Let Peace Begin With Me
A difficult, traumatic childhood and a failed marriage caused 31 year-old Jill Jackson Miller, an actress, deep emotional distress. “When I attempted suicide [in 1944] and didn’t succeed,” Jill said, “I knew, for the first time, unconditional love – which God is. You are totally loved, totally accepted, just the way you are. In the moment I was not allowed to die, something happened to me which is very difficult to explain. I had an eternal moment of truth, in which I knew I was loved, and I knew I was here for a purpose.” This life-changing moment gave Jill a new perspective and a sincere interest in seeking spiritual solutions for life’s inevitable challenges.
She happily remarried and in 1955, Jill and her husband, Sy Miller, heard this statement on the radio: “If peace were to manifest as reality, it first had to live in the heart of an individual and be consciously practiced.” That thought inspired them to composed the endearing song:
Let There Be Peace On Earth
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me;
the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony.
Let this be the moment now, with every step I take let this be my solemn vow — to take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!
Pysanky Symbolism
The Rose symbolizes God and His eternal, infinite, cosmic nature as light, peace, joy and unconditional love. The golden-orange expansion of the Rose symbolizes the spiritual principle that divine qualities such as peace, love and joy increase when concentrated upon. By the concentrated focus of meditation, symbolized by the pysanka’s background lace, awareness of the presence of peace within increases and expands into joy and unconditional love.
Click the link above to participate in a short but very beautiful meditation.
“God is love. Every saint who has penetrated to the core of Reality has testified that a divine universal plan exists and that it is beautiful and full of joy.”
—Paramahansa Yogananda
Copyright © 2020 Nancy Kopack.
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