For years, I was negatively contributing to strangers’ visible difficulties. Sometimes, I’d sit in my car at a traffic light and a homeless person standing on the sidewalk would start talking or screaming to themselves. I’d look over at them and instead of sending love, I’d either judge them or pretend they didn’t exist. I was not in line with God’s love or Unity’s principles when I responded like this. 

Unity has five principles:

• “God is.”
• “I AM.”
• Law of Mind Action (LMA)/”I Think.”
• Affirmative Prayer/”I Pray.”
• Living the Truth/”I LIVE!”

We’ll explore the first principle in the first blog in this Unity Principles series. 

“God Is”

“There is only one presence and one power active as the universe and as my life; God the Good, Omnipotence.” 

God is in every being, even in that politician who has us scratching our heads at their comments and actions. 

Spiritual author Ben Jamison said in Living the First Principle, “As the one power, God is not only everything you see but also the power behind everything you do. Whether moving your eyes to read this page, beating your heart while you sleep, or birthing the universe, Spirit is the power behind all of it. It’s not a different power for each example, but the one power in all. The same power that created all life can be used to take life—as well as to accomplish mundane tasks. There is, after all, only one power.”

God is unconditional love and God is everywhere. Suddenly, compassion overtook me when I sat at a traffic light on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater on a sunny afternoon as a homeless woman paced back and forth talking to herself on a sidewalk. I looked over at her and said to myself, “She must be so lonely. She feels invisible. She wants what all of us want—love.” 

I continued to observe her as she stopped pacing and sat on a bench. And I sent her just a touch of love. 

I wasn’t comfortable interacting with a person I knew nothing about so I just sat there in my car and said, “I see you, Girlfriend, and I’m sending you love.” Then I imagined the love I sent her touching her heart. I saw God in her. I saw her as a spiritual being. 

Imagine the number of people we could uplift if we just started small acts of love. That starts by living as though we are all one and remembering that God/Spirit/Universe is in everybody. There is no lack of Spirit. 

As you go about your day, think about ways you can uplift a stranger with a little touch of love. And put it into practice. Ever since I had my awakening moment in Clearwater, I’ve made it a habit to send loving thoughts to a homeless person and/or someone publicly struggling with mental illnesses. Love and light are powerful, healing and life-changing. 

Ways to Practice What This Blog Preaches 

• Stop seeing a person’s problems and start seeing God in them. 
• Luke 6:31 “Treat others just as you want to be treated.” 
• Remind yourself throughout the day that God is the present moment and God is in every being. 
• Go out there and love! When you’re in the grocery store, send loving energy to that person blocking the aisle and to that person who is upset about the mismarked price of cereal; when you’re in the car line dropping your kid off at school, send love to all the children there and when you’re at work as hard as it might be, remember that God is even in your most difficult co-workers. 
• Meditate and pray about the first principle.
• Look deep within and see where you could use some improvement in this principle, and get to work.

Here’s a little bit of motivation from Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act with Just a Touch of Love by C+C Music Factory.