Inspiration

Welcome to the 31st annual World Day of Prayer!

As we unite hearts and minds with people from around the globe, this year we are affirming together: Fueled by faith, I can move mountains.

Please make plans to join us online for the opening ceremony on Wednesday, September 11, at 7 p.m. (CT), and immerse yourself in prayer, music, and contemplation.

You may participate in all the 2024 World Day of Prayer events using Zoom. Registration is free and requires only your email address.

Guiding Prayer

We invite you to contemplate this year’s guiding prayer.

Taking this time to align with Source energy, I breathe into the awareness of our divine potential and allow for magnificent Truth to declare, My faith moves mountains.

At various times in my life, through the evolution of my consciousness, I may be faced with tenuous circumstances. I may be caught up in the swirling experience of chaos, confusion, and unease. Through the power of prayer, I realign with the origin of my divine being and invite calm, organized thoughts that redirect the focus of my energy to become productive and life-affirming.

Activating the power of faith, I am aware of the activity of God always moving forward, upward to a higher vibration of creation. I know this activity is working for my highest good. I am filled with mighty faith. This Truth allows me to direct my actions with clarity and confidence.

I know what mine is to do, and I do it with ease. I rest easily when it is time to wait, and I stride boldly when it is time to move forward.

Filled with mighty faith, I move mountains to bring about my highest and best expression in all facets of my life. My highest thought comes easily and creates space for healing, greater wisdom, and unconditional love to be expressed through me in my every word, thought, and deed.

Aligned in faith, I declare that no thought, no one, and nothing has the power to tamper with that which I am cocreating with Source.

I affirm that I am strong enough to endure the uncomfortable, the uncertain, the undefined, and rejoice in gratitude for what is now my highest good and what is in process of becoming.

For it is now, in this time, in this place, in this unity with the one power and one presence that I declare it as good.

And so, it is. Amen.

As we await the 2024 World Day of Prayer, spend time with each of the reflection questions, and make sure to submit your prayer requests. Consider making a donation today to help further support our mission.

Presenters

Rev. Kathy Beasley
—Senior Manager, Unity Prayer Ministry

Rev. Chris Jackson
—Author and Retired Senior Minister, Unity on the Bay in Miami

Rev. Jacquie Fernandez (she/they)
—Cofounder Folx with Faith and Senior Minister, Unity Church of Overland Park, Kansas

Rev. Maggie Alderman
—Manager, Unity Prayer Ministry

Trayce Riley
—Senior Manager, Unity Prayer Ministry

The first time I met DaVinci, WildCare’s crow ambassador, I was intimidated. I didn’t know that at the time, but I’ve come to realize that the unsettled feeling in my belly and the self-conscious hunching of my neck and shoulders are my personal markers for that uneasy emotion.

WildCare, our local wildlife rehabilitation center, is where I spend my Wednesday mornings, cleaning cages, feeding wild orphan babies, and fraternizing with the best bunch of wildlife fanatics it’s ever been my joy to know. DaVinci lives in a huge flight cage on the upper level of the center. He was found as a youngster on university campus grounds, which was a fitting place for him to fledge because he is an eccentric professor at heart, brilliant and quirky.

Crows are in that rarefied community of the smartest of all birds, sometimes being compared intellectually to a 5-year-old. I’m here to tell you that he is far brighter, and more calculating, than that.

DaVinci remained at WildCare because of a bum foot and wing that never repaired.

“We need someone for the DaVinci Team on Wednesday mornings,” said Jennifer the shelter manager. “Would you like to do it?”

DaVinci, Prince of Darkness

DaVinci has his own team of caregivers. A bird of such brainpower and complexity requires a lot of attention and interaction, and a group of us are assigned to be his slaves. Some of us are his trainers. All of us are his trainees.

I agreed to join the group and was given a morning of training that included details on how to clean his cage, prepare his daily banquet, play games with him, and avoid getting attacked, should I be one of those to whom DaVinci does not take an immediate liking—which, of course, I was.

I am a woman who can—with confidence and calm— wash a hawk, medicate a possum, fend off biting squirrels, and wrestle with injured raccoons, but I discovered that I could not enter DaVinci’s palace without being instantly overcome by a feeling of total, clumsy dorkiness.

I asked myself the more relevant question, which was, “Why do I feel so self-conscious around this bird?”

DaVinci has this look, you see. It is one of utter scrutiny, arrogance, and mischief. You can see that brain of his clicking away like a slot machine on steroids. The first few weeks I worked in his cage, he would welcome me with a jaunty, “Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!!” holding out his black wings like Dracula’s cape and bobbing his shiny head up and down.

That would be the best of our interactions. Our other social contact consisted of his dive-bombing my head, chasing me around his enclosure pecking at my ankles, and—if he could grab onto them—hanging off the skin of my wrists while flapping like a lunatic. Did I mention that his beak has the force of a jackhammer and can hold on like a pair of vise grips?

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Outside of DaVinci’s cage is a logbook where team members chart daily notes about their interactions with him. After my Wednesday assaults, I would sit down at the logbook and read from them: “DaVinci was so playful today! He wanted lots of pets …” or “Such a cuddly bird today. He loved playing with his cardboard box and rocks.” I would leave my own notes, such as “Tried to shred my socks today,” or “Didn’t draw as much blood as usual.”

Kindly team members would write back to me, assuring me that DaVinci was simply getting to know me, and that it could take a while. Some reminded me not to show any fear of him.

Actually, I had no fear of his attacks. I’ve been bitten by harder mouths than his. All I felt when I was in his enclosure was stupid. Just plain, awkward, stupid.

The Heavy Burden of Expectation

For a brief period of time, I asked myself why he disliked me so much. Soon, though, I asked myself the more relevant question, which was, “Why do I feel so self-conscious around this bird?” It is always the questions we ask about our own attitudes that hold the greater harvest.

I began observing myself around DaVinci and realized how many expectations and attitudes I took into his cage with me. Here are a few of them, and believe me, there were many, many more:

“He WILL like me. Animals like me because I like them.”

“If I keep my willpower strong, I’ll wear him down, and THEN he’ll like me.”

“I want to pet him like the others do. I’ll just keep trying.”

“I’ll be my confident self today, and act as though I don’t feel like a dork.”

Outside DaVinci’s cage one morning with a peace offering of Cheerios in my hand, I finally had my aha moment. I cringed with embarrassment. I was setting up a challenge between myself and an injured, captive crow. In my heart, my stand was an aggressive one, pushing myself and my desire onto this bird.

Thinking back, I saw that I had often reached for an animal with my own agenda out in front, dominating the interaction.

Looking deeper, I realized that my need to be liked carried over big time to my interactions with animals. Behind my pushiness lurked a deep-seated insecurity I’d been reckoning with for decades. I just didn’t see how it played out in my feeling world until DaVinci.

In his palace, DaVinci sat silently, watching me with those penetrating black eyes. The phrase “Who do you think you are?” came to mind. It seemed that who I thought I was—or wanted to be—was the dominant energy I brought into all my relationships in one way or another.

I gave DaVinci his Cheerios and went off to reflect on my insight for many weeks. It was an intimidating insight, but very fruitful, with many far-reaching effects on me.

Something to ‘Crow’ About

Through the eyes of a crow, I became able to see myself in a new way. I’m still settling into this newfound wisdom about what drives my behavior, and how I play that out in the world. I’m realizing, in a much deeper, more subtle way, that it isn’t all about me.

Paws of Wisdom Puzzle

Celebrating the spiritual lessons we learn from animals. Fun for the whole family!

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One change I made was to enter DaVinci’s enclosure with a humble attitude. Really, I was simply there to serve, to tend, to companion a crow. He didn’t need to like me. No being NEEDS to be bullied or manipulated into liking me. For a time, I became concerned that perhaps my presence in his cage was a source of stress to him, but I was told by the team to just carry on.

Over the months, DaVinci quit harassing me. Slowly, he revealed his acceptance of my presence by bathing while I was cleaning his cage or sitting by me when I set his food on the floor. A couple of times, he tolerated brief strokes of his lower wing and tail feathers before warning me off with a thrust and snap of his beak.

Over these months, I’ve brought my new awareness into my interactions with my chickens, my frogs, my dogs, and my husband. I am becoming more humble and peaceful inside by tiny increments, and learning more about myself every step of this new journey.

Last month, DaVinci came and perched near me while I was on the floor filling his bath basin. Without preamble, he bowed his head to me and opened his wings—his invitation to pet. Carefully, I moved my fingers gently up his shoulders and he closed his eyes and lowered his neck as I massaged deep into his shoulder and cape feathers. For the next 20 minutes, we sat that way, him turning his head to get his beak stroked, his head rubbed, and his eyes tickled.

Twice since then, he’s solicited massages from me. This week, he’s molting, and warned me to keep my hands to myself, which I have the good sense to do these days. No more pushy me. No more.

This article appeared on the blog “Animals as Teachers and Healers with Susan Chernak McElroy” and is used with the permission of the author.

One year when springtime rolled around when I was in elementary school in the 1970s, each kid received a pine tree sapling to take home and plant, tend, and watch grow. This was part of a school-wide initiative to get children more interested in and aware of the natural world and the need for conservation. I didn’t know about any of my classmates, but I thought the idea was so cool, that I was being entrusted with the care of an actual tree. I couldn’t wait to get my fledgling tree and plant it. My excitement was strong, but, alas, the sapling was not. It perished after a few short weeks when my older brother carelessly ran it over with our lawnmower.

My school gave out saplings the next spring too. Not only was I a year older, I was also a little bit wiser. This time I entrusted my sapling to relative I knew would care for it (or at least not destroy it). I planted it at my uncle’s house across town from where we lived. Over the years I watched my tree grow. Before long, it was as tall as I was. Then it was taller. The last time I saw it, it must have exceeded 15 feet. Eventually, I grew up and left home and could no longer track my tree’s growth, relying instead on occasional reports from my relatives. My uncle passed away a couple of decades later, and his house is no longer in our family. But I’d like to think my tree is still there where I had planted it, going strong.

I usually remember my tree around this time of year when the world turns green and Earth Day is on the horizon. I remember how hopeful and awestruck I felt those two times I received a sapling at school. Those memories help me feel less pessimistic now when I read the increasingly dire news about the climate change and the state of the earth.

Cultivating a Positive Attitude

Optimism and engagement are antidotes to discouragement, no matter the circumstance. When the news and data paint a dismal picture of how things are, it is up to us to create another kind of image—through the power of faith and imagination—of how they could be. This is our superpower as divine beings, to create our lives through the power of our thoughts and feelings.

Hopefulness and reverence fuel our desire to help, to believe real progress can be made. This Earth Day, I invite you to rekindle your reverence and appreciation for our precious planet earth. In prayer, bless the earth with thoughts of gratitude and pray for inspiration on how best to use your talents to help. And, of course, keep doing what you’re doing to help—recycle, conserve, volunteer, and donate to causes that are dedicated to improving the environment—and consider doing even more as your time and resources allow. Just do those things from a place of hope and empowerment, not hopelessness and fear.

And take heart. Together, we are capable of tremendous, lasting change—one thought, one feeling, and one tree at a time.

In 1959, at age 13, I became a teen star, best known for my hit record, “Pink Shoe Laces.” After several years of recording, touring, and movie and television appearances, fame had taken its toll. At 17, I quit show business. Shortly after that, I got married. My husband and I moved to Missouri, and I had a baby. By the time I was 21, I had gotten a divorce and moved back to California with my daughter, Stephanie.

I had hoped to resume my career. I had left as a teenager and returned as an adult, thinking that because I was older, I was better equipped to handle a celebrity lifestyle. But I soon discovered that, now, I was vulnerable to people in power, who abused their power to take advantage of young women like myself. After years of struggling to survive, I was at a low point when I knew things had to change. And I knew the only thing I could change was me.

Around that time, I met a metaphysician and Science of Mind practitioner who was in her 80s and full of wisdom. At our first meeting, she told me God is absolute, infinite love, not the God of wrath and vengeance I had been taught to fear. She had studied with Ernest Holmes and introduced me to Unity and Daily Word. I learned about the power of my mind, and how positive thoughts and words could help me transform my life and find peace, joy, and fulfillment.

A Profound Effect

Her teachings had a profound effect. She had helped me see how I was creating my reality by the words I was using, and she taught me to choose them carefully. She admonished me to never say, “I hate …” or “I can’t afford …” (which I found I had been saying quite often), because it would only keep me in anguish and poverty. She gave me positive affirmations, which I repeated daily. She said the most powerful affirmation I could ever use was to say “I am,” which means “God is,” and follow it only with statements of spiritual truth and the goodness of God.

My life changed almost overnight. I went from being negative and depressed to being happy and peaceful. With an optimistic attitude, I took control of my circumstances and created a life of good health, love, prosperity, and career fulfillment. I have remained active in the music industry for decades as a solo performer, background singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, and vocal coach. I also perform with Stephanie.

Divine order is within everyone and everything in the Universe. Worry and fear keep me in despair, so I put hope and faith in their place.

For the past 10 years I have focused on using the power of music to help heal the world. I have written songs about ending terrorism and stopping gun and racial violence. Other songs address peaceful change, acceptance, and equality. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I wrote and recorded an album of inspirational and motivational songs with Stephanie. We were getting ready to take it on the road as a musical lecture and concert when the pandemic changed everything.

Thanks to my spiritual understanding, I accepted the situation as an opportunity to turn the negative into a positive. My own experience has shown me music is therapeutic, stirring emotions and lasting in memory. It can reach people in a way mere words cannot. Singing adds to its healing power. I wrote more songs that might help and serve others.

Daily Word started my spiritual journey, and I still read it every morning and apply its messages in my life. Many of its lessons are reflected in my music, such as: Divine order is within everyone and everything in the Universe. Worry and fear keep me in despair, so I put hope and faith in their place. The present is a precious gift from God, and it’s up to us to choose what we do with it. What will you do with yours?

For most of my early adulthood, I turned up my nose at positive affirmations. They seemed silly and frivolous, like all the i’s should be dotted with little hearts. People who recited affirmations to themselves seemed naive. Later, I learned the reason I couldn’t look in a mirror and say “I am enough” wasn’t because I was too good for those ideas. It was because I didn’t believe them.

My judgment about affirmations was rooted in a deep well of negative self-talk that I had to work through before positive affirmations could resonate. I found my path toward self-acceptance and empowerment in the practice of releasing and affirming. Releases and affirmations operate on a simple principle: By acknowledging and releasing negative beliefs, you create space for positive affirmations to flourish.

By letting go of self-limiting beliefs, you create room for growth and transformation.

Beginning with Introspection

The process begins with introspection to confront the deep-seated insecurities and self-doubt that have shaped your self-image. The first step is releasing these negative beliefs with compassion and understanding. This requires honesty and vulnerability. By letting go of self-limiting beliefs, you create room for growth and transformation.

Crafting the Affirmation

The second step involves crafting positive affirmations that counteract the negativity you’ve released. These affirmations should be personalized and empowering, reflecting your inherent worth and potential. By affirming your strengths, values, and aspirations, you can shift your mindset toward one of self-love and acceptance.

Practicing releases and affirmations is not always easy. It requires patience and a willingness to confront discomfort. But with consistency and perseverance, it can gradually rewire your thought patterns.

Through my own journey, I have found immense value in practicing releases and affirmations. That’s why I created the Affirmation Generator, an interactive flip-book designed to support you in your journey toward self-compassion. With its pages of release statements and positive affirmations, the Affirmation Generator allows you to mix and match combinations that resonate with your unique experiences. With practice, you can transform your self-image and cultivate a mindset of positivity and possibility like never before.

Last month, I met with a group of aspiring Unity ministers, seminary students at Unity Worldwide Spiritual Institute. As part of their classwork, they were doing a deep dive into decades of Daily Word messages to discover how our description of spiritual truth has evolved over the years. I was invited to learn of their discoveries and discuss their takeaways.

One student researched how Daily Word covered the idea of letting go and letting God. She noted some changes over the years and one troubling similarity: The messages shared the idea that letting go is a good thing to do and assured readers they would feel better once they did it, but they didn’t share practical tips on what the process entails. For this student, it was a crucial piece, and I realized it might be for you too.

I asked my husband, a practicing psychotherapist, how he advises clients to let go and break the chains of rumination and obsessive thought. His advice was simple: Crowd out unwanted thoughts by replacing them with thoughts of what you do want instead of what you don’t. Fortunately, Unity teachings of denials and affirmations help us do exactly that. Denials, of course, don’t mean denying objective reality. For instance, there’s no point in declaring you’re not sick if you have a fever and a churning stomach. What you’re denying is the idea that illness has lasting power over you or is part of your divine identity. This awareness can be applied to any unwelcome situation. Repeating affirmations—positive statements of spiritual truth—will cause positive, empowering thoughts to grow in consciousness, crowding out rumination and quieting unwelcome thoughts, making it easier to let go.

Prayer is another way to give our concerns over to the presence of God within. There can be tremendous comfort in knowing we need not face our troubles and trials with our human faculties alone. The simple act of pouring out our worries in prayer can bring relief from carrying the burdens we’re holding onto. Prayer opens and relaxes us, creating a space for the light of spiritual truth to shine through and ultimately diminish our distressing thoughts.

Another thing that can make letting go difficult is the need for forgiveness, which can keep us bound to what we want most to release. It might help to examine our feelings around circumstances we can’t bring ourselves to let go. Is there a lingering grievance or an unresolved hurt caused by another? It could also be ourselves we struggle to forgive. Maybe we can’t let ourselves off the hook for a situation we helped create and now can’t find a way to fix. Either way, forgiveness helps us see the truth of all people and every situation. We are so much more than our mistakes and missteps. Forgiveness is a commitment to this truth.

Patience and Commitment

These three useful practices can help us let go. But perhaps the most important practice is patience. Just as you would not expect to undertake a fitness program and have a toned physique or rippling muscles after the first few workouts, you likely will not fully let go of something because you said affirmations for a few days or prayed a couple of times. Progress is gradual. Commitment is key. You will find that once you practice these methods regularly, you will see changes. The gains may be imperceptible before they become noticeable. Maybe you’ll find yourself sleeping better. Maybe you’ll feel lighter and more relaxed. You might grow more optimistic. All these changes indicate that, little by little, you are letting go.

It’s also important to remember you are not alone in this process. I encourage you to avail yourself of the wonderful resources Unity has to offer. If you’re having trouble releasing your concerns in prayer, call or write the Unity Prayer Ministry so they can pray with you. If you would like to fill your consciousness with uplifting words and practical affirmations, read Daily Word. And to receive the wisdom of spiritual leaders in Unity on a variety of topics, read our free monthly booklets, starting with 40 Days: Let Go, Let God, our Lent booklet for 2024, available now.

Filling your mind with positive spiritual truths will help you let go.  With practice and with patience, you will come into your own spiritual power, choosing your thoughts and creating your life.