Good Is Happening

I LEARNED the importance of not overlooking the obvious during an experience my dad and I had while farming together a few years ago. In an effort to cover costs of a young, nonincome-producing orchard, we leased some neighboring land to grow field corn. The owner also had a field of wheat he didn't want to farm, so he asked us to lease that too. We agreed, as we could fit it into our regular farming program with little trouble.

Over the course of the season, we cared for that field as any conscientious farmer would, but otherwise gave it little thought. It was only after the field had been harvested that we discovered the yield was 50 percent greater than our projections. That single field of wheat was more profitable than all our leased fields of corn combined!

I asked myself why we hadn't been aware of the tremendous crop maturing in that wheat field during the months previous to harvest. All the signs of a phenomenal yield in the works had been there. And looking back, I can see what they were. But we had been so busy doing other things that we had failed to appreciate the major output that one little field of wheat was producing.

In a similar way, we sometimes overlook the great good God is providing us. We may get so caught up in daily affairs that we fail to notice the guidance, intelligence, and heavenly inspiration that are ours as God's beloved creation. What God gives us isn't material, of course--He doesn't give us cars or coats or jewelry or boats. Such things are impermanent, temporal. But what God gives us is substantial; the good we receive from Him is tangible and eternal because it is wholly spiritual. It takes form in the spiritual ideas that show us how God's love becomes concrete in our experience. And there are uncountable ways that obedience to His divine law brings us the poise, confidence, patience, and strength that improve our lives beyond measure!

Faithfully following Christ opens thought up to the potential for good at hand. Christ is the voice of God speaking to human consciousness, and it is revealing opportunities for good that are all around for us to see. Are we paying attention? we might ask ourselves. Christ Jesus said, John's Gospel records, ``I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me'' (14:6). The Father is God, good. Through following the example of Christ Jesus, as outlined in the Bible, we discover God's goodness and experience His blessing.

Worldly ambition seeks good apart from God. Pursuit of financial gain, prestige, or earthly reward of any kind searches for happiness and well-being in matter. Attempts to find God, good, in matter inevitably prove vain, for God is not matter, but Spirit. Pride may revel in temporal, material achievements, but it ultimately bows to the irrefutable truth that enduring good is found in God alone.

Nothing earthbound could ever compare to the spiritual riches God is giving us, His children, right now. The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, points out in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ``To those leaning on the sustain- ing infinite, to-day is big with blessings'' (p. vii). These blessings are happening right now, and they are ours for the receiving. They include the love, joy, freedom, courage, strength, that God is pouring out for us.

Christ's message to humanity is one of spiritual freedom and salvation from all suffering and limitation. This inner voice of hope is speaking to our consciousness at this very moment. And Christ is encouraging thought to let go of any limited sense of opportunity and open wide to the infinite possibilities of living at one with God, the source of all good. There are no constraints on God's ability to bless, for He is the only creator, and He creates only good.

We can listen for God's guidance and be assured that abundant provision has been made for every legitimate need. Good is happening, because that's all there really is. And it is found in a consciousness filled with love and reverence for the one God, Spirit. Your place is in this heavenly consciousness, where suggestions of lack are silent and we rejoice in the abundance of good. A bountiful harvest is yours for the reaping!