"Recently I have been thinking about chocolates! Well, to be more specific a box of chocolates – the type where the first layer are a variety of shapes and fillings. There are usually the nutty ones, those with soft centres and the chewy caramels and all these individual mouthfuls make up the whole box. They each have a small compartment especially designed for their size and shape, giving them a safe place so they are not knocked, disturbed or damaged by the others around them.
Now I am not suggesting that we identify each other as a particular type of chocolate! However in my experience I have found this simile of a box of chocolates, a helpful reminder about how I can be more considerate and relate more lovingly to those around me.
Sometimes our own families face challenges when there is ill feeling and disagreements between individual members. I have found that in the first instance, acknowledging that we are all God’s family reflecting His qualities of love, patience, tolerance and forgiveness is a positive first step to resolving these situations, as is appreciating and being grateful for all the varied spiritual qualities that family members express and bring to the family unit.
A few verses from Psalms in the Bible are powerful reminder of God’s presence and protection in our lives.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
(Psalms 91:9-11)
Prayer can also be applied to our work place when difficult situations arise. Seeing each other as spiritual ideas of God and not perhaps as self willed, angry, critical or impatient colleagues gives a perspective that enables us to continue to pray and affirm that we cannot be separated from God’s love or feel any lack of peace or composure, but remain assured that as the reflections of our Father Mother, God nothing can invade the law of spiritual harmony.
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science wrote:
We learn in the Scriptures, as in divine Science, that God made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother of man; that God is divine Love: therefore divine Love is the divine Principle of the divine idea named man; in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man. Now let us not lose this Science of man, but gain it clearly; then we shall see that man cannot be separated from his perfect Principle, God, inasmuch as an idea cannot be torn apart from its fundamental basis.
(Miscellaneous Writings. 186:13-21)
Issues in our local community, such as political, social, racial or religious challenges, also need our daily prayer. Living together in close proximity to each other can seem to raise difficulties but affirming, that as the reflections of God, we all express the same spiritual qualities of love, appreciation of individuality and be tolerant to differing points of view. This understanding can help reduce friction and lead to a peaceful environment.
Mary Baker Eddy, writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:
The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 470:21-5)
Every day we are bombarded with news from around the world bringing reports of war, crime and immense human suffering. I continue to pray to know that whatever is presented to us, God is ‘in the midst’, protecting, guarding and guiding.
This quote from Science and Health is one on which I often base my prayers.
With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.
(Science and Health p469: 30-5)
Now, back to that simile of the box of chocolates!
Each individual chocolate is part of the whole box and has its own distinctive filling which makes it unique; each is nestled securely in a specially designed space so it is kept perfect and never spoiled by being disturbed or jostled about by those around it.
So it follows that, as the spiritual children of our Father Mother, God, we all reflect His image and likeness.
We all express unlimited spiritual qualities that give us our unique, individual and spiritual identity.
We belong in God’s family, each precious, enfolded by His love, held securely in place by His protective presence and all of us have the inherent, God given ability, to love and appreciate everyone around us."