Right where I am

Today I am working with the third section of our Bible Lesson about God. It contains the story of Daniel in the lions' den. This is a familiar story so I want to find something new and wonderful to consider about Daniel's experience.

Our Golden Text asssures us that God hears our prayers. Those prayers are not for His benefit, to inform Him of something He might not be aware of. Daniel didn't try to call God's attention to the problem he appeared to be dealing with. I'm sure he did not ask to be teleported to safety, not did he ask for the lions to be killed. He may have done some praying for the king but his own thought must have been free of resentment and fear. How did he do that in such a dark and frightening place? By affirming that he was never out of God's presence. Right where danger threatened, Daniel knew he had never left the kingdom of God where he could only be surrounded by good.

If you think you know nothing about God, remember He knows everything about you, at all times and under all circumstances. He fills all space so you can never be seperated by Him no matter how strong the suggestions appears to be.  Hold to that idea "until these calamities be overpast", as it says in Psalm 57:1.

Daniel was convinced of his own innocence. He was imprisioned because he chose to continue to pray to God three times a day, despite the silly law the king had decreed. He had not broken any law that applied to him and was not to be held accountable for any other so-called law that had no power behind it.

There is no other power or presence but God.  Mrs. Eddy writes in this section: "The power of God brings deliverence to the captive". That is what happens for Daniel, and also to the king, who sees the power of God exercised on Daniel's behalf as the angel of God, God's message of Truth and Love, shut the lions' mouths. Those hungry lions were pacified and calmed....fed by that Love divine....and they were not harmed by this experience either.

So today I will stop often, at least three times, to pray, to cultivate that state of awareness that acknowleges the allness of God, the everpresence of good right where I am at that moment. As I watch my 'grands' all day today (school starts up next week), as I gather up our Christmas decorations and put them away in bins. We take our prayers with us in all the mundane chores and as we meet the needs of the day. I am never alone, God is always with me. Emmanuel. I don't have to cower before the roaring and raging of evil. I can stand calm and secure that the same angels are working for me. I can claim my innnocence and dominion right where I am, because right where I am is with God. And I can know this is true for everyone else.