When I made the journey from the United States to South Africa for my brother’s wedding, my airplane route was not direct. I was scheduled to fly from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Chicago O’Hare, then overnight to London Heathrow, followed by another overnight flight to Johannesburg, then to Durban, South Africa.
The flight to Chicago was pleasant, and our plane arrived in the late afternoon. However, the following flight to London was delayed because of mechanical trouble. We waited at the gate hour after hour with mounting tension, until after midnight it was announced that the flight was canceled. The other passengers were rebooked on various flights, but the system would not allow my booking to go through because I had already checked in on my next flight, and the office for that airline was closed for the night. So I was given accommodation at a hotel, where I finally arrived around 2 a.m.
Since I needed to return to the airport by 6 a.m., I slept for only about three hours. When my alarm rang, I awoke with a raging headache. The lack of sleep and the uncertainties and tensions of the previous night seemed to be taking their toll.
In that hour of need I turned with my whole heart to God, the divine Mind, and asked what I needed to know. Soon the thought came: “One moment of divine consciousness rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” Later I would find that this was a combination of two sentences from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. One is on page 218: “The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” The other is on page 598: “One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.”
Resting in that divine consciousness, I acknowledged that God is the very source of our being, whole and perfect, governing all of our experiences in complete harmony. I saw that I did not have to accept the negative picture being presented. It was a false suggestion, not reality. Letting go of a belief in matter’s power, I made the choice to see the travel experience as a divine adventure instead of what had seemed like a nightmare.
Soon the headache vanished. I went joyfully to the airport, was rerouted so that I did not have to fly via London, and proceeded to wait at the airport in tranquility. The journey took three days, but I arrived in South Africa more refreshed than I had ever experienced before on the 18-hour-long flight across the Atlantic. I was there in good time for my brother’s wedding, and the peace of that moment of divine consciousness stayed with me for many weeks after the journey was over.
Norma Presmeg
