I’ve gotten into the habit of chanting the following when I’m lying in bed:
The Light of God surrounds me;
The Love of God enfolds me;
The Power of God protects me;
The Presence of God watches over me;
Wherever I am, God is!
And, all is well!
The aforementioned is known as the Prayer for Protection and it was written by James Dillet Freeman, a prolific poet, essayist, and columnist. I think some folks at Unity, who Freeman wrote for, added the last line, which sits well with me.
I’m somewhat familiar with the prayer, but because I was going to blog about it tonight, I thought I’d Google it. It was a fascinating and worthwhile search, one which I had to finally stop so that I could get to bed sometime while it was still Tuesday!
I learned some interesting history about the prayer, including that it was written for all soldiers during World War II, and there is a long version. “Prayer for Protection” is one of two Freeman compositions carried to the moon by Apollo astronauts. Mr. Freeman served Unity School of Christianity, the parent organization of the worldwide Unity movement, as a teacher, writer and speaker, and was an adventurous, spiritual, colorful character. Click here to read more about James Dillet Freeman.
I have found the prayer quite helpful. When I’m lying in bed with my mind still racing at 100 miles an hour, repeating the prayer several times calms me down and I soon fall fast asleep. If I feel fearful, it gets me back on track, for when God is everywhere that I am and all is well, what else matters? Therein is faith, and, where there is faith, fear can not exist.
To that I say, “Amen!” and “Goodnight!”