Time to move on?

Feeling dissatisfied isn't necessarily bad. When the things we do seem stale and uninspiring, perhaps we need to get closer to God. Perhaps we're feeling the spiritual need to move on.

Now, many would deny that there ism a God, or that they would try to get closer to Him if there were. But even the dyed-in-the-wool atheist is trying to get closer to harmony, dominion, security, supply, satisfaction -- and these are all qualities of God. As we look for them -- even in what appear to be ungodlike directions -- and as we live them, the eternal operation of His laws will purify our objectives and methods until we learn where our treasure is and whre our heart lies. None of us can avoid the ultimate harmony of knowing god; and dissatisfaction with material conditions is simply a signal that we need to get to know Him better -- and maybe a little faster.

Mary Baker Eddy n1 writes: "Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual." n2

n1 Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 265.

Stretching before us and behind us, unseen by the material senses, is a vista of infinite good, endlessly unfolding spiritual treasures that will never cease to appear. The jungle of limitations that material sense thrives on -- a horrifying mess of genetic accidents, physical, economic, and environmental conflicts, and radically opposed materialistic viewpoints (which have wiped out mankind centuries ago) -- is unseen by the spiritual senses. Where we are now, humanly speaking, is a supposed mixture of the reality of God's unlimited universe -- seen only by spiritual sense -- and the illusory world of limitation -- seen by material sense. A mixture urgently in need of sorting out.

"Spiritual sense," says Mrs. Eddy, "is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God." n3 It doesn't have to be manufactured or learned like a language. It comes to us from God. It's coming to us all the time; and we can hear it if we turn off the false clamor of material sense and listen for it. And when we hear it and respond to it, we begin to move toward a better comprehension of God and His infinite good. We begin to experience more good in our lives -- better health, better jobs, better relationships.

"This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed," said Christ Jesus, describing the effects of accepting as real materially sensed limitations. And the he indicated the cost of not responding to spiritual sense: "Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." n4

n3 ibid.,m p. 209;

n4 Matthew 13:15.

Healing and spiritual progress are one and the same thing. We can't really be healed of any falsely sensed material limitation, physical or mental, without moving closer to God. And we can't move closer to God -- increase our awareness of His ever-presence -- without being healed. All that healing is, is an awakening to the unreality of limitation and to the infinity of good.

Isn't it time to move on? DAILY BIBLE VERSE For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither , but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:10, 11