The watchfulness that brings peace
As we yearn for peace in our lives and the world, a woman’s experience of silencing the mental clatter of fear and frustration points to the fact that solutions are always present to see.
My husband and I had tried to get a computer program up and running for a while, but we were stuck. I was feeling frustrated and annoyed. But through Christian Science I’ve learned the value of challenging such negative thoughts. So I stepped away from the computer and turned to God as the source of all answers. As I once again heaved a sigh of frustration, a gentle thought surfaced that this annoyance was the very thing blocking us from finding the needed answer.
With that spiritual insight, the feeling of being hopelessly stuck and at a standstill drained away, and a moment later my husband called out, “I’ve got it!” Coincidence? Not at all! Feeling perpetually perplexed and uncertain never leads to answers. But learning to keep a watch over unproductive thoughts and feelings brings results.
This kind of spiritual watching is not a passive exercise but actively subduing traits such as cynicism, apathy, and resignation. It requires the conscious awareness that God’s divine power governs us harmoniously, which keeps anger, frustration, and fear from blocking needed solutions to peace.
We all want peace in our lives and the world, and Christian Science teaches that to find that peace, it is essential to watch our thoughts as Christ Jesus taught when he said, “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37). Jesus’ command isn’t advocating simply an outward awareness, but keeping an inward watch over our thinking and emotions. The watching Jesus advocated was not a fearful but a reflective one. This means watching that we keep every thought in accord with God, good, including how we view the world leaders who daily make decisions that affect us all.
This isn’t the daunting undertaking it might seem, because, as Christ Jesus demonstrated, we’re at one with God, as God’s expression. We wholly reflect God, who is purely spiritual and harmonious. Keeping the kind of watch that looks out from this spiritual standpoint will help forward the working out of practical solutions for world peace.
So we each have an essential part to play by what we’re accepting about those in authority and how we think about and react to world events. Are we simply grumbling about troubles or watching for and yielding to God’s higher perspective?
Such spiritual alertness and love enable us to silence fear and condemnation – which would add to confusion and chaos – and lovingly recognize that all have a direct connection to God through Christ, the true idea of God. We can pray to know that every individual has the Mind that was in Christ Jesus.
This Mind is the infinite God, which never fails, falters, or becomes frustrated. To understand and affirm that Christ, which Jesus exemplified so perfectly, is right now conveying to everyone, including world leaders, the ideas that rightly guide, enlighten, and strengthen them is a healing prayer. This prayer will help silence fear and condemnation, confusion and chaos and lead to more just and equitable decisions.
Since that experience of realizing that fear and frustration were roadblocks that hide answers that heal and bless, I’ve endeavored to more faithfully watch that I don’t let strong emotions or feelings of agitation and frustration block answers to problems large and small that are right at hand to be recognized.
Scripture puts it this way: “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Not annoyance, criticism, or complaining, but calm, quiet watching can be our avenue to helping the world move toward enduring peace as we daily make our contribution by proving the presence of the peace of God right here on earth. Peace on earth is not simply the absence of chaos and conflict but is evidence of the ever-presence of God, divine Love. As we tend our watch we will all increasingly see it together.
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, deemed this so vitally important that she included such watching in the final tenet of the church she founded, the Church of Christ, Scientist: “And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 497).
This watch, which everyone can adopt, makes all the difference!