 New Years resolutions. Lenten fasting for penance. Never really resonated with me.
Unity has helped me form a new perspective. The weeks of Lent are not a call to refrain from something I like. They are a sacred opportunity to purify and release. To shed away what no longer serves and experience what miracles can happen when I clear away what has been holding me back!
A moment to re-align with the true source of all life. To see myself not just as physical being but as perfect energy. In me, spirit is always present. In every moment I have the chance to be reborn. In every breath there is new life. What can you release? What are you ready to let go of? What are you going to do with this sacred opportunity, to help you be the beautiful, radiant, loving being you came here to be. Stefanie Bridges Unity finance administrator
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 Currently, we in Silent Unity UK, are holding a prayer vigil of peace, every weekday,
from 12-12.30pm, on Zoom. It seems the most powerful and positive action we can take, as a prayer ministry, at this time. As part of our midday service recently, I spoke some of the words from the Peace Song, often sung in Unity: Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be … As we took these words into the shared silence together (and bless all of you who show up at midday with us to hold our vigil of peace) I had a further nudge … I let there be peace on earth and I let it begin with me. We are to be pro-active in peace and as peace. This is not about some far-off place or another person. It is an energy in me that desires to be lived and released. I am part of the peace process or movement. I let peace begin with me. I am, you are, we are, the solution of peace. Wherever we all are, we can confidently and courageously let peace begin with us. I choose to live as peace, express as peace, so I can see peace, in the world. My invitation to us all is that we show up as peace. We let peace begin with us. How does peace show up as you? Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK I've never replied to unity Maidenhead before but I just loved what was being discussed in the thought for the week and you asked how does someone experience God and I loved that question. So my answer is this.....
For some context I've pretty new to faith. My world as I knew it crashed into a million pieces and I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do but knew who I was before was gone there was no going back. I turned to Jesus with open hands reluctantly but I didn't know what else to do. I had used up my will and I was lost. I've never known anyone to come down, save me and be with me and comfort me like this. I've never known light and love like Jesus and most of this happened on my own in my bedroom on the floor balling my eyes out! If it hadnt, I wouldn't have known of God's love I wouldn't have known that if we are willing to step past ourselves and to seek we will be bought in to the love of Christ. There is nothing higher than that, it is life itself. How God expresses himself has just been a continuation of light and love that he showed me in those first encounters. I can see there was a lead up to that, I see where he was throughout my life and I had to break, I had to surrender to let God in. I experience God by seeing the light in others as long as I'm not in my head which is ongoing. I can see the absolute beauty in every human that I meet every living being. It radiates from me I can feel this rush that comes from my body and it goes out like radiation to other people around. I get to see the parts that people are hiding from God their 'sin' as it's were. However I see it as the defenses that they learn when they didn't feel safe in this world generally from a young child. I see the light I see the shades I see the parts that they are trying to shut away I see it all because God has started to show me all those parts in me. I get to experience god through singing and praising him with other people and seeing the walls fall down in those moments it might be brief but in those moments everyone is with God and my days is it a sight to see! I believed from young age that being me wasn't okay, I came to god with my hands open as I said broken saying 'God don't you wish I was different, better, don't you wish I have more money do you wish my life was sust don't you see how broken I am' and what I heard back every single time I said that was I love you for who you are as you are....I love you for who you are as you are on repeat. This broke through those walls that I'd been holding onto for protection which had actually kept me away from feeling real love, love from God from others and from myself. Due to this God has given me a heart for others and also to make a relationship with Jesus more accessible. I never knew church life I wasn't bought up with any of the language that I'm now getting used to and all I can do is continue to turn to Jesus as a child and say what do you want me to learn today? what do you want me to know? I also say please give me a minute let me get out the way so you can shine. God isn't a distant being far away just the opposite. If you make yourself available, are you willing to put aside everything you thought you knew about the world and how you thought the world had to be to be safe. You actually see God's glory in all its multicolors. I didn't know what I was signing up for at all but I wouldn't change a thing and I continue to ask God to show me the path that he has for me and continue to help me to step aside and to work with him, alongside him and to continue to share his love with people that are struggling. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this and to see God's absolute Glory  Love is an experience, a movement of energy that needs to flow – to be given and received. It is the universal energy that connects all things. It is expansive, creative, encouraging, generous. It is also nurturing, comforting, compassionate, tender.
To fully respond as love in the world, we must first give and receive love with ourselves – our inner child, the conflicted teenager, the responsible parent, who we are now. As we learn to embrace every aspect of ourselves, we discover we can embrace the world. This embrace is both masculine (expansive) and feminine (nurturing). In the UK, Mother’s Day is 15th March. A day when we give thanks to all those who nurtured us, comforted us when we fell and hurt ourselves, listened to us when we were upset. Is there someone in your life, and not necessarily your mother, who gave you this motherly love, who you want to remember and thank? Take a moment today to do that. Take a moment to love them back and prepare to let them know how much you are grateful for them and the love they shared. Even if it was not always perfect, they were there for you. Draw them a card, send them some words, let them know on Mother’s Day how grateful you are. For as you give your love to them, you will feel and receive it in return. Have they passed on? Send them a beautiful, loving blessing of appreciation from your heart to their spirit – they will receive it. If you did not receive this nurturing love growing up, how can you give it to yourself now? Can you give yourself a hug, write yourself some loving words of appreciation and tenderness. We all have the quality of motherly love within us. Remember to give it to yourself today. Mother Love Just £2.95, including P&P Would you like to give your special person this booklet for Mother's Day? The articles express beautifully how mother love blessed the authors, to reflect your love and gratitude for the special people in your life. We have a limited number of booklets in our shop and would love to share them with you and those you love. Click here to order. Mother Love Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK  With all that is happening in the world, do you ever find yourself wanting to fix everything? You may have the thought that certain people need to change, or act differently, for the world to be right! When you pray, are you giving God a list of things or people that need to be changed for you to be happy? How is this working for you? It leaves me continuing to feel only lack and still seeing problems. This is not a place I want to be.
This response is very human and one, very often, we are not aware we are doing. We may do it to feel safe and secure, to feel loved – two very basic human needs. Yet, when it doesn’t work out the way we want, we blame God, ourselves and each other. It reminds me of when I was a teenager, overrun with hormones, storming upstairs and slamming my bedroom door, because my needs were not met. Sorry, mum and dad! Lent offers us the time and space to let go of the need/want demand; to let go of responses that keep us stuck in need and learn to live in a new way. To recognise that any changes we want to see, begin in us. This is not easy for our ego-led mind to understand. Yet real transformation can only be within us. Instead of demanding change, we can ask to see the world differently and to respond in a new way. We can do this because, as we say in Unity, we are divine beings having human experiences. When we put our focus on God within, through and as us, as Jesus did and say, “I am a divine being, one with all that God is. You are a divine being, one with all that God is”, we are living from our divinity, powerfully enabled to experience transformation from within and align with all that is God as good without opposite. In the Gospels, Jesus represents our divine nature that knows its oneness with God and expresses as the Christ energy. The Pharisees and Sadducees represent out ego-led thoughts, which are all about what we need and want. Jesus did not demand they change (though he did get frustrated at times) but offered the opportunity, through stories and parables, to see the world in a new way. Instead of demanding our needs be met, we can align with the creative energy that is God active in us and in our world. We can release what no longer serves us, including the thought that our needs must be met, and respond from our True nature; our divinity. Now, we are changed, we see the world differently and our world experience changes. Now we can show up in the world in dynamic, creative, positive ways that bring about change which blesses everyone. How do you want to experience Lent? Can this season be one of transformation that deeply changes how you show up in the world? This is the invitation offered to you to make your own. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
I wonder if, when reading this, Charles Fillmore, Unity co-founder, came to the understanding that God is Mind, and from this created the Unity version of the trinity: Mind, Idea, Expression I will admit I have never fully engaged with God as Mind. These days, I tend to say God is Divine Mind and Divine Heart, which opens me into the expression of Love, which is how I experience God, in all Love’s many forms. However, I have begun reading theologian Matthew Fox’s book, Original Blessing. Here, he writes that the use of ‘Word’ in John 1:1 is not a full description of what was originally written as, ‘Dabhar’. He writes that a more full and rich translation is: Creative Energy. This for me, is dynamic, has life, flow, power, movement. It works. Thus John 1:1 becomes, In the beginning was the Creative Energy The Creative Energy was with God And the Creative Energy was God. For me, the Trinity becomes, Creative Energy, Expression, Expansion We are here to live, in our own unique ways, the creative energy that is God expressing through us, to expand us into greater versions of ourselves and to share this radiant, powerful, expression in our world. Why else would I be here, or you? I invite you to check into your heart and mind, to reveal how you understand the energy that is God. How do you experience God? I would love to read how God expresses through you and as you. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK  Sitting in meditation this morning, (Friday 13 Feb) with our wonderful Daily Word family, the thought that ‘no man is an island’ came to mind and heart.
It was very quickly followed by, no man, woman, non-binary, or however we describe ourselves, is an island. All of us are connected to each other, to all of life. Take a moment, not just to read these words, but allow them to be true for you. Breathe in fully and know, ‘I am not alone. I am loved. I am love.’ Breathe out and let that love flow. When we meet in person, and in our online Zoom meetings, whether they are for prayer, meditation, conversation or study, we deeply feel that connection with each other, which comes through our connection with Source, God, Divine Mind and Heart. For me, it is a beautiful and deep feeling of love; this is what I felt this morning. Feeling safe, feeling loved, belonging, is a primal human need that can only be truly fulfilled through our connection with Source, which manifests through our shared connection. The more we meet and spend time together, without prejudice, but with open minds and hearts, the more the love that we truly are, grows. We are born as love – every other feeling is learnt behaviour, and what has been learned, can be unlearned and released. Let us come back to love. Let us meet without prejudice but with open minds and hearts, and see what happens. Only good can come from this – for ourselves, each other and our world. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK  In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the five elements—Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether—are the sacred building blocks of life, shaping our physical health, emotional balance, and spiritual vitality. Since ancient times, they have been honoured as expressions of the life force, reflecting our inner world and guiding us back into harmony.
In Ayurveda, these elements form the foundation of healing through the three doshas—Vata (air and space), Pitta (fire and water) and Kapha (earth and water) —supporting balance of body, mind, and spirit. Likewise, Traditional Chinese Medicine works with the Five Elements to restore harmony within the body through energetic healing and herbal wisdom. Spiritually, the elements mirror our lived experience: Air governs breath and mind, Fire brings transformation, Water carries emotion and intuition, and Earth offers grounding and stability. Beyond them lies Ether—the subtle divine essence, the field of consciousness from which all arises. Through stillness, meditation, and presence, we reconnect with Ether and awaken the divinity within. Working with the elements helps us recognise what we need—more fire for direction, more air for clarity, more earth for steadiness, more water for emotional flow. This invites us into deeper alignment and peace. Through stillness, meditation, and mindful presence, we reconnect with Ether and the divinity within. As Psalm 46:10 reminds us: “Be still and know that I am God.” In stillness, the storms within us quieten, and we return to unity with the Divine. Winniefred Carneiro Unity South London  Trusting God often sounds simple, but living it can feel anything but. At the heart of our struggle is fear — not fear of God, but fear of letting go. We hold tightly to what we know, even when it weighs us down, because at least it feels familiar. Control gives us the illusion of safety. Letting go asks something deeper of us. It asks us to loosen our grip on outcomes, explanations, and timelines. And that can be frightening. We worry: What if I fall? What if nothing catches me? What if God doesn’t show up the way I hope? But here is the quiet truth: letting go is not giving up — it is leaning in. When we “let go and let God,” we are not stepping into emptiness; we are stepping into trust. We are choosing to believe that we are held, even when we can’t see the hands holding us. Faith is not the absence of fear; it is the decision to move forward with fear, trusting that God walks with us through it. Often, God waits patiently while we cling. Not because He withholds help, but because love never forces release. And when we finally loosen our grasp — even just a little — we discover something surprising: peace begins to flow where tension once lived. Trust grows slowly. It starts with small surrenders:
Over time, we learn that God is faithful — not always in the ways we expect, but always in the ways we need. So if today you feel afraid to let go, be gentle with yourself. God is not asking for perfection, only openness. Even a trembling hand can still release — and when it does, it often finds rest. Let go. Let God. You are not alone. 🌿 Angus Irons Unity Student
Over time, we learn that God is faithful — not always in the ways we expect, but always in the ways we need. So if today you feel afraid to let go, be gentle with yourself. God is not asking for perfection, only openness. Even a trembling hand can still release — and when it does, it often finds rest. Let go. Let God. You are not alone. 🌿 Angus Irons Unity Student Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, our Unity co-founders, often spoke of faith as being the most important power we have to build a conscious awareness of the Divine within us. Without any doubt, if we do not have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, in our oneness within the God-energy, as a life-force that is greater than us yet which we abide within, then nothing of any meaning changes in our lives. Jesus epitomised this for me. His faith, even in the midst of his trials and challenges, saw him through. He could say, with faith, “I and the Father I are one.” John 10:30. My focus, therefore, is to continue to practice my faith in this oneness, especially when the world challenges me. This takes strength. As I reflect on my life, I recognise the power of strength that has supported me through my Unity years of service and practice. It takes strength of mind and heart to show up every day, even when we do not feel like it. It takes perseverance, patience and commitment, to do our practices of prayer, meditation and silence. It takes strength to stop the blame/shame game our minds get drawn into. However, when we do, we know at the depth of our being that we are all beloved of God, no matter what mistakes we or others make. It takes strength of mind and heart to put God, as love and wisdom, first, for we are practising our faith in living the idea that we are one with all that God is, which is good, limitless, free and without opposite. The rewards are bountiful. As I show up in this way, as I follow Jesus as our way-shower and guide, I am changed; we are changed. Not through my will but by holding the space for change to occur. As we witness all that is happening in the world, we are being asked to show up with faith and strength. We are being asked to remember we are one with each other and all of life. To show up with integrity; act with strength and compassion; speak our truth and respond from love and wisdom. The world is going through a time of transformation – the old way of life (one of power, greed and my needs are to be met instead of yours) must pass. We, too, are being asked to transform how we live. Instead of resisting change, we can use the powers of faith and strength to support and guide us through this time. We can use the season of Lent, starting 18 February, to aid our transformation. I invite you to use the powers of focus (will) and strength to commit to a daily time of prayer and meditation, enabling you to release the aspects of your life you know do not serve you and make space for the God-energy to do its transforming work through you. This is the gift of Lent leading to Easter. To help you, you can order our 2026 Lent booklet and join us at our morning Daily Word meetings when we will read the Lenten message for the day, alongside our Daily Word message, and let the meanings be known and fulfilled through us in the silence we share. Together, we don’t just allow, we invite this transformative process to free us and lead us into the lives we want for everyone and everything on our planet. Experience the support of spiritual community and find your freedom to be. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity & Daily Word UK |