Article May 12, 1945 Issue

Keeping the Present Moment Holy

BLANCHE HERSEY HOGUE

To everyone belongs the present moment. It is a truism that neither the past nor the future is at hand for correction. Just now, however, is always here. It is one's present sense of living, of being, which gives immediate opportunity. The activity, surroundings, experience of the moment are one's proving ground.

It is axiomatic that one's present sense of existence is the only place one has or can find in which to think or work. Any adjustment of the past, any plan for the future, is determined in the present moment. Clearing this moment of erroneous thought and deed not only ennobles the instant itself, but is the direct means of redeeming the past and setting free the future. Obviously no one can return to the past or step into the future. But he can keep his present moment so holy that the human sense of both past and future becomes adjusted to its high level. To the degree then that the present moment is lifted above material evidence into truth comes release from trouble.

A simple personal experience once related in the Christian Science Sentinel illumines the point. Seized with severe illness in the night, a Christian Scientist found herself fearing she could not keep an important appointment in the morning. As she prayed, it came to her that it was not yet morning, that all she had was the present moment, that her work was only to keep the present moment holy, free from anything and everything ungodlike. This included a denial of all that was besetting her, an acknowledgement of her spiritual perfection in the likeness of God. When morning came she was happily ready for all that morning brought.

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