Peace Pilgrim

Mildred Norman felt called to promote peace when she was 44 years old. She left her home and for thirty years, walked tens of thousands of miles throughout America teaching about peace. Depending on the kindness of strangers, she wore only the clothes on her back and carried a few possessions in her tunic which read, “Peace Pilgrim.

She said, “ I belong to no organization. I have said that I will walk until given shelter and fast until given food, remaining a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace. And I can truthfully tell you that without ever asking for anything, I have been supplied with everything needed for my journey, which shows you how good people really are

“With me I carry always my peace message: This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. There is nothing new about this message, except the practice of it. And the practice of it is required not only in the international situation but also in the personal situation. I believe that the situation in the world is a reflection of our own immaturity. If we were mature, harmonious people, war would be no problem whatever - it would be impossible.”

Her thoughts are worth considering as we journey to peace.

• Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.

• As I lived up to the highest light I had, higher and higher light came to me.

• For light I go directly to the Source of light, not to any of the reflections.

• Humanity has only scratched the surface of its real potential.

• If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.

• My appointed work is to awaken the divine nature that is within.

• No one can find inner peace except by working, not in a self- centered way, but for the whole human family.

• One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history.

• Praying without ceasing is not ritualized, nor are there even words. It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God.

• Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return.

• The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one's life.

• The way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things.

• There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace? • There is something to that old saying that hate injures the hater, not the hated.

• To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not just your possessions. When you at last give your life - bringing into alignment your beliefs and the way you live then, and only then, can you begin to find inner peace.

© Carol Brown