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JULY - UNDERSTANDING
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein
Philipians 4:7
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Mark 12:33
To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Understanding
The Spiritual Idea for July
The Spiritual Idea for July
The Spiritual Idea for July
Understanding—The ability to know, perceive, and apprehend.
The Disciple for July
The Spiritual Idea for July
The Spiritual Idea for July
The disciple is Thomas.
He represents the ability to see beyond appearances to reality.
The corresponding color is gold.
The corresponding color is gold.
The corresponding color is gold.
Location is the brain.
The corresponding color is gold.
The corresponding color is gold.
from the minister's desk . . .
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
Marie Curie
Take What You’ve Learned and Put it All Together
Build Something to Stand On
By Winifred Wilkinson Hausmann
(excerpted from Your God-Given Potential)
Understanding is important in developing our spiritual nature, because it is the faculty that puts feet under our prayers and gives our spiritual activity something to stand on.
Blind faith, faith without understanding of the spiritual laws, may get results on occasion, but our spiritual growth demands a base that is more dependable … understanding that is grounded in spiritual Truth.
Thomas … is the disciple who stands for the faculty of understanding. A study of his contact with Jesus gives us some insight into the way we must develop our own ability to think and learn to make deductions and draw conclusions so that we may awaken this spiritual quality in us.
Thomas didn’t always have spiritual understanding, but he wanted to learn. He didn’t mind asking questions, and he listened to Jesus’ answers … Thomas is probably best known for doubting the news of the Resurrection when he heard it secondhand from the other disciples. Jesus respected Thomas’ need to know firsthand …Thomas … is the disciple who stands for the faculty of understanding. A study of his contact with Jesus gives us some insight into the way we must develop our own ability to think and learn to make deductions and draw conclusions so that we may awaken this spiritual quality in us.
Thomas didn’t always have spiritual understanding, but he wanted to learn. He didn’t mind asking questions, and he listened to Jesus’ answers … Thomas is probably best known for doubting the news of the Resurrection when he heard it secondhand from the other disciples. Jesus respected Thomas’ need to know firsthand …
Understanding Begins with Questioning
The awakening of our own faculty of understanding starts with questioning—questioning the old ways of thinking that may have been taken for granted … The desire for understanding leads to thinking about what is learned and seeking to put it all together in a body of information that will provide a basis for living.
Understanding is different from … wisdom. Charles Fillmore defines wisdom as “intuitive knowing; spiritual intuition,” and understanding as “the ability of the mind to apprehend and realize the laws of thought and the relation of ideas to one another” (The Revealing Word, Unity Books, 1959).
To put it more simply, wisdom knows … Understanding knows why … When your understanding is developed in both head and feet, not only will you have the light in mind, but you will also have the ability to apply it in your world.
A Meditation on the Power of Understanding
By Rev. Bronte Colbert
In this moment I pause and call upon my spiritual gift of divine understanding for insights into my daily journey.
If I'm not sure of the path to take, which decision to make, or what words to say, I allow spiritual understanding to guide my mind and heart. Understanding takes me to deeper levels of compassion, non-judgment, and connection to others.
I use the faculty of understanding to see beyond human appearances and into the light of Truth. I perceive and am grateful for the gifts, the joys, and the presence of the Divine in every event or circumstance.
Affirm: With spiritual understanding, I see myself and others with compassion.
Be blessed.
Your Minister
“Rev.”
Reverend Helen R. Cooper