“What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
Romans 8:31
When you look back on this year and ahead to its thirty-four remaining days, what do you see? Coronavirus, fear, anger, hardship, suffering, exhaustion, grief, rigidity, divisiveness, and just plain unexpected strangeness? Indeed, these are all aspects of what is happening in our country and world. None of them is pleasant nor what any of us would’ve wished for. Each of us is impacted differently – some have been merely inconvenienced, and some have faced loss of income, home, health, the well-being of children, and/or the death of loved ones. In Unity, we don’t deny the facts of things, nor the anguish they can produce. What we do is learn to see the facts through a spiritual lens. That doesn’t erase the hardship, yet it does give us the imagination to envision a way through it. Our vision of uplifted possibilities energizes us with life-giving intention and sets us on the path to creating new constructive outcomes.
When we feel swamped by the facts how can we lift our eyes to see spiritually? One of the simplest practices is gratitude. There are many ways to go about it. You can thank God for the conditions themselves because they are turning old outworn assumptions upside down. Or you can tell God you don’t appreciate the conditions at all, but you are somehow feeling new depths of aliveness within yourself. Or you can make a list of the good you see growing in the people around you. Or you can simply say, “I don’t feel grateful for any of this, but I am willing to love myself and other people in the midst of it.”
Let me share with you some of what I am grateful for in this year 2020. I am grateful that the racism that has plagued the consciousness of my beloved country has been exposed in ways that can no longer be ignored. And that many, many people are standing up and saying, “no more.” I am grateful that it is being understood as never before that spiritual oneness is not just a nice sentiment, but it is necessary for the survival and thriving of humanity. I am grateful that we are realizing that love of ourselves, other people, all species, and everything on this beautiful planet is the creative heartbeat that is the upward, progressive movement of life.
The Silent Unity Prayer Ministry at Unity Village wrote this affirmation for 2020, “Perfect Vision: Seeing Through a Spiritual Lens.” Many of us in Unity have had a good laugh about that this year! We see both the irony and the perfection of it. Yes, we see it all through a spiritual lens, and are profoundly grateful for the in-depth good this year is bringing us. Make your gratitude list so you can experience the most remarkably blessed year ever.
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
