Time seems so much a part of our everyday lives. It’s in every aspect of our experience, in every equation. I think that’s why we sometimes feel we can’t advance, in many areas of our lives, without the element of time. For instance, we tend to believe that time heals, that recuperation is based on time, that time will renew friendships, and that time redeems. The only problem with this reasoning is that we sometimes run out of time. Someone passes on before we reconcile with them or another problem arises during a recuperation period, or we simply find that time does not heal all things.
Logically, we know that the evolutions of the earth along with the hands moving around the clock have no more power to produce good or bad in our experience than does the movement of the wind across the ocean, but often we fall for such reasoning—even to the point that we think the only way to gain heaven, or harmony, is through this passage of time. Heaven, however, and all its promises of peace and harmony isn’t some far off event. Rather, it’s something we can experience each day. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science, defines time in the Glossary of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as: “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” (p. 595).
Actually, if we think about it, time portrays itself as something that advances us. Yet, it certainly feels limited, and it seems like we can always use more of it. The spiritual fact is that our mental advancement, our gaining of spiritual understanding, doesn’t rest upon the limit of time. It actually rests upon the unlimited divine Mind. As we mentally advance in spiritual understanding, we put off time—not put more of it on. We learn that we can’t really progress without a clearer understanding of God and His creation—and this understanding is eternal, infinite. So, as our concept of God improves, our lives improve. As our concept of God progresses spiritually and we put off the limitation of time, our lives progress spiritually and we find time losing its element of necessity.
