WHO among us would consent to being robbed of any good thing that was rightfully ours? The minute we became conscious of any such effort, how stoutly we would resist, how vehemently we would maintain our rights of possession and ownership! Yet not infrequently students of Christian Science are robbed of an immeasurable amount of good through the subtle argument of lack of time for spiritual study and activity. Often we hear the remark, "I just can't find time to read the Lesson-Sermon daily," or, "I'll try to find time to study." Once we become aware that these limiting arguments emanate from mortal mind and thus are false, and that they are depriving us of the opportunity to gain a greater demonstrable understanding of God, we are taking the first step towards proving our dominion over the mortal concept, time.
There is no limitation in the infinite divine Mind. It must follow, then, that man, the image of the unlimited or infinite, cannot reflect anything limited or finite. Our true activity, work, or business is to acknowledge this truth and to reject anything contrary to it. We cannot imagine intelligent divine Principle imposing a time limit or making it impossible for right activity to be accomplished. This would be inconsistent and not in accord with the divine order. The real man is never limited in the reflection of God-given activity.
Mary Baker Eddy's definition of "time" found in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" is as follows (p. 595): "Time. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before, and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal disappears and spiritual perfection appears." Here we see that time is a belief of mortal mind which claims to limit man, his life and activity. The student of Christian Science should be as alert in handling this claim of mortal mind as he is in handling any other claim of lack or limitation, whether it be lack of health, lack of goodness, or lack of supply.
There are occasions when we fail to accomplish needed and vital tasks because we lose sight of the unlimited nature of man's true being and listen to and accept the arguments of limitation. We should deny these arguments and open our thought to the unlimited nature of spiritual man, who is the only real man. The man of God's creating can never experience lack of anything good and necessary, for the good that is God is invariably reflected by him. If we would demonstrate this scientific fact of the unlimited nature of man, it is essential to be sure of two things: first, that we put first things first, and secondly, that we do not waste precious moments.
Jesus said (Matt. 6:33), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The Master knew that activity is spiritual, the continuous expression or reflection of the all-acting God. As we glimpse this spiritual truth, our human activity is freed from the false demands of time, which would limit our every effort. This argument of limited time would rob the Cause of Christian Science of able workers, and we must be alert to see its falsity. Paul tells us that in God "we live, and move, and have our being." In Him there can be no finity or limitation. To strive above all else to understand and demonstrate this fact is to seek first the kingdom of God.
A young student of Christian Science proved during the recent world conflict the falsity of this argument of lack of time. He had been sent to an Officer Candidate School under a program where men were commissioned at the end of ninety days. Great stress was laid upon the fact that there was little time, and that it would be necessary to work day and night to complete the course. The daily schedule started at five-thirty in the morning and continued with classes and study until eleven o'clock at night. Under these trying circumstances the young man soon found he was not doing well and seemed in imminent danger of failing in some of his subjects. He realized that owing to the urgency of the work at hand he had been neglecting his daily study of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly. The only opportunity he had found for study was on Sundays, when there was a break in the schedule.
After some earnest, prayerful thought he reached the decision to read the Lesson daily. He realized that his need was not for more time but for a greater understanding of God, Mind, that he might reflect more clearly the intelligence of Mind. The next morning he placed his Bible, Science and Health, and the Quarterly with his school-books. At the first study period allotted to him he put aside his schoolbooks and started to read the Lesson. Several times the suggestion came that he could not afford to do this, as he needed to study technical subjects; but he immediately rejected it and continued until he had completed the entire Lesson. Each day he was faithful in his efforts to take whatever time was necessary for spiritual things in the periods given for study, and within a very short time he found that as a result of his increasing understanding of God as Mind and of man as the reflection of the all-knowing Mind, or intelligence, he was getting better marks. Later he graduated from this school with a high rating. No additional hours were added to this young man's day, nor was he given less to do. Here was proof that taking time for spiritual study increases our efficiency.
The importance of not wasting or idling away precious moments is easily understood through a close study of Mrs. Eddy's writings, which clearly emphasize the great stress she laid upon using every moment to good advantage. In "Miscellaneous Writings" she states (p. 230), "Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon the improvement of moments more than upon any other one thing." Yet perhaps each of us can recall precious moments that have been wasted or idled away. How familiar is the suggestion, "I have just five minutes, and that isn't time enough to do any studying." Let us not be robbed any longer by this kind of thinking. In five minutes we could read a page of the Bible or of Science and Health and receive needed inspiration. Think what five minutes of earnest prayer several times a day would do for each one of us, for each branch church, for the world! No time is ever too short to turn our thought to God. Today each may begin to do his part in bringing God's kingdom on earth. Surely we have more than five minutes each day in which earnestly to pray for the salvation of the world.
The unlimited nature of man's true being is an established fact, and in the degree that we perceive it we overcome the lack and limitation of a false, material sense of life and experience the boundlessness of spiritual existence. Let us begin this moment to study our Lesson daily and to do God's work, thus hastening the coming of that day prophesied by John when he wrote (Rev. 10:5, 6): "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer."
