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“…may I trust Divine Love sufficiently to know that
ultimately all is very, very well in the unfolding
of the incredible divine Plan already written
into the destiny of the universe for me and all.”
365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World
To say the world is going through some challenges is the understatement of the year. Never in history have we ever collectively faced such a challenge on a world level, despite the November 9, 2020 discovery of a hopefully efficient vaccine.
We are going to have to totally revamp an economic model that has now displayed its huge weaknesses. And many other challenges face us, some of which we have not started doing anything radical about (the environment).
So how can one write about trust in such hugely uncertain times?
Things Are Not Always As They Seem
A deeply inspired spiritual writer and thinker of the latter half of the 19th century, Mary Baker Eddy, once wrote that “Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity.” Her premise was that we should never trust the material appearances, and that despite everything these appearances are screaming, some amazing plan, some infinitely loving Providence was always pulling the strings for our good, be it individually or collectively.
In my book The Gentle Art of Blessing, I tell the incredible story of a spiritual healer during the terrible genocide that shook Rwanda for three months in 1994 (during which 800,000 died in the most terrible massacres, with bands of killers entering houses and cutting people up with machetes.) His house was invaded in the middle of the night by a band of blood-thirsty, screaming killers and he managed to hold them at bay and completely pacify them with silent spiritual affirmations.
Not Always According to Plan?
In 1987, I undertook a 14,000 km trip through over 100 villages in the course of which I interviewed over 1300 farmers (individually and in groups) to write a positive book on Africa (published in 1989 with the title Listening to Africa), using the largest network of grass roots groups that then existed on the continent and of which I was one of the founders.
I had promised to visit the head of one of these farmers groups in an extremely remote area of Mali in West Africa. My friend had told me that to get to his tiny village, I had to take the Bamako-Dakar train, and ask the engine driver to stop at a given location where a straw roof over a rough bench constituted the «station». I was to send him a telegram (no faxes at the time) 10 days in advance to warn him of my arrival and send it to his postal box he emptied once a week in the nearest town 20 miles away. During the whole trip I was hoping the train would stop at the right place. It did. My friend was there.
But he had never received my cable!
I call that the work of an all-loving Providence – or this infinite Mind. Had he not been there what could I have done? The only thing would have been walk along the tracks, in an extremely hot temperature, with no food or water, hoping the hyenas would not eat me or that I would not collapse of exhaustion before arriving there (I carried a very heavy rucksack) .
I call trust the ultimate spiritual attitude. Because either the creation of the universe is a random accident of some most bizarrely functioning reality, or it is the creation of some incredibly loving Being… The latter choice gives one’s life more meaning.
And it enables one to function, always, with total trust, be it collectively or individually.
On Counting Your Blessings
Some modern scientific research is showing more and more that there is no objective world “out there” and that we each create our own reality beyond anything we can imagine. At every moment, we choose what we want to see, as this anonymous blessing I have considerably adapted from The Treasure Chest stresses.
May you count your garden by its flowers,
not the petals that fall.
May you count your days by their joys
rather than their fears
and by the hours of sunshine
rather than of grey clouds.
May you count your world by the friends you make
rather than the strangers who shun you.
May you count your nights by the brightness of the stars
rather than the depth of the darkness.
May you count your hours by the love and light you expressed,
and the good deeds done,
rather than the time spent in inaction or omission.
May you count your years by the opportunities you fulfilled
rather than those you missed
and by the projects you succeeded in,
rather than the failures we all encounter on our path.
©2019 by Pierre Pradervand. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the author
and taken from the author's blog.
Book by this Author
365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World: Really Living One’s Spirituality in Everyday Life
by Pierre Pradervand.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to never feel any resentment for any wrong done to you, gossip or lie disseminated about you? To respond with full awareness to all situations and people rather than react from your gut? What freedom that would entail! Well, this is just one of the gifts the practice of blessing from the heart, i.e. sending out focused love energy, will do for you. This book, from the bestselling author of The Gentle Art of Blessing, will help you learn to bless all situations and people as you go through the day and add overwhelming joy and presence to your existence.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here.
About The Author
Pierre Pradervand is the author of The Gentle Art of Blessing. He has worked, travelled and lived in over 40 countries on five continents, and has been leading workshops and teaching the art of blessing for many years, with remarkable responses and transformational results. For 20 years Pierre has been practising blessing and collecting testimonies of blessing as a tool for healing the heart, mind, body and soul. Visit the website at https://gentleartofblessing.org
