Ahead of the clock - living in God's time

A Newsweek article titled "Turning to 'God's Time' " by Christopher Dickey makes the point that with the Internet, the global workday is 24 hours long and that the "memory of a natural rhythm of life seems the last true luxury" (July 25).

Mr. Dickey ends the article by saying, "Indeed to balance one's inner clock with God's time and the demands of global business: that's not a luxury, that's the key to a good life."

It's evident that most people want to experience the fullness of a moment that is larger than the human demands of life. While countless limitations have been broken in business and communication, in many instances the accelerated life is making people feel out of control.

While meditation centers and silent retreats are considered a step toward decelerating the speed of life, there's a demand to find a higher rhythm of harmony with which to move in daily life.

So what is God's time, and is it possible to experience it here and now? The Bible refers to God as Spirit - infinite, ceaseless, and ever-present. Dwelling in God as the child of Spirit brings a freedom from the confines and restrictions of time.

Mary Baker Eddy, in her major work, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," wrote: "The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, and 'there shall be no night there' " (page 584).

This unfolding is God's day. This is worth thinking about. Like darkness disappearing with the light, panic, stress, and harmful pressure disappear under the light that the understanding of God brings. The appearing of this good is not a process with a beginning and an end. It's a spiritual fact that exists and is available in whatever circumstances.

Expressions of humility, love, enjoyment, childlike wonder, and artistic creativity are examples of tireless and timeless qualities in action. The expression of these qualities, which is a form of prayer, allows for a readiness to see the present good in new forms of expressions, regardless of what the clock is saying.

Christ Jesus understood the higher spiritual rhythm of God as the source of constantly unfolding good. It enabled him to feed 5,000 people from a few loaves and fishes, and there was no waiting for the food to be prepared. He went from one side of the lake to the other without taking the time to travel. The healings that Jesus performed didn't take time. They were immediate because he lived above mortal existence in God's day where illuminated spiritual understanding saw only the reality of good.

It is the Christ, the spiritual selfhood - the light that never goes out - that Jesus so perfectly embodied, that is here today to reveal to every individual the same ever-available good of God's day. Truly, this is the natural rhythm of life.

Beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing,
that one day
is with the Lord
as a thousand years,
and a thousand years
as one day.

II Peter 3:8