Why didn't the angels stay after they proclaimed "Peace on earth.." on the birth of Christ-consciousness? I would have said to them, "Hey, sweet spirits. We'd love to have peace on earth. Show us how!"
You can pray till the end of this creation for peace on earth and it will not come if you pray amiss. And that's what we have done. Every religion claims to be praying for peace on earth, and we still don't have it. Shouldn't that cause us to ponder why these prayers for peace have not brought peace on earth?
We're not going to have peace until we are really ready to be peacemakers. We cannot expect someone else to make peace on earth for us. First, we have to make peace with ourselves, within our own heart, and find out what we are entertaining in our imagination all day long. Some of us say, "O yes, I have prayed, but nothing has changed for the better." My response to that is, "Have you changed? Have your prayers changed you? Can you say you have fulfilled the condition of forgiving?" If your prayers have not borne fruit, look at that condition carefully. So long as we harbor ill will or jealousy toward any living being, we prevent ourselves from enjoying the peace, freedom, and love we claim to long for.
We may say, "But I love everyone else." You know it takes only one drop of poison to poison the whole cup of tea or milk. So it takes just one resentment toward any living being to pollute the consciousness and render prayer ineffective. So first, fill your consciousness with true peace. You can only receive that for which you have unfolded the awareness or consciousness or affinity. The truly peaceful state of consciousness is what becomes a peacemaker, not mere words alone asking for peace.
