Article November 27, 1943 Issue

A Balanced Day

FRANCES WARD SMITH

The swiftly moving currents of present events make many demands on individuals that far exceed the possibilities of the average day. One thus overcrowded may unthinkingly wish, "If I only had more time," as though that were the only way to lift the seeming pressure. Adding hours to the day is obviously impossible, but the problem is not without solution. Christian Science brings the answer with its confident assurance that the universe of God's creating is a perfectly balanced one, and that insufficiency of time, like lack of any other kind, is not the true fact of existence.

"Balance" is elucidated by one dictionary as meaning "wisdom," "good judgment," "intelligence." A balanced day, then, would be one in which these qualities were embodied. Being spiritual characteristics, they are true of all men, in their genuine selfhood. The more each individual claims and expresses them, the more orderly and better balanced will be his life, for the utilization of spiritual qualities never results in confusion, pressure, haste. "So, my dear ones, let us together sing the old-new song of salvation," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 166 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," "and let our measure of time and joy be spiritual, not material."

When wisdom guides the right selection of activities, time-taking ones of little spiritual value are eliminated. Wisdom also replaces untempered eagerness or perhaps a false sense of personal responsibility which sometimes motivates the assuming of duties not one's own, or an unfair share of them. Good judgment expresses itself in the right allocation of duties, unfolding the perfect execution of the statement in Ecclesiastes, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Intelligence is expressed in order that is in conformity with Principle, in efficiency, in the elimination of wasted time and motion.

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