Finding Good Every Day
DOES life sometimes seem dreary, trivial, without any bright spots of purpose in the day? Do good things seem to be happening somewhere else, to someone else? Possibly at your expense?
When you're going through a time like this, it helps to find and acknowledge something good, every day. Good things are happening all the time, and we should pay attention to and recognize this fact.
God, good, is the only creator of everything true and real. And everything He has made is ''very good.'' We read this in the first chapter of the Bible (see Genesis 1:31). Everything God made is good, and reflects His nature. Therefore, the recognition of good is the recognition of God's presence and God's power. The nature of good is to grow and multiply, and the more we look for good and acknowledge the good things we find, the more we find good things. This is the way thought influences action. Good comes to one's life in the proportion that he or she accepts good as the reality.
At the same time, dwelling on good obviously averts pessimism. No one can simultaneously think bad and good thoughts, be hateful and loving, or feel weak and strong.
This endeavor to identify good daily not only makes us more familiar with good, but increases our gratitude to God as the source of goodness. As I discovered that I could make these ideas practical, I saw tangible evidence of God's presence and power. The signs sometimes were small, involving easy-to-overlook incidents. But once seen, they were impossible not to recognize.
I also learned we can be happy when good happens to others. This is because, God being everywhere, good is everywhere. This means good is for everyone. Being happy for someone else is a way of acknowledging this fact and another way of finding good every day.
''God is love,'' the book of First John in the Bible says (4:8). God is not selective, but inclusive. How foolish to think we can enjoy only personal good and not rejoice in good that comes to others. Good for one person cannot be at the expense of another. Good is unlimited. Goodness never runs out. No one owns it. Rather, good possesses us, and, like God, is constant and equitable.
The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, said this: ''In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,-Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply.'' This is from the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 206).
Christ Jesus was undoubtedly good, but St. Matthew says that when a would-be follower called him ''Good Master,'' he replied, ''Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God'' (19:16, 17). Good is not by this measure man-made. It does not depend on human circumstances or upbringing. It is not from material possessions or jobs or social status. Because God is good, goodness is spiritual. Men and women know and have good by knowing God. Good events are actually spiritual blessings, seen as human experiences. To understand the true nature of good, taught in the Bible, is to lose all fear for the future, be it for one's health or income or companionship.
Recognition of good is evidence of spiritual reality. As we become more aware of this and credit good to God, we are proportionately less aware of evil, which must fade. When we magnify the good, we are less offended by what seems angry, insulting, selfish, mean, or unfair. The fact is always that right where evil appears to be, there is really ever-present good to be acknowledged.
Who doesn't want to see and experience health instead of sickness, happiness instead of sorrow, abundance instead of lack, kindness and love instead of indifference and abuse? By identifying examples of good-however small-and crediting them as real, substantial, and spiritual, you draw closer to God.
Science and Health begins with the promise ''To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings'' (p. vii). So you can begin right away to look for and find blessings for yourself and others, today and every day.
