Jesus healed quickly those who sought healing, and today there are many documented accounts of quick healing through prayer. There are times too, of course, when healing has come slowly. But we do know that in either case, as we have sought healing through prayer, we have found an increasing awareness of God's nearness as truths of His nature and knowing have unfolded in our consciousness. Is this unfoldment culminating in healing less precious or complete if the healing is not rapid? Of course not. Whether the continuing and constant unfoldment of spiritual realities is manifested quickly or slowly in changes on the human scene, the unfoldment is no less genuine or satisfying.
Christ Jesus assured us we have the kingdom
of God within us. None is a favored or favorite
son; none is left out or shut out of the kingdom
that God has given to His beloved likeness, man.
The creative unfoldment of ideas that, when cherished, takes form in our experience as healing may be likened to what occurs in the very first chapter of Genesis. There we are told of the evenings and mornings of the six days that preceded the day when God saw the perfection and completeness of His creation and was well pleased with the infinitude of His own good.
In a paragraph of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, bearing the marginal heading "Evenings and mornings," Mrs. Eddy writes, "The successive appearing of God's ideas is represented as taking place on so many evenings and mornings—words which indicate, in the absence of solar time, spiritually clearer views of Him, views which are not implied by material darkness and dawn." Science and Health, p. 504
Some smaller lessons can be drawn from this grand explanation of divine creation. If we have thought progress to be slow, isn't it wise for us to cease measuring time and matter, and begin instead to be grateful for an evening and morning experience? If we are actively depending on divine Science to heal us, we know we are actually entering into the presence of God—what a holy day! This deep spiritual commitment and trust must inevitably be followed by a holy Sabbath rest when in quiet reflection on His allness we too will realize that all God has made is very good. Then we too will find we are well pleased with His creation—its completeness and perfection proving the perfection of the creator.
To the struggling heart, the "evening" periods of demonstration may seem times of weariness and even anxiety about what lies ahead. Then mortal mind may present to the human consciousness arguments for dissatisfaction, discouragement, or dismay.
At such moments the still, small voice may remind us that God's first command was "Let there be light." Gen. 1:3 We have a God-given right to light, spiritual enlightenment. But we do need to affirm gratefully its power to pierce the darkness—in fact, its omnipresence, denying all darkness. Our first affirmations of the truths of spiritual being, our first efforts to identify ourselves as God's spiritual expression, man, not as persons who live in matter, bring the first rays of dawn that precede the day. Then the phenomena of the darkness fade away, and the realities of God's realm of Spirit become increasingly clear. Dispelling the erroneous concepts of the dark promises the full coming of day. The first part of the definition of day in the Glossary of Science and Health reads, "The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love." Science and Health, p. 584
Pointing to this eternal "day," our working days, in Christian Science, are simply opportunities to be gainfully employed, opportunities to use the tools we have been given for spiritual enrichment. We have, as certain guides, the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings with their divine illumination. Perhaps—too—some truths from a lecture bring us comfort, or an article in one of our periodicals opens new vistas for us.
We can acknowledge divine Love's presence and ability to meet our human need; we can claim and use God-derived qualities of courage, resolve, spiritual energy, fortitude, and steadfastness. We can be grateful for moment-by-moment opportunities to cast out of thought the lies of matter and mortality, which would deny the allness of God and His goodness. We can be alert to reject every suggestion that would argue our separation from God. St. Paul assures us that "we have the mind of Christ." I Cor. 2:16 And we demonstrate the presence of this divine intelligence when we hold to good alone and reject every evil belief that would defile the pure idea of man as the image and likeness of God.
Days or periods of seeking spiritual unfoldment and putting this prayer into practice are days of learning, listening, knowing, and doing. They mark our assimilation of the timelessly unfolding truth of being. The textbook assures us: "The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time. These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus." Science and Health, p. 520 In proportion as we awake to what is spiritually true, fear and dread disappear and are replaced by an expectancy of good.
All we need for every day of prayerful metaphysical work, God has provided. It is never a question of whether we have what we need. Christ Jesus assured us we have the kingdom of God within us. None is a favored or favorite son; none is left out or shut out of the kingdom that God has given to His beloved likeness, man.
We can demonstrate His original gift to man: dominion over all the earth. We have at hand every good quality we need to meet every divine demand. These God-given qualities constitute the immortal identity of each of us. The revelations of His present good give us "newness of Life," and our days of spiritual working progressively glorify God. They prepare us for the promised "Sabbath rest."
When we have dedicated our working days to proving our love of God by earnestly striving to overcome whatever would argue for the absence of His good, any day can be a Sabbath, a day of worshiping God in restfulness.
The Fourth Commandment states, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Ex. 20:8 What is holy is inviolate, sanctified, free of worldliness. Our earnest work to sanctify our thought and life is rewarded with "Sabbath rest"—that holy, blissful awareness that God is All.
"God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. 1:31 Deity rejoiced in the completeness and perfection of His manifestation, or creation. Perfect Love could not create anything unlike its own loving. And our holy, restful Sabbath includes the realization that we are God's manifestation, reflecting the perfect love that eternally beholds the good of God. Perfect, complete healing comes as we are grateful for this proof of Paul's assurance "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." Therefore we can obey the apostle's command "Rejoice evermore." I Thess. 5:5, 16
