Peace within

WHO hasn't yearned for peace within? When things go wrong, when our thought is troubled and filled with oppressive fears and doubts, what can we do to find the peace we yearn for? The answer is simple: turn to God. The book of Job states it this way: ``Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.''1 Nothing is more important than a growing understanding of God and His infinite power and love for all. We gain this understanding through striving to live more and more in harmony with the divine nature and through acknowledging more consistently in prayer that God is indeed what the Bible teaches Him to be. He is the only genuine power; divine Spirit, who has created all and governs all in perfect harmony; infinite good itself. As we grasp these truths with growing clarity, we perceive that God's spiritual kingdom is totally at peace and that this peace can be recognized and felt, at least to some degree, regardless of circumstances.

For instance, if discord within the home is interfering with the peace we cherish, we might ask ourselves: Am I putting God first? Am I striving to see more clearly His omnipotence, His total harmonious control of all, despite the trouble that seems so unbudging? Am I seeing each member of my household in his or her true nature as an expression of God and therefore perfect? As we realize the truth that peace alone is the divine fact right now, and express this in our thought and actions, the trouble must diminish and give way to peace. In other words, as we recognize the spiritual reality of God's creation to be reality, something of that reality, though at first temporarily hidden, must come to light.

Is the peace we cherish being blocked out by fear? Are we afraid of some evil force? If we realize that God, divine Love, is omnipotent (and He truly is), evil must be seen as impotent, without actual, God-sustained presence. Fear, then, naturally dissipates.

This is not always easy to accomplish. More dedication and prayer may be needed in order to recognize Love's supremacy. But with steadfastness the desired victory is inevitable. We will see more clearly than ever God's absolute dominion and perceive that the peace of His spiritual universe can increasingly be brought to light.

In no area is the cultivation of an inner peace more important than in our effort to realize the possibility of peace between nations. We are educated to think in terms of differing nationalities and races, with conflicting ethnic characteristics. Varying degrees of suspicion, doubt, hate, fear, seem to abound between nations, leading away from the peace that characterizes God's creation.

But we cannot conclude this to be the truth of man if we start with God as the one Supreme Being governing all. What we can do in our desire to promote peace is to realize that right now universal peace is an eternal fact of creation. It is established by God, divine Love, and cannot be forever hidden. Peace must be the divine fact because God is infinite good and all that He creates is good. Feeling this inwardly will calm our own thought and must benefit humanity as a whole.

Is this just a pleasant theory, wishful thinking? Materialistic reasoning says yes. But our spiritual sense tells us that if God really is All, His allness can, by degrees, be proved through prayer.

Our need is to discern what is spiritually, eternally true: a perfect God governing all in perfect harmony. Far from ignoring evil, such a standpoint enables us to see it for what it is and so help hasten its destruction.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ``Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.''2 As we strive to do the same we'll feel a deeper, more genuine peace within and will be making a profound contribution toward the establishment of worldwide harmony.

1Job 22:21. 2Science and Health, pp. 476-477. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3