Article May 26, 2014 Issue

God at the top of my list

T. Jewell Collins

I thought I was doing just that, putting God at the top of my list. Each morning I drew myself upright, plumped my pillows, and devoted an hour to reading the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. I also went through my prayers for the day. That done, I felt well fortified to go forth with my ever-expanding list of chores to do.

One morning, with a little stretch of the imagination, I envisioned Christ Jesus making a list of what he expected to accomplish each day. It might have read something like this: heal the lepers; raise the dead; cure the palsied man; feed the multitudes; forgive the sinners. It was an impressive list with new opportunities to comfort and heal added to it throughout his three-year ministry.

As I thought about this, I realized that Jesus wasn’t making space for those healings amid other duties calling for his attention. He was acting under the impulsion of his divinely appointed mission.