Announcer: This is The Herald of Christian Science, brought to you by The Christian Science Publishing Society, the worldwide publishing activity of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Derek: Hello, I'm Derek Holmes.

Moji: And I'm Moji Anjorin Solanke.

Derek: Moji, doesn't it feel sometimes as though we're all just being ruled by the clock?

Moji: Oh, absolutely, Derek. I think it's a common problem everywhere, that we don't have enough time, or sometimes we have too much. ... But certainly, Derek, that doesn't mean that we should all go out and throw away our clocks and watches now, does it?

Derek: No, of course not. We still have to use time as a measurement, as an aid to punctuality and giving order to our lives, but we have to beware of letting time order us.

Moji: And that means that we don't have to feel that we'll lose anything by taking the time, so to speak, to help others.

Derek: No, in fact, our guest, Priscilla Emerson, is telling staff member Elliott Reinert what it has meant in her life that someone did take the time to care.

Priscilla: I was adopted when I was a little girl by a woman and her husband who knew of our family situation and who really took the time to care about my brother and me.

Elliott: What was your situation?

Priscilla: My mother had a very small apartment. It was just a one-room apartment, and at that time she was a troubled woman and didn't have very much money and no real means of making any money, and she left my brother and me alone a lot.

Elliott: Alone in the apartment?

Priscilla: Yes.

Elliott: So you cared for yourselves?...

Priscilla: I was too young for that. I was two years old, and my brother was just a baby. And we would be left in the crib.

Elliott: So there really was a situation of severe neglect.

Priscilla: Very much so. I have seen pictures of the apartment, and it was just total chaos. The situation had been exposed to the authorities. There were some court decisions that were up in the air about the welfare of my brother and me. We had a friend; she was actually a relative of the family and she was a Christian Scientist. She knew that my mother was going through a very rough time. And that my brother and I were not in a healthy environment.... Aware of our family situation and feeling a love for my mother and ... for my brother and me, she felt impelled to pray.... She [knew] that God's love is in operation and that God is in control. And I think this is the way that all of us can pray for mankind in a very compassionate way; and this is what this woman was doing.

Elliott: Now, was there a particular incident that occurred?

Priscilla: Yes there was. She was driving down the road,... going to work. She was late for an appointment. And she felt that my brother and I were in danger. At this particular time she chose to listen and to get off the freeway. She called her husband to let him know that she felt that we were in danger, that they should ... meet at the location where my brother and I were being kept so that they could check on us....

Elliott: How far away was it?

Priscilla: Without traffic it would be about forty minutes. So it wasn't an easy thing to make the decision to go. And so there was a real commitment ... made to listen.

Elliott: Now you say, "listen."

Priscilla: Well, she was listening to God. I think that she was trusting prayer, knowing that God is Love and God is Spirit, and man is God's spiritual reflection. And because of that prayer, this feeling that there was something [going on] contrary to [good] came as a real sign to her that something was amiss. And that she needed to be alert.... And she needed to be obedient.

Elliott: So what did she find when she arrived at the apartment?

Priscilla: This woman and her husband found my brother and me left in a crib and basically abandoned. There were no adults in the apartment, and the apartment had been locked up, and the gas had been left on in the apartment.

Elliott: So if they hadn't shown up, you very well could have died from the gas?

Priscilla: Oh, absolutely. The authorities went ahead and removed my brother and me permanently from that environment.... [I am] grateful for the time that this woman took....

Elliott: And you're not talking about just the time to drive to your house.

Priscilla: Right. Ultimately it was a lifetime because she adopted us.... And so it evolved into a lot more than just a singular human act in a busy day in a human life. Because of that I've become a Christian Scientist. I have four children, and Christian Science has become very much a part of our lives with our children.

Elliott: What about your natural mother? Did you have any relationship with her?

Priscilla: She was given the opportunity to see us and chose not to. Since I've become an adult we have been able to see each other, and the relationship has been able to grow from there. And I know that she has seen the blessing of it.

Elliott: For everyone?

Priscilla: For everyone, absolutely. For me it hasn't been just enough to know that I have been loved and that I will be loved, but it has compelled me to want to be loving. To take the time to go out of my way.

Elliott: We're not going to lose anything by taking the time.

Priscilla: Oh no. We're not going to lose anything by taking the time to pray, to really love, and to listen in whatever activity we're doing. I am grateful that not only my adoptive mother took the time, but ... I am also grateful for all the people all over the world that we never hear about, the unsung heroes ... that are taking the time to express that kindness in their daily activity.

Elliott: Priscilla, thank you for coming.

Priscilla: I'm very glad to be here, Elliott.

Moji: You know, what we've been talking about today has set me thinking that it's not how much or how little time we have, but what we do with it that's important.

Derek: Absolutely, and of course the supreme example is our Master, Christ Jesus. Just consider all the good and the marvelous healing work he accomplished in just three brief years, as measured by the sun or the clock.

Moji: And yet the good that he did for mankind really can't be calculated by any physical measurement. It's so far beyond that, isn't it?

Derek: It certainly is. And for us today, we follow our Master's example by caring, loving, by praying for mankind, and listening for God's guidance on how we can help others.

Moji: And this will come naturally as we begin to get a new view of God as eternal good and of man as His spiritual expression.

Derek: And this brings a new perception of time. We don't have to be limited or controlled by time, because we actually live in God's eternal "now." As we [are] reminded in ... the Bible, "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

If you would like to listen to an entire program of The Herald of Christian Science, you can write for a list of the shortwave frequencies in your area: Letterbox; P.O. Box 860; Boston, MA, U.S.A. 02123.

You can also listen to and purchase cassette tapes of radio programs in most local Christian Science Reading Rooms.

We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Father of us all,
That e'en before we ask Thee
Thou hear'st Thy children's call.
We praise Thee for Thy goodness
And tender, constant care,
We thank Thee, Father-Mother,
That Thou hast heard our prayer.

From a hymn by John Randall Dunn Christian Science Hymnal, No. 374