Good morning!

Up when the alarm clock rings. Ready for a start on the day's activities. Mornings represent a new beginning, a time for renewed vitality and a fresh perspective.

Often there are moments in a crowded day when I wish I could slip in an additional "morning" time. Who hasn't wanted to start again? Recharge the batteries. Get some fresh insights. The truth is, even at the end of a long day, or if one happens to feel drained of energy, a kind of morning experience can take place. Even in the middle of the night we can have a new start, a resurgence of vitality, a dawning of ideas. Such things don't have to wait until sunrise. Prayer makes them possible anytime.

That's not to say that one's prayers are a way to create new beginnings or new energies, any more than the sounding of the alarm clock creates the morning. But prayer rouses and lifts one's thought to discover what is already true: God, divine Spirit, is present, and is expressing life in each of us, endless, invigorating, spiritual life. A life rich with purpose and love.

What renews and inspires us and brings zest to our experience—whether we're running an errand at midday or driving home from work in the evening—is a glimpse of the truth that such a vital life is intact. We are, in truth, God's image. Nothing is quite as invigorating as realizing that one's true being is right now the vibrant, intelligent expression of the good that is God. A spiritual idea simply can't wear out or stagnate. Just the opposite, in fact. "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis," writes the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. ^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 258} "Then where," some might wonder, "is that zest and inspiration when we feel deflated or at a loss for fresh ideas?"

Truthfully, they are right here, in the very Mind we reflect, divine Mind. Everything that comes from God, divine Life and Love, is going on actively and without interruption. Like the shining of the sun. So the impression that vitality, insightfulness, or any other attribute of Life is diminishing or has disappeared is mistaken. Just as wrong as mistaking a setting sun for a diminishing sun. It only appears to be diminishing from the point of view of where we are on the earth.

To have the right perspective—to understand what is uplifting and sustaining us at all times—we need to shift from a mortal, material view of things to a spiritual viewpoint. God, eternal Spirit, not matter, is the real cause and sustainer of life. And because man is God's likeness, reflecting His eternally good and loving nature, we find inspiration and feel invigorated as we express more and more of God's enlivening qualities, whether it's in the morning, afternoon, evening, or night. That happens as we let God show us what more we can do to help others; as we work to improve things at home or on the job; as we're more humble and compassionate and patient. Taking such steps, consistently, changes what we value in our life and purpose, and changes how we treat others. Even in the middle of some task at the end of the day, our prayer to be more Godlike can bring a new perspective: our work has freshness instead of sameness; an entirely new approach or goal may emerge; our efforts are reinvigorated.

With continual prayer and spiritual growth, we will have more of these "mornings," regardless of what time of day or night it is. The coming of illumination and vitality is not a departure from reality, but is actually reality expressed. Timeless, spiritual reality. The heavenly view described by St. John in the Bible includes a radiant city in which "the glory of God did lighten it ... for there shall be no night there."  ^{Rev. 21:23, 25.}

Such a glimpse of existence as it really is, illumined by spiritual light, is more than just a pleasant experience. It is actual, spiritual power, which heals, and which brings peace and rest.

Who can imagine a day without a morning? The good news is, in a very real sense there's no limit to how many fresh starts we can have or to how much good they can bring. The Psalmist saw the potential. "Weeping may endure for a night," he wrote, "but joy cometh in the morning."  ^{Ps. 30:5}

Have another good morning!

Russ Gerber