I want the peace of God.
To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything.
If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further
sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time. Heaven would be
completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, and
the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.
No one can mean these words and not be healed. We cannot play with dreams,
nor think we ourselves a dream. We cannot make a hell and think it real. If we
want the peace of God, it is given. For that is all I want, and that is all I
want to receive.
Many have said these words. But few indeed have meant them. You have but to
look upon the world you see around you to be sure how very few they are. The
world would be completely changed, should
any two agree these words
express the only thing they want.
Two minds, with one intent, become so strong that what they will becomes the
Will of God.
For minds can only join in truth. In dreams, no two can share the same
intent. To each, the hero of the dream is different; the outcome wanted is not
the same for both. Loser and gainer merely shift about in changing patterns, as
the ratio of gain to loss and loss to gain takes on a different aspect or
another form.
Yet compromise alone, a dream can bring. Sometimes it takes the form of
union, but only the form. The meaning must escape the dream, for compromising
is the goal of dreaming.
Minds cannot unite in dreams. They merely bargain. And what bargain can give
them the peace of God? Illusions come to take Her place. And what She means is
lost to sleeping minds intent on compromise, each to your gain and to another's
loss.
To mean you want the peace of God is to renounce all dreams. For no one
means these words who wants illusions, and who therefore seeks the means which
bring illusions. She has looked on them, and found them wanting. Now he seeks
to go beyond them, recognizing that another dream would offer nothing more than
all the others. Dreams are one to Her. And we learn, their only difference is
one of form, for one will bring the same despair and misery as do the rest.
The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds,
for that is how peace is obtained. And when the wish for peace is genuine, the
means for finding it is given, in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty
can understand. Whatever form the lessons take, is planned for us in such a way
that we can not mistake it, if our asking is sincere. But if we ask without
sincerity, there is no form in which the lesson will meet with acceptance and
be truly learned.
Let us today recognizing that we really mean the words we say. We want the
peace of God. This is no idle wish. These words do not request another dream be
given us. They do not ask for compromise, nor try to make another bargain in
the hope that there may yet be one that can succeed where all the rest have
failed.
To mean these words acknowledges illusions are in vain, requesting the
eternal in the place of shifting dreams which seem to change in what they
offer, but are one in nothingness.
Today devote yourself to careful searching of your mind, to find the dreams
you cherish still. What do you ask for in your heart? Forget the words you use
in making your requests. Consider but what you believe will comfort you, and
bring you happiness. But be you not dismayed by lingering illusions, for their
form is not what matters now.
Let not some dreams be more acceptable, reserving shame and secrecy for
others. They are one. And being one, one question should be asked of all of
them, "Is this what I would have, in place of Heaven and the peace of
God?"
This is the choice we make. Be not deceived that it is otherwise. No
compromise is possible in this. You choose God's peace, or you have asked for
dreams. And dreams will come as you requested them.
Yet will God's peace come just as certainly, and to remain with you forever.
It will not be gone with every twist and turning of the road, to reappear,
unrecognized, in forms which shift and change with every step you take.
You want the peace of God. And so do all who seem to seek for dreams. For
them as well as for yourself, you ask but this when you make this request with
deep sincerity. For thus you reach to what they really want, and join your own
intent with what they seek above all things, perhaps unknown to them, but sure
to you.
You have been weak at times, uncertain in your purpose, and unsure of what
you wanted, where to look for it, and where to turn for help in the attempt.
Help has been given you. And would you not avail yourself of it by sharing it?
No one who truly seeks the peace of God can fail to find it. For the mere
asking that we deceive ourself no longer by denying to ourself what is God's
Will. Who can remain unsatisfied who asks for what he has already? Who could be
unanswered who requests an answer which is his to give? The peace of God is
yours.
For you was peace created, given you by its Creator, and established as Her
Own eternal gift. How can you fail, when you but ask for what He wills for you?
And how could your request be limited to you alone? No gift of God can be
unshared. It is this attribute that sets the gifts of God apart from every
dream that ever seemed to take the place of truth.
No one can lose and everyone must gain whenever any gift of God has been
requested and received by anyone. God gives but to unite. To take away is
meaningless to Her. And when it is as meaningless to you, you can be sure you
share one Will with Him, and She with you. And you will also know you share one
Will with all your brothers and sisters, whose intent is yours.
It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the need of
every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the
love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever, but
which still remains as God created it. With Help like this beside us, can we
fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?
