Peace Begins with Me

prayer-7

It’s easy to talk about peace but really hard to achieve whether that be on the family level or in the community, nation and world. Creating peace is not simple. This week we are remembering Selma and have also been confronted with the Justice Department’s findings regarding Ferguson.  There is a lot of hard work to be done before we can say we have achieved the peace we are looking for.

Peace is not a given

There are no shortcuts. To realize peace, we first have to find peace with God. The first principle to peace is being rooted in God as I spoke about last Sunday. Secondly we have to find peace with ourselves and only on that foundation can we hope to create peace with others. Too often, we rush into trying to resolve differences and enmities between people without taking these first two steps and the result is that the peace process quickly breaks down.

This week I want to talk about finding peace with ourselves. This has to be achieved because too often “I” get in the way of peace. The Divine Principle stresses that each individual or “I” is responsible to resolve the mistakes of the past. According to the song “Let There Be Peace on Earth” it has to begin with me.

What is stealing your peace?

So many things steal our personal peace. Have you ever had a moment when you have screamed, “I just want some peace in this house!” If it is true that we are indeed God’s temple Screamthen I imagine our Heavenly Parent must feel like this too! We are responsible for our internal environment, but 21st Century living challenges us because life is fast paced, distracting, and sometimes ambitious about the wrong things.

The first step to finding peace is choosing your priorities and using your time well. We love being too busy hoping our busyness will save us from self-reflection! But hurrying creates pressure which leads to stress. Our pace affects others because we usually end up short-tempered and impatient.  When you eat too fast, the result is indigestion. When you rush through life you don’t digest it properly either. We can’t afford to shortchange our family and friends because we are too busy or too self-absorbed.

This is not a new problem. Ecclesiastes 2:17-18 was written by someone who invested everything in his career but felt shortchanged at the end of the day.

“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.”

He asked himself, just as we do, “What’s the point?” He had a serious case of burnout.  He was probably in the wrong business.

To be at peace with yourself means finding what you were created for.

We all have unique talents and gifts and unique circumstances. It’s easy to look at someone else’s life and make comparisons.  You wish your situation or life could be more like theirs. That sentiment will steal your peace and take away something that God is trying to do in your life, for the restoration of your lineage and for your perfection or maturity.

We are all a little bit different! It makes sense that God is going to deal with us differently.  The part of the Divine Principle where it talks about Restoration and “I” refers to this point. To be at peace with ourselves means we have to pray to understand our lives and what God is showing us.  Discover what God is doing uniquely through you so you don’t end up like the man in Ecclesiastes – bitter and washed up.

Each life has the potential to be an epic story. Be the hero or heroine who lives an extraordinary life by digesting their circumstances. Have the kind of life that people talk about!

Learning to digest your circumstances

Yesterday, I read that Fred Craddock had died. He was a genius preacher. What is remarkable is that he grew up during the Great Depression, a child of an alcoholic father. Someone who worked closely with him remarked that in his entire time working with Fred he never heard him complain about anyone. That’s extraordinary.

Fred found a way to digest his circumstances. Only someone at peace with themselves could achieve that realm of heart and generosity. Next time you complain about someone ask the question “Am I at peace with myself?”  

The reality is a lot of conflict happens because we don’t have inner peace. Our own internal situation gets in the way of inner peace. Instead of being able to listen to or embrace others, we become reactive.

Have you ever been around someone who struggles with their self-worth?  In every question or comment we hear criticism and counter with a jab. It’s very hard to be around people who are defensive. Nobody wants to be like that. The chances are they don’t believe they are loveable or can be forgiven.

The art of letting go

Peter is a larger than life example of having to learn to let go of mistakes. We know him as the person who denied that he knew Jesus three times. God had called Peter to serve as one Peterof the 12 disciples. If you think about having a special mission that would have to rank up there! Nevertheless, in Jesus’ hour of need Peter denied him. You may feel that you have some failures to overcome or come to terms with, but a mistake like that would have to cast a shadow on your life, giving rise to feelings of guilt and shame.

God is so much bigger than we think. Early Sunday morning, the day of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb and instead of finding Jesus’ body they encounter an angel who gives the following message:

Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.” – Mark 16:7

That is remarkable! The angel didn’t just say “tell the disciples.” By that time, I’m sure Peter was consumed by guilt and didn’t exactly consider himself one of them any longer. He was probably hiding, as we are inclined to do when we make a mistake. But our Heavenly Parent wanted Peter to know that he still belonged, and for this reason specified his name.

I imagine you have made mistakes in your life and sometimes feel that you are not worthy or don’t belong. But just like Peter, God wants you to let go of that mistake. All He asks for is a little honesty and humility. God is ready to move on. The question is, are you?

This is the reason why forgiveness is a tenant among the world’s religions:

“The truly great man must forgive people without being forgiven by them.” Chu Hsi (Confucianism)

“Where there is forgiveness, there is God Himself.” Adi Granth, Shalok Kabir (Sikhism)

This year Mother Moon is using the motto “Forgive, Love, Unite.” Creating peace starts with the act of forgiveness. There is no peace while holding onto guilt and resentments. There is no future in the emotions of anger and bitterness. We have to first forgive ourselves so we can come out of hiding and move forward.

How much do you believe you are loved?

We can only forgive ourselves if we know and can believe that we are truly loved. Can you believe that you are loved? Rev Moon explained it this way:

“Due to the human fall, nothing about the human realm of heart entitles us to stand before God except for one condition that remains unchanged: parents’ loving heart for their children. Children’s love toward their parents cannot be the standard, because in the beginning we betrayed God from the position of children. Hence we lost the emotional basis to relate to God as His children. On the other hand, God loved Adam and Eve even at the moment of their Fall. That original nature remains in our hearts. It remains the basis for parents to act according to their original mind in loving their children. Therefore, among people living in the fallen realm, only parents’ love toward their children remains as an original, prelapsarian standard of love. It shall remain as an eternal standard.” (May 25, 1969)

A true parent continues to love their child no matter what. You can know you are deeply and unconditionally loved by God. This is beautiful and is the beginning point of being at peace with yourself. On this foundation you can generously love others. This is why having God in our lives is so important. It’s the only way to know our full value and have the capacity to love others.

Knowing you are loved by God is a game changer. Eban Alexander, the author of “Proof of Heaven” describes in this video how experiencing God’s love changed him.

Having experienced this kind of unconditional love, Dr. Eban Alexander felt called to let people everywhere know there is a greater love that is accessible to us. If you are not sure of God’s love for you, take time this week to pray for Him/Her to show you.Our own inner peace rests on knowing we are deeply loved.

The tipping point to peace

World Peace will only emerge when a critical tipping point of people adopt the philosophy of Heavenly Parentism.  Through parental love everything becomes one. It is all inclusive and non-discriminating.  Being all inclusive, it is also embracing. Rev Moon said, “Inclusiveness is the inner core that manifests outwardly as tolerance. Tolerance promotes inclusiveness and inclusiveness promotes tolerance.”

Interracial twinsA world beyond boundaries

I recently saw on Facebook a picture of British twins born to a bi-racial couple. One twin was white with blond hair and the other black with dark hair.  In that one image all the notions to support racism crumble. God looks at us as one family and we should too.

Love allows us to cross boundaries that are otherwise beyond our reach, which is why it is impossible to achieve peace without God.

 

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