God With Us
“The Infinite is always at peace because there is nothing to disturb it. A realization of our Oneness with Omnipresence brings peace, the peace which is accompanied by a consciousness of power.” Ernest Holmes, SOM page 617
Imagine for a moment storm clouds and strong gusts of wind coming up suddenly over the city of Columbus, Ohio. An elementary school radio blares tornado warnings. It’s too dangerous to send the children home, so they’re taken to the basement where they huddle together in fear. The teachers are also worried.
To help ease the tension, the principal starts a sing-along, but the voices are weak and unenthusiastic. Child after child begins to cry; they cannot be calmed. Then a teacher whispers to the child next to her, “Aren’t you forgetting something, Kathie? There is a power greater than the storm that will protect us. Just say to yourself, ‘God is with us’, then pass the words onto the child next to you.”
As the words are whispered from child to child, a sense of peace settles over the group. The wind outside blows with the same ferocity, but it doesn’t seem to matter now. Fear in the room has subsided and tears fade away. After awhile, the “all clear” signal comes over the radio, and students and staff return to the classrooms without the usual jostling and talking.
The foregoing story is a true account written by Phyllis Martin, a teacher at the Alpine Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. This woman’s faith in a higher power was equal to any emergency and she wasn’t afraid to express it.
During the Christmas holidays, there doesn’t have to be a storm or emergency that is a call for people to whisper God is with us. Singing the praises of “our Lord Immanuel” is a common occurrence in churches and community gatherings. Did you know the word Immanuel is derived from two Hebrew words combined into one? The first is immenu, which means with us, and el is defined as God. The Hebrew language reads from right to left, thus the translation is God with us!
The Christmas season is an opportunity for us to express the Immanuel spirit. God was recognized in the birth of Jesus as “the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace”. The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary states that “Jesus represents God’s idea of man in expression”. Ernest Holmes writes, “The Christ – the word of God manifest in and through man. Christ is universal Idea, and each one ‘puts on the Christ’ to the degree that he surrenders a limited sense of Life to the Divine Realization of wholeness and unity with Good, Spirit, God.”
The idea of “God with us” gets lost sometimes because worldly conditions obscure the essence of peace and harmony. At times we are fooled by appearances, yet if we allow the mind that was in Christ to be in us also, or to “put on the Christ”, we are able to turn from limiting, outer conditions. As we train ourselves to remember “there is a power greater than any storm”, the Immanuel spirit responds as a counselor. Divine ideas are revealed and used to heal the limitations and false ideas that cause confusion and lack. As a result, financial difficulties, health challenges, or relationship problems have solutions. That is when the Prince of Peace – God with us – becomes evident in every experience.
Feel free to read more from Dr. Carolyn McKeown:
The Cosmic Process Demands Flexibility!
Cross Out The Fiction And Rise Up and Roar!
The Easter Urge
Flexibility -- The Cosmic Process
From Duality to Unity
