On my morning walk with Chloe, a young woman passed me asking if I’d heard of the latest school shooting in Michigan? It seems 
we are living in such violent times, and yet truly every time has its violence. To practice the Principles of Unity takes a tremendous amount of unlearning so that we are not moved to reactive violence out of anger, but are moved to respond out of love.
When I went to Unity of Fort Myers, there was a time when people had written graffiti and swear words all over our building, calling us a cult and that we would burn. The Licensed Unity Teacher responded to this by saying “oh my, we just haven’t loved enough.”
To follow the Principles of Unity is not to set the world right, for the world is going to do what it does but to see ourselves and our world right. To sow the seeds that can see that violence is a call for healing and help. The most loving response we could have to violence is to practice tolerance, forgiveness, acceptance and love but these qualities are not about the other person, it is about ourselves.
We want to be more tolerant with our own moods for they can swing.
We want to forgive ourselves for judging, and criticizing for we are letting our inner critic live us.
We want to accept what is before us knowing all things pass
We want to love ourselves just as we are for we are unlearning the ways of the world.
We want to walk in the world from a state of transparency.
The transparent person is filled with wisdom – Socrates, once said he knew he knew nothing.
To be transparent is to filled with goodness and light. It is not a trying to be good for no one can be good except God, as Jesus tells us however we follow his teachings and learn to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
May you have Peace in your Heart,
Rev Janice
