Article June 26, 1995 Issue

"Give me some peace and quiet"

Kathryn Lynn Fish

As I was out walking one evening, a dog started barking as I passed his yard. I kept walking and didn't even look to see it. He was inside a fence. I didn't feel threatened, and I knew I wasn't trespassing or breaking any law that his barking would compel me to obey. The situation made me think of the constant clamor for our attention from what the Bible calls "the carnal mind." It would pester us to be afraid or to obey some supposed law it claims to have made. At these times I have said, or heard others say, "Just give me some peace and quiet!"

But we obtain peace and quiet only as we learn to recognize what has real authority over us. The First Commandment counsels us, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3). When we place God first, when we let God command our attention, we increasingly see His control over all. Everything else falls into its proper place, and we find the peace and quiet that silence the argument that there is a mind apart from God. The Bible tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10) and "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee" (Isa. 26:3).

Before the everyday activities of our life begin, we can turn our thoughts in prayer to God, acknowledging His allness and man's oneness with the Father-Mother. We are His cherished children, His spiritual reflection. God has only peace, harmony, for His creation. As we learn to listen to the all-knowing Mind, we know more of what God knows, we see His creation as He sees it. How is that? The Bible tells us that God saw all He made as wholly good (see Gen. 1:31). Prayer brings our attention where it belongs and where we find true peace. As we proceed through our day, we have the inspiration and the God-given rebuttals with which to quiet thought and deny belief in a carnal mind. If things seem to get hectic, we can return, in prayer, to the quiet sanctuary of thought where we see that God is All. We can do this wherever we are—in the workplace, on the subway, at lunch, in school, or at home with toddlers.

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