Cherish the moment!

ONCE I got in touch with an editor about doing a series of articles on the success of women in a certain field where men were seen as the prominent achievers. The idea was welcomed, but when I considered the research, interviews, and time entailed I began to feel inadequate. The project and the time needed to research the subject looked more and more formidable as I got into the work. I was learning through my study of Christian Science that I could trust the power of God, infinite Mind, to guide me in my life. This task was a worthy one, and so I could look to divine law for support in completing my work.

I headed to the typewriter with the thought that at least I could start with the title! Next the overall concept of the series began to develop clearly. A regular schedule for work was established, and I adhered to it in the days ahead. The series was completed and proved successful. It had started with a moment of unselfish desire to report the gains being made in equality of opportunity.

To the degree that a purpose grows out of and promotes a spiritual understanding of God and man, it has behind it the vitality and strength of the universal Principle of all good, God Himself. In a sense, divine goodness creates its own opportunities, and we discern these as we're receptive to divine direction and impulsion. The power of God, felt in prayer, dissolves clouds of doubt and self-depreciation. The good we are capable of is inherent in our true individuality and delivers us from the temptation to waste hours in trivial involvements that would rob us of precious moments lived to bless mankind.

Reaching out for something better than the merry-go-round of materiality, we find the truth that Christ Jesus gave to Nicodemus: ``Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.''1

``The new birth is not the work of a moment,'' writes Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. ``It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.''2

These moments of a new birth turn our thoughts to healing, the legacy that the Master left to his followers with the command ``Heal the sick.''3 Healing comes as we yield in prayer to spiritual truth, as we glimpse something of the harmony and health that characterize our real selfhood as God's likeness -- the God-imparted perfection already present and forever established. Moments spent in prayer and in study of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, inspire us to dedicate more time to those pursuits that nurture spiritual growth and that result in healing for ourselves and others.

Regeneration of thought helps us to remain faithful to times set aside for helping others. Consistent practice in the consecration of moments grows more natural and rules out encroachment on those hours destined to yield harvests of unselfish works, including the healing of sin and sickness.

As a woman who graduated from years of poverty and semi-invalidism to be recognized as a world religious leader, establishing this newspaper in her eighty-eighth year, Mrs. Eddy could write from her own experience, ``Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon the improvement of moments more than upon any other one thing.'' And she says further, ``If one would be successful in the future, let him make the most of the present.''4

Shouldn't we cherish each moment?

1John 3:3. 2Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15. 3Matthew 10:8. 4Mis., p. 230.

You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritence: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23,24