Article June 27, 1983 Issue

Finding heaven here and now

GLORIA ELAINE MARLATT

Two preschoolers were talking, and one was vividly describing what she planned on doing and becoming when she grew up. Determined to impress her friend, she concluded with a flourish, "And someday I'm going to be an angel!" The other girl said, with a surprised look, "Why, I'm an angel now!" With childlike candor this youngster had touched upon a profound spiritual fact—she was accepting as immediate the perfection of her heavenly being.

Are you accepting heaven now? Are you basking in your divine perfection and infinite harmony? Or are you thinking you will reach harmony and perfection sometime in the future when something changes? You can stop dwelling in the mortal sense of being, waiting for a future heaven and harmony. You can rejoice because in reality you are perfect now. Start accepting heaven.

In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy defines "Kingdom of Heaven" as "the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme." ^{ Science and Health, p. 590.} What can we do to accept heaven, to bring more harmony into our immediate experience? We can start by asking ourselves some questions. Are we willing to dwell in the consciousness of Mind, to put off all false mortal thinking? Are we willing to accept the government of divine Principle, to relinquish human will? Are we willing to abide in the atmosphere of Spirit by accepting our true spiritual being? The foregoing involves putting off a false sense of self as a mortal. It does not require going somewhere or becoming something. It does require accepting our perfect being as the representative of God.