God creates the eternal now. He makes it totally good. He fills it with love, inspiration, and opportunity. In God's now, everything is like Him—unlimited, harmonious, perfect. Fear, despondency, evil of every name, have no time and no place in God's ever-presence.

As we align our thinking and living with these great facts, the potential of each moment is unleashed in practical ways. Perhaps a previously unseen idea comes forward to resolve a knotty business problem, or maybe a new method of performing an old task becomes evident, bringing joy in place of routine. Whatever the task one faces, whether it's dusting a chair, teaching a class, or designing a mall, one can maximize his moments by striving to express more of man's God-given goodness and intelligence.

Evil in its many forms would derail our efforts to maximize this moment by claiming that God is absent or distant. Egotism, for example, postpones our giving more attention to God's presence by filling our days with petty, shortsighted thinking and activity. Through sensual and self-centered arguments, the carnal mind would have us minimize this moment, God's moment.

But no moment ever really belongs to evil. No instant can ever really be made godless. Christian Science explains that God's love is eternal, transcending all time and space. He is never inactive, dormant, or off duty. God does not leave man alone or open to chance. As the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, explains, "If God, who is Life, were parted for a moment from His reflection, man, during that moment there would be no divinity reflected."  ^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 306.}

Yes, God is always with us. And we do well to reaffirm this fact many times throughout the day, especially when clouds of fear, frustration, or depression try to block our feeling God's nowness and hereness.

Christ Jesus had a comprehensive understanding of God's nowness and hereness. And the outcome of this exalted understanding was healing: in just a moment he healed a woman who had struggled with hemorrhaging for twelve years; ^{See Matt. 9:20-22 .} in just a moment he healed a woman who had "had a spirit of infirmity" for eighteen years; ^{See Luke 13:11-13.} in just a moment he raised a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. ^{See John 5:1-9 .}

Jesus maximized each moment by refusing to postpone good. He understood that in God's now, happiness and wholeness need not be put off. He demonstrated that healing is never a function of time but of understanding God's eternality and ever-presence.

None of us need to postpone good. We can recognize right now that each day is filled with worth, opportunity, and the possibility of healing. For several years I was duped into postponing good. I had come to approach mundane and routine activities with an attitude of haste. My objective was to complete the "insignificant" tasks as quickly as possible so that I would have more time for "meaningful" endeavors.

To my dismay, anxiety and inefficiency often accompanied my haste. Finally I realized that I was actually crowding God's goodness out of my day. I was inadvertently saying, "I'll get with God just as soon as I finish mowing the lawn, washing the car, and taking out the garbage."

Now I try to utilize each activity as an occasion to express something of God's goodness. I have lately been asking myself during a routine task: "Do you really want to escape God's moment? Are you trying to rush through what is really God's hour?" I'm realizing that it's the carnal mind that would make me see this moment as godless and worthless. Whether I am preparing a meal, driving a car, or hitting a tennis ball, I try to sense that my being is a precious gift from God. And I am discovering that to the extent I do this, my meal is more satisfying, my drive more harmonious, my tennis game more enjoyable.

There really isn't anything mundane or routine about God's now. There is nothing in it to escape, rush through, or put off. Every moment of the day has opportunity for meaning and success. As Mrs. Eddy counsels us, "Success in life depends upon persistent effort, upon the improvement of moments more than upon any other one thing." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 230.}

Are we improving this moment? Are we making the most of it, regardless of the task at hand, by clinging to good thoughts from God? Or do we allow ourselves to waste time by thinking hatefully, hastily, or fearfully?

To miss the opportunity of each moment is to give it over to evil. But when we persistently affirm that every portion of our day is created by God, and therefore is not subject to evil's minimizing attacks, we have maximized the moment. No matter how many minutes or years we may have believed goodness, worth, or health to be absent, we have this unique, unhistoried, very good moment as a gift from God.