Good morning! Take a deep breath, close your eyes and settle into your meditative space.
Today’s theme is the first line of the Prayer of St Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” Imagine a big soap bubble in front of you and put this sentence in it. Look at the energy of that sentence, by noticing any colors or vibrations that come up. How does it feelings or sensations do you notice? Does being an instrument of peace make sense to your mind? Your emotions? Your Spirit? Your body? There’s no right answer, it’s just having awareness. If you look at your day so far, does being an instrument of peace fit into your picture of you and the rest of your day? How about if you say hello to yesterday? There may be reactions to the concept that are from fear or resistance as well as from love, and you want to notice all of them, because that is surrender, and that is what the sentence is really about. Not surrender as in giving up, but Surrender to Spirit. Surrender Dorothy (haha!)!
Pop the ‘instrument of peace’ bubble and create a new one, and put the word Surrender into it. What does surrender mean to you? What feelings and awareness does it bring up? What does it bring up for your body? For your mind? Your emotions? Your Spirit? Again, there is no right or wrong answer. An aspect of surrender is releasing the need to judge something as right or wrong. You can’t surrender while being attached to an opinion or outcome. Surrender is the ability to experience everything neutrally, because you recognize that you are living in Oneness with all. Everything you experience is you. Release any fears or resistance to the concept of surrender into the bubble in front of you and pop it. Let it go.
Now create a bubble for the concept of Oneness. We are All One. When you look at another person; the teller at the bank, a parent, your neighbor, the angry driver, the murderous dictator, you are looking at yourself. When you look at your coffee mug, a squirrel or tree, you are looking at yourself. All is One. Notice your awareness and reactions to that concept, in your body, in your mind, in your emotions, and as a Spiritual Being. Breathe, and validate all the awareness and thoughts and feeling about Oneness that are appearing to you. Just watch them, as if you were watching clouds float across the sky or leaves falling from a tree. Your body may have a very different reaction to Oneness than your Spirit has. Can all the reactions be okay? A part of your ego may absolutely NOT want to be One with a murderer. Can that be okay? A part of your ego may NOT want to be part of the radiation leak in Fukushima. Can that be okay? The idea of surrendering to Oneness in relationship to things we have judged as bad does not always sit well with us. It takes practice to learn how to experience yourself in wholeness with everything. Release any fear or resistance, or unconsciousness or confusion around Oneness into the bubble, and pop it. It has to be okay that the body, which sees itself as seemingly geographically separate from the person next to you, may not get the idea of Oneness so readily. Don’t focus on the body’s confusion. Just note it compassionately, and let the confusion go! Visualize a big gold sun over your head and fill in your body and aura bubble, with your own energy, each chakra, each cell.
Some days, depending on what is going on and what you are witnessing, it is easy to find yourself in the “I Give Up” frame of mind. For today, Giving Up is not being looked at in the healthy context of letting go. We are looking at giving up and just not caring, and going into apathy. Say hello to a moment in your life that you can recall just wanting to give up. You were in some level of frustration or despair. Call up that memory of you in that moment and imagine that part of yourself in front of you. You may see yourself angry, sad, or head in hands or downing a quart of ice cream. But there you are.
What is the difference between just giving up and surrendering? When we give up, it is not in the spirit of “Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace!” It’s more like, “Lord, everything is going to hell in a hand basket, so screw it all, what’s the point, I’m doing what I want!” Sound familiar to anyone? Take a couple of deep, slow breaths, and notice yourself having some amusement. Even just an iota of amusement is enough! There is a part in all of us that just wants to give up sometimes! Screw the diet, the loving thoughts, the budget, the recycling. No one else cares, so why should I care. Or, I do all the right things and STILL I suffer, feel small, lost or run out of money. Just find a little bit of amusement about it! And now, find a little bit of compassion for yourself, your life, and your experiences. And then, decide to love yourself a little bit more. Even just an iota. Just have compassionate love for yourself in this moment, for your path, your ups and your downs, your good days and bad days, just beam love and compassion to that image of your despairing self out in front of you. Bathe yourself in the compassion and love that you weren’t able to tap into in that moment of giving up.
What’s really important here? The giving up? Or the love of yourself? What feels more important to you in this moment? Focusing on the giving up or the compassion for yourself? What feels better to you in this moment? The seeming seriousness of life, or your ability to smile, and to beam love and compassion wherever it is needed, which right now, it to your self? Instead of giving up, what can you surrender to in this moment? Peace is a heartbeat away. Can you be perfect in your imperfection? Breathe! See that image of you in front of you, bathed in healing light and colors, and perhaps even some telepathic words of wisdom from the limitless spirit of truth that you are. Then, pop that image. What a great healing you just gave yourself!
Surrender is about being and acting from the awareness that All is One. An instrument of peace is being played by an invisible force, which runs it’s power through the instrument for the purpose of Peace, Love, Pardon, Faith, Hope, Light and Joy. It is played by the Great Mystery: God, Goddess, Love, Oneness, Great Spirit, Creator of all, Destroyer of all, Lover of all. When you surrender you know that whatever this Force wants to be done, shall be done. Father, not mine, but Thy Will be Done. Breathe.
We are all One within the mystery, limitless and joyful. Within the world of Spirit, there is no such thing as death, there is no such thing as real loss. It is not possible for you to be without Love. It is not possible for you to ever be alone. It is not possible for you to be separate from Creator. It is not possible for you to fail, it is not possible for you to harm anyone or anything. It is not possible for you to be guilty of sin. Take a deep breath. You could give up, or you could surrender in this moment, a percentage more, to your Holiness, the Miracle of you, the truth that there is nothing for you to improve upon within yourself, you are perfection, because you are One with All, And All is Love. All is God/Goddess.
You could give up, but as an instrument of Peace, surrendering to the All, you see that All means All. Within All, there cannot be Other. No matter what you are seeing, it IS a part of Creator, a part of the All. Some things that we witness are not as pure an expression of Creator as others. Surrender is allowing all things to be. Free your mind to let it observe without having to judge. Instead, as an instrument of peace, be a Forgiver. Be a lover, be a pardoner. Allow the expression of Divinity to flow through you as an instrument of Peace, more and more.
There is still the option to give up, and the idea of it will still arise in your awareness, because, as an all-knowing being, you will experience all that humanity is experiencing. You are learning to purify yourself of the sticky judgements of humanities’ experiences. You are freeing yourself of judging, blaming and any lies of shame or despair that would cause you to perpetuate the fear and hatred. As you do that, you hold the light. You hold the space of peaceful possibility and loving change. You hold the space of sharing, on a global level. You have the awareness that what you do to the least of these you do for the most, and as you sow, so shall you reap.
You purify yourself, as an instrument of peace, by choosing in every moment that you can, to see the truth, to see things differently, to see as Love. See as compassion. See from Faith or Joy. And if your little mind can’t see what Great Mystery can see, then be played. Let God/Goddess flow through you and bring whatever is needed to the moment. Hold the Light!
Purify your instrument, your body, mind and soul, to hold more light by using your spiritual tools and meditation time to release the need to judge yourself or others. Release the need to hold on to old beliefs and concepts that no longer serve you. Nothing you have ever done or said can take away the truth of you. The truth of you as Infinite Spirit cannot be altered. You can’t alter God. Look at the beauty and majesty of this world. The flowers, our bodies, the atoms that form us, the foods, the creativity that flows through us, the animals and insects, all of the beautiful places on the planet, the stars, in infinite solar system. The Unseen Mystery that created us cannot be harmed. Such magnitude cannot be changed. But we are capable of hiding it from ourselves, every time our minds get hijacked by a fear, doubt, despair, sadness, a hatred.
As easily as you notice a limiting fear, you can let it go! In this moment, there are a host of angels and healing beings surrounding us, helping us clear and have more or our Surrender to Spirit space. Release to the powerful Oneness of All the need to blame, judge, be a victim, to cling, to control. Be an instrument of Peace. Relax, surrender, into the simplicity of truly embracing the notion of We Are All One. Surrender into the simplicity of noticing all your feelings and experiences, and releasing the need to indulge the ones that do not support you as Loving, Compassionate, Joyful, Limitless Creator of All.
Let go of the need to be right, or the need to perpetuate fear. Release the need to believe in lack of any kind. Release the need to believe that you are doing something wrong, and you will not be saved. See these lies flow from your chakras, right down your grounding cord or out into a bubble in front of you and explode it when it’s full! Surrender. Forgive, and let go of what you used to think was true of the world, and instead invite the flow of the Divine to come through you. Allow transformation to occur within you, now with each breath. Use your grounding cord to release all energies that do not serve you for your best and highest good.
As you see yourself able to forgive and see all as one, you are embracing All. You can only do this if you perceive yourself to be part of the Oneness, an aspect of God. Only one who sees themselves as larger than the lies can shine their light and provide healing. Whenever you find yourself in conflict as to your value, or in judgment over events, it is because you made yourself smaller than what you perceived. You have forgotten that you are the One that came from All. That you are an instrument of God/Goddess. So, just remember again. And again and again. It’s what we are all doing. Take a deep breath!
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
– Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Breathe, and say hello to yourself in this space you have healed into. When I write these messages, I love seeing what happens while I am writing. Who calls, what’s happening in the world. The first time I sat down to write, the message popped up on my phone that the Senate had agreed that bombing Syria would be good. So as instruments of peace, let’s shine our light on Syria, with no agenda, no need to be right or show anyone else they are wrong. Let’s just send compassion, forgiveness, love, joy, faith, peace and light. Thy will be done. Send what is most needed to all. Be relaxed and in no effort. When the body is stressed and the mind is active, less energy of spirit can flow through. Allow this light to be beamed through you, to where it is needed in Syria, and if you are drawn to other places of conflict on the planet, just move our attention there. Perhaps just desire to see wholeness, because that is what is real. Wonderful. Breathe.
The second time I sat down to write this message, my brother called. He is having a hard time this life, at this point virtually bed ridden from an accident years ago. As I spoke to him I got to practice being an instrument of peace. Would you think of someone who you would like to send healing to, especially someone with whom it is difficult to be neutral. Imagine them in front of you. You judge where they are because you see yourself as divided, smaller than the whole. Remember, only one who sees themselves as larger than the lies can shine their light and provide healing. And if you can’t see yourself as larger than the lies, then all the more reason to be an instrument of peace. Allow great mystery to flow through you and beam whatever is needed to this person, to allow them to take a step that is needed for their life and healing. Thy will be done. Send compassion, love, joy, forgiveness, faith, peace. Breathe. They are whole, they are healed, they are receiving exactly what they need in this moment. Surrender.
Note: you may still do some energy work while working on events, but the more it comes from this space, the more effective it will be. Remember, amusement, neutrality and kindergarten, as taught in the clairvoyant program!
Rt. Rev. Hope Hewetson originally wrote this Message for Meditation Service at the Church of Inner Light in September 2013. If you repost this message or any portion thereof of this message please give credit to Rev. Hope Hewetson, www.psychichorizonscenter.org, or if portions from other sources are used please credit appropriately.
