Listen and honour the voice that resides within.
What does it say in the silence? And are you listening?
 
Stefanie bridges
Unity Finance administrator

​As I write this message, it is with great joy and gratitude in my heart for everyone who took part in our World Day of Prayer, either in person at our Taplow building, or online. Thank you.
 
When people come together, in affirmative prayer and stillness, honouring the divine presence, there is a huge shift in us and how we experience our world.
 
By being still together, in faith and prayer, we felt that connection yesterday. I still feel it today.
 
It is wonderful that our Daily Word readings, and our ‘Mornings with Myrtle’ readings, have combined to enhance this experience.
 
Yesterday, as we spent time in the stillness, to know God with us and as us; as peace, life, love, wisdom, goodness without opposite, it was enhanced by Myrtle’s message of God’s qualities and A Prayer of Oneness, written by Rev David Adams.
 
Instead of focusing on everything that seems to be wrong with the world, we are encouraged to get still; centre ourselves in God’s presence and open our hearts to the divine within us all. Instead of worrying and blaming, there is a powerful healing shift in us. In this moment, we know that we are all so much more than our humanity, our mistakes and the ‘separated self’ experience.
 
In quietness we can experience our divinity. And when we focus on God as divine in and through all of us, we see the world differently; we are changed.
 
This was the message throughout our World Day of Prayer. And today, Friday 12th, the Daily Word focus is joy – for what else can we feel but joy after the day we just experienced. And our message from ‘Mornings with Myrtle’ booklet – a message of grace – how powerful indeed.
 
It is our work to keep up our practices of affirmative prayer, stillness, inner reflection and connection. It has been, and continues to be, my work. For I know that the work of being changed happens through us – we don’t do it – we cannot change ourselves. We can be open to being changed, through grace and our divinity. In the stillness.
 
Rev Kimerie Mapletoft
Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK