WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS for the coming year? Or for tomorrow? Are you feeling confident as you look forward, or is your outlook weighed down with doubts and discouragement, even dread?

For anyone projecting ahead based on the choices, resources, risks, or limitations they may see around them today, low expectations may seem understandable. Sparks of encouragement might seem few and far between.

But then a bright spot appears, furnishing a reason to be hopeful—a financial crisis averted; a cycle of violence broken; peace established somewhere; a relationship mended; an ailment healed. And those sparks of optimism catch fire!

But is a consistently optimistic attitude realistic in today's uncertain world? And does a well-grounded confidence in the supremacy of good make a difference in how our lives play out?

Suppose we could put this question to the writer of Revelation in the Bible. You might say the Revelator's highest sense of what's to come qualifies as the ultimate in optimism—a view of existence that he described as a whole new heaven and earth. Here's some of what he saw for each of us, as God's creation: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:4). What a bright promise!

On the contrary, a perfect heaven and earth sounds like a fantasy to many, compared to the unpredictable "real" world around us.

There's an explanation for that disparity in views, though. Mary Baker Eddy noted it in her work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while yet beholding what the eye cannot see,—that which is invisible to the uninspired thought" (p. 573). Even though the physical senses don't recognize the presence of God or the continuity of good throughout His creation, that doesn't mean they aren't here for everyone to know and feel and utilize. The Revelator might have agreed—it's inspired thought that explains the difference in how one perceives the wonder and possibilities of life.

But how does one get such an inspired state of thought?

Consider the First Commandment. According to the text-book of Christian Science, Science and Health, there's "divine Principle" behind it that "bases the Science of being" (ibid., p. 340). It instructs us to start with one Creator, the one infinitely good Spirit, and urges us to "have no other gods."

Taking this instruction to heart, we simply can't think of ourselves—Spirit's creation—as mortal beings made materially by some other creator. Matter is not where we started, and material conditions don't determine our future prospects. The First Commandment turns our thought fully in the direction of Spirit as the source of goodness, of action, of intelligence, of life.

When reasoning starts there and continues there, independent of the appearances of a physical world, something remarkable happens—inspiration. We gain encouragement from inspiration. We feel invigorated, renewed, and strengthened to perceive that life is fundamentally good.

And that's just the beginning.

Inspired thought brings the conviction that life in a spiritual universe, made and governed by God, is real. This is the very universe the Revelator glimpsed. We partake of revelation ourselves—and in that way become modern-day revelators.

To spiritually receptive hearts, this inspired and inspiring sense of life is as real and tangible as it gets. In fact, it's the only real existence. And anyone is animated with this understanding of life as they are good and do good. Perfect care and guidance are included in this life. So are joy and intelligence. So is fearlessness, which promotes health. In the most practical ways possible—spiritual growth and healing—we can all discover just how real this life is. Uniting in prayer with the one Spirit empowers us to carry the day against sorrow, pain, suffering of any kind—and to express life as God creates and sustains it.

Could it be that the Revelator, glimpsing something of the majesty of this truth, and the total goodness of life in Spirit, was afire with what he perceived? And that he wanted as many people as possible to know that God has beautiful and wonderful things to show us about the life that He creates and is, in fact, giving us now and for all the years ahead?

Stop and think about the possibilities. This is no mere spark of optimism about the future. It's a bright and inexhaustible flame! CSS