"this is my Father's world..."

"this is my Father's world,
O, let me ne'er forget:
that, though the wrongs
seem O, so strong,
Love is the Ruler yet..."

Fountain View Academy's beautiful video recording of "This is my Father's World," was just the reminder I needed this morning as yet one more news cycle of "he said, he did..." erupted.

I stood up from where I was working and walked to the back door. Standing on the small deck just off our kitchen, I gazed out at the shifting season splayed across the foothills and in the canyons of our valley -- leaves turning, cooler temperatures, the sun reaching from further south as it warmed the brick pavers in our courtyard, and remembered Mary Baker Eddy's promise:

"All nature teaches
God's love to man."
 

Yes. So what was God telling me about what seemed so confusing. That His government overarches every human choice, decision, mistake, seeming exercise of egoic willpower and self-preservation. All yielding to the power of Love.

As much as we might love one season over another, the sun's position shifts, the temperatures change, the cycles of light bring surrender, release, reclamation, stillness, redemption, renewal. As much as I think that I would love a year of September days, without winter's silence, or spring's rain I would not have the beautiful colors and soft lessons of autumn.

This is my Father's world -- I trust me to His care. I trust my children, my neighbors, my world to His loving governance.

In her "Daily Prayer" from the Manual of the Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy further encourages:

"Thy kingdom come
let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love
be established in me,
and rule out of me all sin;
and may Thy Word enrich the affection
of all mankind, and govern them." 

This is not just a prayer, but a promise. God's Word is speaking in each human heart, enriching everyone's affections for good, for honesty, for humility, for integrity, for grace -- and for governing them. Each of them. Each of us.

This law of God's invariable Love and His sovereign government is impartial and universal. We can trust this with our whole hearts.  No one - no matter how well-positioned -can "go rogue," in the face of His omnipotence -- anymore than a single leaf can decide to not turn to the Sun's light, or a single stone can resist the silent, but irresistible, hold of gravity.

I needed this reminder. It brings me peace today.


offered with Love,

Kate