August 2008 ~ Myrtle
As you can see, the word I have chosen for this month’s jotting is a familiar one… the name of a woman who was born on August 6, 1845 in a small town in Ohio… a town that was founded by this woman’s father and given her family name. It was called Paigetown.
Today the town is gone, except for a small graveyard where Myrtle’s parents and some of her siblings are buried. However, if you go there today, you will find a placard along the highway that was erected by the Ohio Historical Society in honor of Myrtle Paige Fillmore, the co-founder of the Unity movement.
Between the years of 1990 and 1995, Wayne and I served the Unity church in Columbus, Ohio. Soon after we arrived in Columbus, we made the 30 mile trip to Paigetown and visited the graveyard. A tall obelisk had been erected over the grave of Myrtle’s parents, apparently without a solid footer. It was leaning badly. We had already formed a Heritage Team at the church and so we called them together and told them about the gravestone. We decided to have an auction to raise the funds needed to have it reset. The auction was a success and soon the obelisk was standing straight and tall. Each year on an August Sunday, which we called Heritage Sunday, we led a “pilgrimage” to Paigetown and visited the graveyard of our co-founder. We made a circle and sang her favorite song, “The Song of Faith,” written by Hannah More Kohaus.
Myrtle was a woman of faith. When she first heard the words that gave rise to her healing affirmation, she believed them, she trusted them, she lived them, she shared them and she was healed. Her affirmation is embedded in the Unity story and goes like this: I am a child of God. Therefore, I do not inherit sickness. To a woman who had been told from childhood that she had inherited tuberculosis and who had lived to see it manifest, this truth of her divine inheritance was life changing.
Most of us have inherited something that “runs in the family.” Myrtle’s affirmation is as powerful today as it was when she created it. Believing it, trusting it, living and sharing it is our work. Without the work, the words are just words. Using the words to ground ourselves in faith, they become stepping stones to freedom and wholeness.
jbm
Today the town is gone, except for a small graveyard where Myrtle’s parents and some of her siblings are buried. However, if you go there today, you will find a placard along the highway that was erected by the Ohio Historical Society in honor of Myrtle Paige Fillmore, the co-founder of the Unity movement.
Between the years of 1990 and 1995, Wayne and I served the Unity church in Columbus, Ohio. Soon after we arrived in Columbus, we made the 30 mile trip to Paigetown and visited the graveyard. A tall obelisk had been erected over the grave of Myrtle’s parents, apparently without a solid footer. It was leaning badly. We had already formed a Heritage Team at the church and so we called them together and told them about the gravestone. We decided to have an auction to raise the funds needed to have it reset. The auction was a success and soon the obelisk was standing straight and tall. Each year on an August Sunday, which we called Heritage Sunday, we led a “pilgrimage” to Paigetown and visited the graveyard of our co-founder. We made a circle and sang her favorite song, “The Song of Faith,” written by Hannah More Kohaus.
God is my help in ev’ry need,
God does my ev’ry hunger feed.
God walks beside me, guides my way,
Through ev’ry moment of the day.
God is my health, I can’t be sick,
God is my strength, unfailing, quick.
God is my All, I know no fear,
Since God, and Love and Truth are here.
Myrtle was a woman of faith. When she first heard the words that gave rise to her healing affirmation, she believed them, she trusted them, she lived them, she shared them and she was healed. Her affirmation is embedded in the Unity story and goes like this: I am a child of God. Therefore, I do not inherit sickness. To a woman who had been told from childhood that she had inherited tuberculosis and who had lived to see it manifest, this truth of her divine inheritance was life changing.
Most of us have inherited something that “runs in the family.” Myrtle’s affirmation is as powerful today as it was when she created it. Believing it, trusting it, living and sharing it is our work. Without the work, the words are just words. Using the words to ground ourselves in faith, they become stepping stones to freedom and wholeness.
jbm
posted by Wayne Manning at 7:15 PM
