Do all students of Christian Science really know what an invaluable guide they have in the weekly Lesson-Sermon contained in the Christian Science Quarterly? Are they truly grateful for this beneficent provision? Is it clear to each one that the daily study of the Lesson-Sermon is one means of protection from aggressive mental suggestion, against which our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, so emphatically states in the Church Manual (Art. VIII, Sect. 6) that it is our duty each day to defend ourselves? Does it sometimes happen that we forget or neglect a part of our duty in this direction by omitting to study the Lesson-Sermon?

The voice of error often plausibly says: "You cannot sit down and read quietly this morning with so much to do. You must get up and get to work. There will be plenty of time for reading when everything else is done." However, at noon perhaps still more work has piled up, and our reading of the Lesson is postponed until evening. But even then there are duties remaining, and when it is time to retire for the night, we tell ourselves that we are so tired that reading, to say nothing of studying, is out of the question. We are forced to admit with shame that on this day we have neglected part of our duty.

One young student of Christian Science was repeatedly beset by this suggestion. However, she recognized it as coming from the one enemy, for she saw that through her neglect of study she was becoming more, not less, involved in that material sense of existence from which she was endeavoring to emerge. She felt mentally disturbed, lacking the joy and peace which accompany the consciousness of divine reality. Accordingly, she determined to let nothing interfere with her faithful study of the Lesson, regardless of the aggressive suggestions of error. She endeavored to begin to prove her fidelity at once by devoting the quiet early morning hours to the study of Science. The ensuing rewards were so great as to be surprising.

On the days when she had allowed her material duties to gain the upper hand, the unprofitable hours had simply flown, and she had rushed around from morning to evening until she was nervous, overtired, and ill-tempered. But now it was literally as though the hands of the clock had been stopped. When she would look up from her work, she would hardly be able to believe that it was not later, for there was still so much time to spare. How easily and effortlessly the work was done, as though some mighty, loving power was helping her and sustaining her joy and enthusiasm! She felt relaxed and rested; she could see clearly both what needed to be done and how to avoid unnecessary tasks. She was particularly grateful to find that no unnecessary steps had to be taken. Indeed, she was relieved of a great deal of going about. The things she needed and the people she needed to see now came to her with little or no effort on her part. Her duties seemed almost like play. It was evident that Mind was directing, and not mortal sense.

Lack of time is one of the most persistent lies of limitation springing from the belief of life in matter. It would argue that we exist apart from God's never-failing day, although the Bible tells us, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Mortal mind would make us believe that the time in which to do good is limited, and thus would fetter our actions with hurry and anxiety. On the contrary, we know that the real man is not finite or limited. There is but one Ego, one Mind, one infinite Spirit, God, the Principle of the universe, who is reflected spiritually by man as idea. The primal quality of this divine Mind is intelligence, and therefore God's man reflects unlimited wisdom. Mrs. Eddy states in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 264), "When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness."

In daily reading and studying the Lesson-Sermon we become increasingly aware of God's day; and if we fulfill this duty early in the morning, we are better equipped to prove our dominion over the aggressive suggestions of mortal mind. On page 230 of her "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy observes, "Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much." Rushing around is indeed of little value unless consciousness is allied to the divine. Hence Isaiah's words (30:15, 16): "Thus saith the Lord God, ... In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift." Mortal mind, the adversary which would, if it could, separate us from God, strives to make us restless, weary slaves to the ticking of the clock. When it has done so in belief, aggressive mental suggestions of every description often seem to pursue and overtake us. Hence the importance of realizing as soon as we awaken that nothing can shut us out from God's limitless day, in which divine Mind has supreme control.

Every belief of lack is a form of error, for God's being is everywhere expressed in abundance. Mortal mind seeks to compress all its striving and planning into a certain limited length of time; hence its frantic haste. A false sense of personal responsibility, on the other hand, means unrest, and unrest paralyzes or cripples our best intentions. But the activity of God is not limited by time; God's day knows no night. God's laws and God's order are perpetuated in the tireless rhythm of eternity, unhampered and uninterrupted.

The real man reflects Mind and manifests its power. In God's day there is no obstruction, no opposition. "All things" in God's day "work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28).

Rising above the false concept of time means entering into a realm of infinite possibilities and opportunities, where unlimited progress awaits us. As human consciousness relinquishes one destructive concept after another, it yields to the divine consciousness, in which it finds self-completeness. In this divine consciousness "the objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded" (Science and Health, p. 584). Here we experience the effortless unfolding of divine ideas, of all that is good, true, and loving, and no night of anxiety, doubt, or dismay can dim our joyousness.

Our great Exemplar, Christ Jesus, lived in God's day of spiritual unfoldment; thus he was able to perform his mighty works. On seeing the multitude, he was not carried away by the evidence of the senses into believing that seven loaves and a few small fishes were all that was available for more than four thousand people. He also refused to accept any false sense of responsibility, which might have filled him with fear and self-depreciation. He knew only the indissoluble bond of the all-inclusive oneness of Principle and its idea, in which is all the abundance of being. What quiet confidence lies in the simple words (Matt. 15:36), "And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples." There was no haste, no excitement; he just "gave thanks"! His enlightened consciousness saw only the unlimited abundance of infinite supply that is inherent in God's day.

Today it is more than ever our duty to abide in God's day and thus be untouched by the mesmeric beliefs of lack: lack of time, lack of money, lack of supply, lack of food, lack of understanding, lack of love. As Christian Scientists, we do not live unto ourselves, but to demonstrate for the world the power of the one absolute good, God. The lie, lack of time, must no longer be permitted to bind us to the limitation of mortality, that shadowy, false sense of a material existence. Man's true being is in infinite, illimitable Love. All his ways are ordered and clear. To understand these truths releases us from the false claim of time, and we begin to enjoy the eternal oneness and wholeness of Deity, man's true home.