Article September 30, 1916 Issue

Proper Use of Time

CLARENCE W. CHADWICK

It is a very easy matter to say that we have all the time there is in which to accomplish certain tasks, but the question which naturally arises is whether we are spending it profitably or unprofitably. Whatever spiritual talents we may possess, it is the use we make of them which identifies us as either drones or workers in the Father's vineyard. The mere hoarding of material riches may often make us paupers instead of princes in the sight of God.

The individual who does not know that God is unceasingly demanding something of him, does not know how to spend his time. About as far as the average man goes, is to concede that God wants him to be as good as he possibly can be in this present world; but the admonition of the Master for him to be perfect even as the Father is perfect, does not make any practical appeal to him. Failing as he does to grasp the metaphysical meaning of this Scriptural command, he likewise fails to comprehend the importance of giving more time to spiritual things. In such a mental state he will constantly be waiting for the more "convenient season," which never comes. With an infinite being there can be no such thing as time. God therefore does not reason from any standpoint of finiteness or human limitation. Everything pertaining to the kingdom of heaven is embraced in the infinite consciousness of an ever-present now. Whatever is perfect, therefore, always has been and always will be perfect. The moment individual human consciousness admits this spiritually metaphysical fact, that moment it begins to understand man's relationship to God. Then and then only does one realize the imperative need of making proper use of one's time.

Time is a synonym for mortal thinking in all its moods. In the infinite activity of the one Mind there is no thought of time. When all mortal thinking ceases, and the earth, is "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," time will be no more. It is needless to say that Christian Science has brought this understanding of the Science of being to the world, so that no one who has proved the truth that "all is Mind and Mind's idea" (Science and Health, p. 492), can any longer plead ignorance of the demands of God upon him as an individual. The earnest student of Christian Science knows, beyond all question of a doubt, that God demands of him every hour of every day in which to practise the Science of being. To him the command to be perfect is no theoretical abstraction, but a practical and demonstrable reality; it is the straight and narrow way leading heavenward. Were it impossible for him here and now to reduce to practice the divine Principle of spiritual perfection, he would be as one "having no hope, and without God in the world." He would cease to be a Christian Scientist the moment he failed to apply the Principle of perfection to his own daily thinking and living.

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