Divine Order 1
January 21, 2025
Divine Order Part 1
You are invited to join this week's Daily Reflections on Divine Order.
I was first introduced to the concept of Divine Order by the writings of Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), Founders of the Unity Society of Practical Christianity.
They built their organization on the belief that we find peace and healing through alignment with the Divine. They taught that sacred alignment comes through prayer, meditation, and the practice of the presence of God. Their organization has grown exponentially with their main campus at Unity Village Missouri having become a destination for many spiritual seekers. I admire the fact that Unity Village has an amazing Prayer Vigil Chapel which is staffed all day, 24 hours a day.
I have often called the Unity prayer line, especially during my young adult years when things looked and felt rough, or even hopeless. I could picture the person in the chapel talking with me and loved hearing the serene voice on the other end of the phone. There are two expressions frequently used at Unity which, for me, are spirit lifters. And after I hear those words, I can remember their truth. The first is "We claim Divine Order," and the other is "God is taking care of it."
These statements can be life-healing as we understand and apply their meaning. Claiming Divine Order doesn't mean staking our claim that with God, everything will turn out "alright.” Instead it means that we affirm that God uses all events, even the dark, painful, and oppressive, for a higher purpose, and a higher story.
The statement "God is taking care of it" doesn't mean that God works things out as we want them to be. Instead, it means that we let go of our control and do not stand in God's way of caring for it. In relinquishing our control, we understand that God uses the event for higher purposes. After we transfer the caretaking from us to God, there's an immediate release of inner tension; the burden is no longer on our shoulders. But the next challenge is to trust the unknown—the divine mystery.
An essential reason to trust the mystery is because it contains the Higher Order. Higher Order is a long-term healer of underlying brokenness … things that involve others we may not have ever met, and all circumstances, those of epic proportions, and those which seem like small details. We may be only a tiny part of a story that has evolved for years, decades, centuries, and even millennia. Knowing this, we unloose our grasp of our part of the story, so that the larger story may unfold.
Another vital reason to trust the mystery, even if what happens is painful, is to let the circumstance become our teacher. The situation can be excruciating — sometimes more than we think we can bear. But because we have relinquished our control, the Divine gives us overwhelming comfort — a sacred salve for our agony. Instead of being decimated by circumstances, we are accompanied through them with a power beyond our understanding. And because of this holy comfort, our anger, self-pity, or even our broken heart does not throw us off track and steal our life force; instead, our soul drinks in the wisdom that the situation teaches us.
Spiritual practice: What pains you now? Try making a prayer of relinquishment and for divine comfort. What happens in you?
Self-inquiry: How do you experience Divine Order working through chaos, loss, and suffering?
Dear God,
I pray to receive your wisdom and comfort. Yours is an order higher than I understand. Amen.
