Make God a Part Of Your Day

Bringing a spiritual perspective to world events and daily life.

Is God a part of your day? Are you making Him one? By taking some time to be quiet and to pray, I find His help. When I take time for God, He takes time for me. God is the one, infinite power and God is good.

Actually, God is taking time for all of us, all the time. But we don't always realize this. Communing, meditating, praying-turning our thoughts to God-means we are turning away from self-concern and from material things. We are reaching out for something higher. Something spiritual. This makes us aware of God's existence in ways that we hadn't thought possible before. A new, spiritual adventure awaits us. Turning to God blesses everything we do.

When I began making God part of my day, I resolved to try and let my first waking thought and my last thought before sleeping be in some way connected with Him. I might say a Bible verse or remember a line from a hymn. Or I might simply give gratitude for something good. Soon everything in my day went so much better. And I started to see that there is always time for God. I began to give my day over to God and to let Him shape it for me.

Because good is from God, it has no restrictions, any more than God has. God is boundless and limitless. In my prayer I wasn't trying to make changes happen-what I was doing was seeing what God had already made. One statement by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures says, "Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it" (p. 2). I loved this idea. Welcoming God into my thinking did bring me "into harmony" with good. I liked what the Bible says in Psalms, and still keep it constantly in thought: "My times are in thy hand" (31:15). Willingly giving my time into God's hand has meant that my days have been more and more productive, and much more peaceful.

Some days, when there is just so much for me to do that it seems I can't possibly get through it all, I take extra time to turn to God. It's funny; the more time I give to God first, the more time I then have for everything else.

Christians are engaged in following the teachings of Christ Jesus. And the Bible shows that he was always taking time to commune with God. He would go off to a quiet place, sometimes up a mountain, and let his thoughts be filled with God's spiritual messages. Then he'd come down and perform wonderful healing works. He healed people of all kinds of physical and mental problems. You might say Jesus was overflowing with the power of Spirit-so much so that it just had to be felt by others, too, and bless them. He saw God so clearly that he saw all people as God had made them to be-good.

Christian Science, discovered by Mrs. Eddy, teaches that we should love and honor God with all our hearts. This is not a burdensome thing but a joyous one. Making time for God is the very best thing we can do for ourselves, our families, and the world.

Mrs. Eddy is recorded as having said something interesting about this: "The first thing I do in the morning when I awake is to declare I shall have no other mind before divine Mind, and become fully conscious of this, and adhere to it throughout the entire day; then the evil cannot touch me" (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, p. 173).

One day I was preparing to go on a trip. I was running late and still had things to do. It was very tempting to skip making my usual time for God, but something very strong inside of me was urging me to sit down and be quiet. I obeyed this inner call, and took a half-hour to read the Bible.

Later, when I was about halfway to my destination, I avoided a serious accident. I feel that my prayer helped me stay even more alert than usual. I was very grateful that I had listened to God and been obedient.

I am continuing to make God a regular part of my day. Why don't you join me?