To many people the New Year is an opportunity for a new beginning. Hope becomes enlivened with anticipation for the good believed to be forthcoming in the future. And if the preceding year has been filled with ill health, lack, and frustration, it is believed that time will in some way correct these nagging errors. But how often it is found that this material sense of good, so eagerly anticipated at the beginning of the year, turns out at its end to be illusive and unattainable!
As people gain an understanding of Christian Science, however, they approach the New Year—yes, each new day—with a more spiritual and scientific outlook. When trials come to them, they are eager to learn the grand lessons that the trials teach. As they are ready to awaken to the spiritual fact that God's law of unfolding good is governing the order of each day, trials become opportunities for proving what their Father-Mother God is doing for them and for all individuals.
The definition of "year" in Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy gives the student an insight into the way God's resources of good may be brought to light. First, Mrs. Eddy points to the material view or mortal measurement and includes the words, "space for repentance."Science and Health, p. 598; Secondly, in pointing to the spiritual view, she says, "Eternity is God's measurement of soul-filled years."p. 599;
