Priority power
One morning the wife of a friend of mine was so under the weather she couldn't get out of bed. She asked her husband to pray for her. He said he would when he got to the office, but emergencies there delayed his prayer an hour or so. Before praying he called home to check on his wife. The cook answered, "Huh! She's up and gone—she had a hair appointment!"
Oh, the power of priority!
I have empathy with her. I have some "pet" priorities of my own! Don't you? Then can't we agree that maintaining a priority, large or small, human or divine, begins with "I can—and now"? As concerns longevity, there's a Bible promise that as our days, so shall our strength be. See Deut. 33:25 . As concerns priority, it helps me to add, "As I order my days, so shall my strength be." In other words, "Never put off until tomorrow what needs to be done today." Some things are unimportant, may never need doing. Of those that need doing, some are more urgent than others. Exercising practical priorities puts off personal sense pressure and helps us demonstrate that divine Mind unfolds its activities in an orderly, never overtaxing way.
Let's address ourselves to the ultimate in "first things first." Isn't this the priority that's imperative for us all: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness"? Matt. 6:33. This poses some questions!
Seek it where? Out there? Go somewhere and get it somehow? Christ Jesus says, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21. Within, to be unfolded out. It's our divine legacy as God's child.
Seek it when? On Sunday? And other days if there's time? Or if our activities don't conflict? No! It behooves us to strive for the kingdom daily, hourly, momentarily.
Seek it how? Vicariously? No! By listening for and obeying the leadings of the "still, small voice"—the spirit of God, or Holy Ghost and Christ within each of us. By watching, waiting, striving, for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.
Now what about finding? Does it seem difficult to make the kingdom your own? Do you wonder why? I submit an answer: The Bible's spiritual account of creation (the first chapter of Genesis), in which God, the only creator, made man in His image and likeness, is quite generally given lip service or materially interpreted. Mankind mostly bases existence on the Adam and Eve account of creation (the second and third chapters of Genesis), in which man becomes a personal creator. And the so-called human relationship, instead of the divine relationship, is given top priority.
This misconception of the origin and development of man and of true relationship persists in spite of Jesus' demonstration of "I and my Father are one," John 10:30. which illustrates the unity of God and man. Indeed, in spite of the reward the Master promises: "Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Matt. 19:29.
Isn't Jesus saying, among other things, that it's essential to acknowledge that you and I aren't so much parents as we are children of the one Parent, Father-Mother God? To me he is not saying to annihilate, abolish all these material things and relations, but to give priority to spiritual existence.
Isn't this divine relationship the foundation, the basis, for best fulfilling our highest sense of human love in the family? In handling human will posing as "parental prerogatives" we can experience the power of this spiritual priority. Holding firmly to the divine relationship as the real, we can transcend sentimental personal attachment sufficiently to put the government on God's shoulder and fulfill parental responsibilities according to the dictates of universal, impartial divine Love.
Church activities need not conflict with other right activities. It's a matter of priorities. It need not be this or that. It can be this and that if we trust God, Principle, the one all-wise Mind, to order our days and the days of all concerned, and if we adjust the calendar accordingly. The times set aside for prayer and church activities can synchronize with family activities, reunions, vacations, business details, and so on. But even if there's conflict, it penalizes none and blesses all to seek "first the kingdom of God."
To help in the seeking and finding, most religions offer various avenues for spiritual growth. Certainly this is true in Christian Science. For instance, there are weekly Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly, and students of Science are grateful for the opportunity to study them.
I became interested in Christian Science through these Bible Lessons, and I wanted to start my day with the lesson. But because of my work, it became increasingly difficult to do so. I was in the orchestra business then, playing dance music in hotels until 1 or 2 a.m. And most mornings I had radio rehearsals or recording sessions, interviews, and so on. A friend with whom I discussed the problem suggested that I get up an hour earlier. I hit the ceiling. "I seldom get enough sleep as it is!" The response was, "Go to bed an hour earlier." When I thought it over I realized that after orchestra hours I spent more time unwinding than was really necessary. So I went to bed earlier, got up earlier, and that did it!
The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, requests, almost pleads with, Christian Scientists to pray each day for themselves "... not verbally, nor on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importunately." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 127.
Question: Is it selfish to daily pray for yourself first? That is, work out your own salvation? Answer: Can you possibly work out anyone else's? Praying for yourself is not only essential to expediting your journey from sense to Soul; it helps you see more clearly how to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It blesses others for you to understand and claim for yourself, "I and my Father are one." How else can you follow Jesus' command to love thy neighbor as thyself? And your loved ones and all mankind? Certainly daily prayer for ourselves deserves to be a universal priority!
And so does the church. Give the Sunday service its deserved importance, and then things to do around the house, the golf game, or time to be with the family will find their proper place. The weather won't cheat you of attending church, either. You'll be there—not only to worship God but to express Him.
There's sure reward for Christian Scientists who give priority to their branch church's Wednesday evening testimony meeting. They have the time to attend, aren't too tired, aren't deterred by darkness. They don't use "There's already been a night meeting this week" as an excuse to stay home.
Give proper priority to personal participation in church work, and you won't listen to such suggestions as "I can't do it"; "I'm too busy"; "I've already done my church work; let someone else do it!" Why cheat yourself of the continuing blessing that participation holds for you?
In church, at home, in business, it sometimes seems difficult to establish and maintain right priorities, although they are admittedly essential. Doesn't Mrs. Eddy point to a basis and procedure for establishing our priorities when she asks, "When will the whole human race have one God,—an undivided affection that leaves the unreal material basis of things, for the spiritual foundation and superstructure that is real, right, and eternal?" Continuing, she gives an effective order for accomplishing this end: "First purify thought, then put thought into words, and words into deeds; and after much slipping and clambering, you will go up the scale of Science to the second rule, and be made ruler over many things. Fidelity finds its reward and its strength in exalted purpose." Ibid., p. 341.
In the Bible, didn't Daniel prove there's reward for fidelity to an "exalted purpose"? With him it was the one, living God first—continuously, not just when he found himself in a lions' den. SeeDan. 6:1–23 . (Then might have been too late!) Didn't the same fidelity prevail with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before they were put into the fiery furnace? See Dan. 3:1–28 .
And because of his fidelity to his exalted purpose, Nehemiah was able to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in fifty-two days. See Neh., chaps. 1–6 . And this in spite of scorn and ridicule, threats of physical violence, accusations that he had ulterior motives, even the wiles of ravening wolves in sheep's clothing. He refused to come down off the wall. He put God first—and won!
Through our fidelity to "exalted purpose"—in church, business, government; with family, neighbor, friend, and stranger—you and I can know the power of this priceless priority: God first.
Press on!
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: ... which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners: the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous.
