Divinely inspired priorities
“It’s a lovely idea,” I told myself. “But I don’t have time!” A dear friend and I had just finished a long walk through my neighborhood, chatting and catching up on each other’s activities.
My friend had driven a long distance to be with me. As we approached my home, it felt natural to invite her in for a cold drink before she began her drive home. But a pile of work, on deadline, also demanded my attention.
The competing priorities – spend quality time with a close friend or spend productive time on work – tugged at me. Which was more important to do at that moment?
Feeling caught between what I wanted to do and what I felt I should do, I decided to press “pause” on simply trying to reason things out. I opened my heart to God. Gratitude for what I’d learned about the nature of God – what God is and does for us, no matter what problem we’re facing – and our inseparable relationship to the Divine welled up in me.
From reading the Bible, and a companion book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, I’ve gained a sense of God as the one unlimited divine Mind. This all-knowing and all-loving intelligence of the universe, including each one of us, never leaves us on our own, but is present to guide our thoughts and actions for positive results, no matter how big or small the situation or how much or little time we have. It’s the most natural inclination of all to turn to God for guidance.
Because we are the spiritual creation of God, in reality, every element of our lives is ordered by this intelligent and loving spiritual source – not only for our good, but for the good of everyone. We are each made to express the harmonious nature of the Divine, and knowing this opens our eyes to the goodness that is present at every moment. We can’t ever be separated from this bountiful source of good, whatever might be going on in our experience.
Our role, as I understand this relationship, is to consent to the spiritual order established by divine Mind, to listen for the intuitions that bring us into agreement with this spiritual reality, and to follow the guidance that moves us to bring out this goodness in tangible ways.
The Bible expresses the spirit of my prayer to God that day: “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you” (Psalms 25:4, 5, New Living Translation).
Now focused on listening instead of making a decision, I trusted God to show me how to bring about the best experience for both my friend and me. Once again, I felt a nudge to invite my friend in for a cold drink. She happily accepted, and we enjoyed a wonderful conversation, exchanging questions, insights, and experiences of deep interest to both of us.
A while into our conversation, my friend – whose work includes making home visits to people in need over a large geographic area – received a call about an urgent situation. The home, it turned out, was nearby. She quickly left my place to respond to the request for help.
Turning to my own work, I finished up more quickly than expected. Later in the day, my friend said the home visit had been successful. She was grateful she’d been nearby when the call came in. Had she returned to her house right after our walk, she would have had a long drive and delay in answering the call for immediate support.
I was grateful, too. Although I’d initially struggled to know what to do given the time, pausing to pray – affirming the goodness that God had established – and listening for guidance helped me see the path that would bless all involved.
In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, wrote, “The ‘divine ear’ is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied” (p. 7). Because the divine Mind supplies our needs, when we’re confronted with competing priorities we can turn to the Divine for guidance and experience God’s gift of harmony.
