It was an unusually busy time. My days were overflowing with work, church, and family demands. My prayers and actions in support of harmony in global and local affairs had taken on a deep urgency. Every moment seemed to demand attention. Then, suddenly, flu-like symptoms descended like a hammer, stopping me short.
I’ve found that whenever I experience discord of any kind, specific, focused prayer can restore me to my natural, healthy self. So I stopped everything and prayed, peeling away layers of a personal sense of my capabilities.
Gradually, a freeing truth dawned: The thing that would truly help me with all my obligations was to know more clearly the perfect oneness of God and man (a generic term for all of us). We are one with God because our true identity is the reflection of God’s own nature – spiritual, harmonious, whole.
A simple and direct statement in Christ Jesus’ timeless Lord’s Prayer, along with its spiritual interpretation (found in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy), points to the oneness that includes all of us as God’s children: “Our Father which art in heaven, “Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious” (p. 16).
One God as the Father and Mother of us all is a revelation of the scope of unity, indicating oneness not only with God but also with one another. This establishes the baseline of all relations to be harmonious. Our divine purpose is to love, expressing outwardly the love that God expresses in each of us.
God’s children aren’t burdened by issues and tasks, but have one fundamental purpose: to love. We are to love God and our neighbor. This one purpose, one activity, can also have only one outcome: the demonstration of divine Love.
When I saw that, everything shifted: The symptoms vanished, the overwhelm lifted, and my work continued uninterrupted. What stayed with me was the idea of one – the simplicity of existence under the government of the one divine Love.
The world’s demands can seem endless. Our inboxes plead for attention; our screens broadcast crisis after crisis; our families, friends, and communities need our tender care, not to mention the care we need for ourselves.
Yet there is one response that has the most powerful effect: the acknowledgment that there is one God, one Love, one Mind, governing all. The chaos of the human drama may seem complex, but in a way it is harder to not yield to God’s unity, because this is what we have a God-given ability to do. There is strength in recognizing that we are all governed by one God – not as mortals with problems and stress, but as God’s pure, spiritual offspring.
I began responding to headlines and messages with this single truth of our oneness with God and with others, first in prayer and in some cases, if so inspired, verbally. When I answered one such email with this approach – responding not with personal opinion, but with a spirit of unity – it opened an unexpected healing conversation with a politician. The peace and assurance that followed demonstrated that unity with God, good.
When we act from the standpoint that there is one Mind, even small actions – an honest reply, a silent prayer, a kind word – ripple outward in healing ways. Good is natural and sustainable because God is good. Doing good normalizes good, and we find that divine Mind is constantly gathering us under one Love, one purpose, one peace.
This wakes us up to see that we are not individual minds struggling to manage chaos but the radiant expression of the infinite intelligence of the one Mind. We can let our light – our expression of God – shine. This shining isn’t self-generated effort, it’s reflection – the natural brightness of the divine Mind we represent.
The material senses lack the intelligence to overwhelm our true, spiritual being, just as darkness cannot dictate terms to light. To reflect one Mind is to live without the shadows of mortal sense.
These truths empower us not to react to problems but instead to respond on the basis of one Principle. It’s not about mastering more information, but being more open to inspiration – to seeing that one divine Mind governs and inspires us all. As the “Christian Science Hymnal” puts it,
So shall it ever be in the bright morning,
When hearts awaking see the shadows flee,
O, in that hour, and fairer than the dawning,
Rises the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
(Harriet Beecher Stowe, No. 317, adapt © CSBD)
In that awakening, overwhelm disappears, and we find our rightful place, purpose, and peace – clear, calm, and complete – simply reflecting our perfect oneness with God, letting the love that reflects divine Love be our single response to everything that comes our way.
