IN Acts, Peter speaks of "the times of refreshing" which "shall come from the presence of the Lord." Just what these "times" and this "presence" imply, Christians have not always known. To so-called mortal mind, with its beliefs that time almost invariably brings weariness and that evil is ever close at hand, the picture Peter presents has seemed almost impossible of realization.
At the beginning of a new year most men stop for a few moments at least to consider the losses and gains of time passed and to look forward with a hope of better things to come. Immediately the thought of time as a tremendous factor in their experience presses in upon them; and if they are wise they will pursue all their calculations from the hopeful standpoint which Christian Science reveals, that added years should always mean added good. Time passed should be made to yield a rich fruitage in helpful lessons learned and truths established, while time to come should ever be anticipated as affording rich opportunity for yet greater progress in every line of right endeavor.
When the Psalmist declared, "My times are in thy hand.... Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee," he certainly caught a glimpse of the joy which must come to all those who realize something of the omnipresence of God's love and care. To have one's life always going on with the consciousness that each moment may be understood as under God's blessed control is to have struck a deathblow at the beliefs of discouragement and failure which claim to be the too frequent companions of earthly experience.
