A Prerequisite to Inner Peace?

Become unlimited in your trust of God. It is in
this state of awareness that you are never given
anything you cannot handle.

- John Morton
Spiritual Director
Institute for Individual and World Peace®

Dear reader, tell me, do you feel this may be a prerequisite of inner peace? or perhaps just one of many causes of inner peace?

Trusting in God

After months of not reading the Hidden Words, I was particularly struck this morning by the power of these words of Bahá'u'lláh:

"O Son of Spirit!
There is no peace for thee save by renouncing thyself and turning unto Me; for it behooveth thee to glory in My name, not in thine own; to put thy trust in Me and not in thyself, since I desire to be loved alone and above all that is."

Even if my heart doesn't yet fully trust, what if this were true? On the long plane flight back from Europe on Monday I thought to myself, what if I try to start by living my life by this pretense and then see if it seems true? But, how does one begin when one still doubts?

And then I found some solace in another Hidden Word:
"O Children of the Divine and Invisible Essence!
Ye shall be hindered from loving Me and souls shall be perturbed as they make mention of Me. For minds cannot grasp Me nor hearts contain Me."

Finding Peace

"When you find that the source of your happiness and joy is inside of you, you will also find peace."
- John-Roger

Amazing Peace

Here is a beautiful poem so well suited to the holiday season. As I reread it, it also seems so appropriate for this particular moment, with this new year on the horizon and the message of hope our new American president brings.
This poem also seems particularly well suited to this month of unity, for it seems there can be no unity without peace -- peace in our hearts, peace in our relationships, peace in the world.

AMAZING PEACE by Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
implore you to stay awhile with us
so we may learn by your shimmering light
how to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ

Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of
Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

Peace of Soul

"O God! Make me ablaze, like unto the fire of Thy love, and make me free from attachment to this mortal world, until I find the peace of soul and the rest of conscience." 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas, vol. 1, p. 196).