James Dillet Freeman - Poet Laureate to the Moon
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I was introduced to the work of James Dillet Freeman as a young wife and mother. I was reading Norman Vincent Peale's Positive Imaging - and in that book, Dr. Peale quoted "The Prayer for Protection", which I quickly memorized.
Twenty years later, I found myself in a Unity Church group, and they closed their meetings holding hands in a circle, praying the "Prayer for Protection", the very same prayer I had memorized many years earlier.
Later, as I went through a very stressful period of my life, a dear friend brought me a recording of "I Am There". I almost wept the first time I heard it, and soon was playing it several times a day, clinging to it as if it were a lifeboat.
I am still a member of that little Unity group, and we still close our meetings with the familiar "Prayer of Protection". I am blessed indeed!
Twenty years later, I found myself in a Unity Church group, and they closed their meetings holding hands in a circle, praying the "Prayer for Protection", the very same prayer I had memorized many years earlier.
Later, as I went through a very stressful period of my life, a dear friend brought me a recording of "I Am There". I almost wept the first time I heard it, and soon was playing it several times a day, clinging to it as if it were a lifeboat.
I am still a member of that little Unity group, and we still close our meetings with the familiar "Prayer of Protection". I am blessed indeed!
I Am There
My personal favorite
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(Colonel James B. Irwin left a copy of this James Dillet Freeman poem on the moon - Apollo 15.)Do you need Me ?
I am there.
You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.
I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.
I am at work, though you do not understand My works.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.
Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me
as I AM, and then but as a feeling and a faith.
Yet I am here. Yet I hear. Yet I answer.
When you need ME, I am there.
Even if you deny Me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your fears, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.
I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.
I am in you, and you are in Me.
Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for
only in your mind are the mists of "yours" and "mine".
Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.
Empty your heart of empty fears.
When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.
You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.
And I AM in all.
Though you may not see the good, good is there, for
I am there. I am there because I have to be, because I AM.
Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of ME does the world go forward.
I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded.
I am the love that is the law's fulfilling. I am assurance.
I am peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by.
I am the love that you can cling to. I am your assurance.
I am your peace. I am ONE with you. I am.
Though you fail to find ME, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith in you never
wavers, because I know you, because I love you.
Beloved, I AM there.
James Dillet Freeman
James Dillet Freeman - from Wikipedia
James Dillet Freeman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Reverend James Dillet Freeman (1912 in Wilmington, Delaware - April 9, 2003) was a poet and a minister of the Unity Church, a New Thought denomination. He was a registered member of the Cherokee tribe.[citation needed]
Freeman was sometimes referred to as the "poet laureate to the moon" because his poems were twice brought to the moon, "a distinction he shares with no other author." [1]
His 1941 "Prayer for Protection" was taken aboard Apollo 11 in July 1969 by Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and a microfilm of Freeman's 1947 "I Am There" was left on the moon by James B. Irwin on Apollo 15. Freeman received the inspiration to write 'I Am There' during the death of his first wife Katherine.
Freeman's best known poems include "Blessings for a Marriage" [2]
and "The Traveller." [3]
The latter poem was written after one of Freeman's friends had died.
While James Dillet Freeman worked for Silent Unity and was a writer for the Unity magazine called Daily Word for most of his adult life, he proudly proclaimed on many occasions that he had never joined Unity, revelling in his independent nature and personifying a spirit present throughout Unity and the New Thought Movement.
Freeman's second wife, Billie, suffered from Alzheimer's disease for ten years. James Dillet Freeman wrote many moving articles about Billie's battle with the illness. He and Billie had no children. James Dillet Freeman died on April 9, 2003. He was 91 years of age.
The Reverend James Dillet Freeman (1912 in Wilmington, Delaware ? April 9, 2003) was a poet and a minister of the Unity Church, a New Thought denomination. He was a registered member of the Cherokee tribe. He was very proud of his Native American ancestry.
Freeman was some...
Blessing for a Marriage
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring,
and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another -
not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart,
may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence -
no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side,
and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another!
and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another -
not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.
So let it be with you and you.
May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart,
may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence -
no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side,
and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities.
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another!
Books from James Dillet Freeman
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The Prayer for Protection
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This is the prayer that Astronaut Edwin Aldrin had in his hands during his walk on the moon.Prayer for Protection
The Light of God surrounds Us
The Love of God enfolds Us
The Power of God protects Us
and the Presence of God watches over Us
Where ever we are God is! And all is well!
Amen.
James Dillet Freeman - on line
- James Dillet Freeman
- James Dillet Freeman
(1912-2003) The
"Poet Laurea - 'Protection' Print
- Painting for the Prayer of Protection
- Welcome to Unity: Your spiritual resource for positive living
- Unity helps people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Home of Silent Unity prayer ministry, Daily Word magazine, Unity Magazine, Unity Institute, and SpiritPath retreats.
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The Traveler
Male Version
He has put on invisibility.
Dear Lord, I cannot see-
But this I know, although the road
ascends
And passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take him gently by the
hand
And lead him on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And he will find it is not death but
dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as
here,
And You will hold him dear.
Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death, it is no
more
Than the opening and closing of a
door-
And in Your house how many rooms
must be
Beyond this one where we rest
momently.
Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith
that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its
own;
The love that, looking through the
shadows, sees
That You and he and I are ever one!
Dear Lord, I cannot see-
But this I know, although the road
ascends
And passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take him gently by the
hand
And lead him on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And he will find it is not death but
dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as
here,
And You will hold him dear.
Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death, it is no
more
Than the opening and closing of a
door-
And in Your house how many rooms
must be
Beyond this one where we rest
momently.
Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith
that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its
own;
The love that, looking through the
shadows, sees
That You and he and I are ever one!
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Favorite Quote from James Dillet Freeman
"Sometimes the answer to prayer is not that it changes life, but that it changes you."
What is your favorite by James Dillet Freeman?
submit
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Reply
- Heather426 Heather426 Oct 14, 2009 @ 7:28 pm
- Blessed by a new squid angel today! One of my squidoo favorites.
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Reply
- Heather426 Heather426 Apr 22, 2009 @ 1:01 am
- Joan,
Thank you for this lens! 5* James Dillet Freeman is my favorite poet. I was baptised in the Unity Church in 1981 in Bartlett, Tn. Have many of Mr. Freeman's works.
Here is one of my favorites:
Oneness
Search as I may, I cannot find
Where my body is and not my mind,
Is the flower not the vine as much as the root?
Are the branches less or more than the fruit?
Let any small leaf fall, the whole
Vine trembles. At the inmost soul
And center of life's being, none
Is less or more: we are all one.
Did You not say, Lord, You are the vine,
We are the branches, You are the wine!
To put on my humanity,
You had to share yourself with me;
I am the cup, and You are poured
In me, through me, over me, Lord.
~published in Daily Word, 1990
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- Shelly Shelly Feb 25, 2009 @ 10:01 am
- I particulary appreciated "Blessing for a Marriage", my husband and I are still newlyweds at 9 years. Little tensions just fall away when I say, 'you must love me very much', which serves well as that "first step back". What a nice way to start the day with prayers of the heart put to poetry. Actually I was in you "Black Elk" lens, enjoying that and was transported here, a nice detour. Thank you!
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- spirituality spirituality Jan 13, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
- Beautiful. Hadn't heard of this minister, but this is inspiring.
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Reply
- jacquelinestone jacquelinestone Jan 8, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
- Lovely, Joan, just lovely!
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Reply
- PatinKC PatinKC Oct 6, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
- Love the poems!
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Reply
- Carol Carol Sep 9, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
- Wonderful Joan!
We say the protection pray at the end of our service at Unity of Pittsburgh too.
Carol Wingert
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Reply
- GrowWear GrowWear Sep 6, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
- James Dillet Freeman's poetry is stunningly beautiful. Joan, yet again, you have succeeded in inspiring me with your work!
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Reply
- LesKremer LesKremer Sep 6, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
- great job
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Reply
- OhMe OhMe Sep 5, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
- Joan, this is a wonderful tribute to James Dillet Freeman. My favorite is the first one, "I Am There". 5*
by Joan4
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