Of Power & Grace

Mother's Day dictates a lesson about mothers. When it doesn't work to talk about human mothers, that leave the principle of motherhood, the divine mother, or a mother of history who was amazing and did great things.
I have chosen the latter. An amazing mother who did great things. She said:

But, dear, I feel you are crowning me with an honor that belongs to the Holy Spirit-- . . . which expresses in the loving desires of the hearts of all those who are endeavoring to manifest the Mother side of God! You call me the mother of Unity! . . . in reality, I feel that I am only the soul who caught the first vision of this ministry, and who nurtured that vision until others came along to help in the establishment of it in the minds and hearts of our dear ones (Letters of Myrtle Fillmore., by Myrtle Fillmore, [1936], http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/unity/lmf/index.htm

Those are the words of Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity.
History says she was an equal partner in the founding and ongoing development of the prayer ministry, property development, and services provided. She is often called “the Mother of Unity.”

Myrtle Fillmore was a woman of power!
Her life stands as an example of what people may become when we are expressing our best! She said,Given wise and loving mothers, orderly and harmonious homes, we could eventually dispense with primitive laws and corrective outlays (How to Let God Help You 176-7)

Myrtle could be said to be a late bloomer in her spirituality.
Her early life was clouded by disease; tuberculosis at a young age
Still she finished high school, attended a year of college
all that was available then to women,received her teaching license,and
accepted a teaching post in Clinton, MO

Illness continued through the early years of her marriage to Charles. She was
42 when she attended a lecture by a Christian Science practitioner, Eugene B. Weeks.
I must have been fully ready for the initial lesson, for it filled and satified all empty, hungry longings of my soul and heart. There is nothing in human language able to express the vastness of my possibilities, as they unroll before me.(HTLGHU 5) In her process she used the affirmation, I am a child of God; therefore I do not inherit sickness. Through spiritual means she healed herself of tuberculosis.

Yes, Myrtle Fillmore was a woman of power, and an example of the power that each of us has within, that is always available. As she said, human language cannot express the vastness of our possibilities.

Myrtle was also a woman of Vision
She said, From the moment I perceived the healing law I could not let my neighbors alone. If there was anything the matter with them, it had to be put aright; they had to know that there is a better way.(TBLW 6)
She could not avoid sharing the message and the ideas.
Martha Smock wrote about Myrtle that she “Led the way. . . she led the way with her changed life and thought (Torch Bearer to Light the Way 149)
Yet neither Myrtle nor Charles claimed any special revelation;
no claim that she could do something that no one else could do.
It is my great joy to perceive somewhat of the mother side of God--the divine love that never fails and that is equal to the drawing of souls to itself. It is my prayer to be able to radiate the qualities of this divine love to all. You too are the mother of Unity, because in your heart you have the same ideals, and the same great generous spirit, and the endless and tireless service, and the love that never fails! The mother (Letters of Myrtle Fillmore 3) of Unity is the universal mother.
She taught classes, wrote for and edited Wee Wisdom magazine for children and Unity magazine. She worked for a salary along with the other workers.
Yet it was her vision and dedication to the work that co-founded a spiritual movement that today encompasses a 24-hour prayer ministry that is 120 years old, and an educational ministry that offers classes at Unity Village and on line. It's sister organization, the Association of Unity Churches International supports churches such as Unity Christ Church with products, programs, and resources.

Yes, Myrtle Fillmore was a woman of vision, and an example of what the vision in each of us, of what we can become by focusing our attention on developing our conscious connection with Spirit within.

Yes, Myrtle was a woman of vision, AND she was a woman of Grace

May Rowland was the head of Silent Unity, the 24 hour prayer ministry, said of Myrtle, She had a way of stopping and patting people on the shoulder as they worked. . . She was vitally interested in everybody, in all the workers here. (TBLW 151)

Myrtle wrote to one of her correspondents,
I think you are trying to give me too much credit for your poise, happiness, and success! Of course I am happy to have been privileged to write to you and pray with you and rejoice with you over demonstrations. But I know that it is God in the midst of you doing His perfect work who is responsible for the good (LMF 7).

Myrtle's humility was rooted in her conviction that students can easily fall into the trap of crediting their teachers for their progress rather than the teaching itself. Myrtle was aware that such crediting can take the attention of the student away from the Source or Spirit, and keep them wandering instead of arriving at their goal.

It has been said of Myrtle that until the day before she died at age 86 she reported for work daily, maintained an infectious, joyous presence, a way of being that had its impact on those around her.

Yes, Myrtle Fillmore was a woman of power, of vision, and of grace. She was the mother of three boys, who brought in her mother-in-law to help with the family when Charles and she agreed she should use her talents outside the home.

She was a 19th century woman of great spiritual development. She can serve as a shining example of validity of prayer, healing ability of Spirit when we focus on our spiritual practice of silence and denying the power of the condition and affirming the health and vitality of the spirit of Life within us, what can be accomplished with a vision and unswerving dedication to the integrity of the message;
Living a life of inspiration and dedication.

She may have been a 19th century woman, but her teachings and examples are timeless. She truly deserves to be called the mother of Unity, and is a great example to all who wish to manifest the Mother side of God, the Holy Spirit.