Here today, here tomorrow
A Christian Science perspective.
So much of what we see and hear on every front is telling us that what we have today might be gone tomorrow, be it work, money, or home; that all of our honest efforts to live a life of integrity could be destroyed by some untoward event; that even if the past year was a good one, that’s no guarantee the next one will be.
Do we have to accept that while one day things are looking up, tomorrow could plunge into a downward spiral, taking promise and hope with it? My heart, which knows deep inside that God, our divine Father-Mother, gives only good to His-Her precious children – each of us – shouts a definitive no. Our inseparable unity with God is a solid basis for prayer, which brings freedom from the cruel and unjust assertion that for every good there is an evil.
Although there is a law of physics that says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction – that for every building up there is a tearing down, or for every progressive step there is a decline – my experience and study of the Bible and Christian Science have taught me that there is another law. This is God’s spiritual law – the action of permanent goodness, perfection, and harmony, which is able to silence physical laws as controllers of life.
Monitor founder Mary Baker Eddy was dedicated to helping others grasp the concept of God’s allness and its power to heal and maintain lives for the better without interruption. She wrote: “Let us remember that God – good – is omnipotent; therefore evil is impotent. There is but one side to good, – it has no evil side; there is but one side to reality, and that is the good side.
“God is All, and in all: that finishes the question of a good and a bad side to existence” (“Christian Healing,” p. 10).
Prayer gives us the spiritual authority to lift our thought above dark images of decline and retrogression to our God-bestowed growth in grace – the only reality we truly have and can never lose.
Mrs. Eddy continues on the same page: “If you wish to be happy, argue with yourself on the side of happiness; take the side you wish to carry, and be careful not to talk on both sides, or to argue stronger for sorrow than for joy. You are the attorney for the case, and will win or lose according to your plea.”
The spiritual law of one good side and its action supports the prayerful plea for ourselves and our neighbors near and far. It is always operating to reveal our true freedom and peace, even in the midst of opposing and obstructing tyranny and violence that would bring down sincere actions for economic, social, political, and religious reforms.
Our prayerful plea for our indestructible relationship with God can result in the reversal of trends – whether economic, social, or political – headed in destructive directions, and nurture honest leadership and deepened family and community values wherever found and however small. The Christ – the all-power and presence of divine good operating unspent in our lives – sees and knows nothing but God’s mercy and benevolence. There can be no reversal of this, because whatever seems to have the power to wear us out or to cause the God-given good in our lives to run out is powerless in the presence of the Christ.
Praying in this way can brighten our vision for 2012. We can be better attorneys for ourselves and others by mentally and spiritually taking “the side [we] wish to carry.” All that God gives is here today – and not gone tomorrow – and this will never change.
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