Remembering good requires more than a retentive mind. It takes the understanding that God, good, is All, not only now but always.

The English essayist William Hazlitt writes of seeing a sundial near Venice with the motto, "Horas non numero nisi serenas" ^{On Living to Oneself;} (I count only the sunny hours). What a boon if each person gave credence only to the good in human experience! How much better for all if only useful and worthwhile experiences were given predominance in thought.

This doesn't mean shallow cheerfulness that ignores evil. Evil needs to be seen for what it is—unreality, untruth, powerlessness. We need a deep understanding that God is good and is All. It calls for maintaining, even in the darkest hours, the truth that good governs. This is not dreaming. It is praying as Christ Jesus did. Such a scientific attitude records only good because that is all there really is. Faithfully done, such prayer helps to eliminate trouble of every sort, past and present.

Remembering the good means relinquishing the bad. Ruminating on past mistakes, past hurts, illnesses, sorrows, or sins—or, worse still, pointlessly talking about them to others—can do much harm. More than a waste of time, it tends to give reality to evil. This kind of thinking denies God's omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. It assumes a time when God was less than All. It robs one of man's innate joy.

Never at the mercy of past situations, one can control what he accepts in thought. He can refuse to be used by evil. He can refuse, resolutely, to dwell on suffering or to regret what seems forever lost. Mary Baker Eddy admonishes: "Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously." ^{Science and Health, p. 392;}

Scientifically speaking, each one has a perfect history. The repudiation of sin through repentance and reformation cancels sin. One truly repents when he changes his mind about the past, when through the lens of purified thought he sees no reality in past sin and suffering.

The real man, who is the true identity of every one of us, never made a mistake, never sinned, never suffered. He has always expressed, undefiled, all the qualities of his heavenly Father. He can know only joy. Each one of us may truthfully affirm, "I am that man. I have never been any other. I can know only good because there is nothing else." Whatever argues to the contrary has no validity.

Paul, who certainly must have been torn by regrets as well as painful memories, comments, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." ^{Phil. 3:13, 14;}

God knows each one of us as perfect. If a memory about oneself or another is not worthwhile or cannot teach us anything, it is merely mortal and unreal and should be discarded. This simple criterion allows us to manifest our Christliness. Often a meaningful lesson or a remarkable healing encourages one in later testing times. Such positive proofs can be gratefully treasured, not for their discordant aspects, but as an assurance of God's availability in time of need.

Apropos of suffering, Mrs. Eddy writes: "You consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain." ^{Science and Health, pp. 165, 166;}

I once had an experience along these lines. A workman, through carelessness, allowed an iron rod to hit me across the face. In accordance with the teachings of Christian Science I immediately turned to God in prayer. I affirmed silently that there are no accidents in God's universe. I acknowledged, too, that matter has no intelligence or sensation and that man is always perfect.

The idea of perfect man included the workman as well as myself and precluded any resentment toward him. As soon as I saw this clearly, the acute pain, indeed all suffering, ceased.

Then came the taunting thought, "I hope I won't have a black eye tomorrow." Instantly, however, this thought followed: matter has no memory. I realized that I must completely erase from my thought the concept of having suffered anything discordant. If, in reality, I had had no accident, it followed that I could not manifest any aftereffects. This proved true. There were none.

Mrs. Eddy gives her followers this advice: "Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210;}

Correlatively, Paul admonishes, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." ^{Phil. 4:8;}

Often one clings to memories, feeling that some good was, but is not now. Such thinking thwarts current well-being. Good is. Never was there more of it than there is right now. Happiness depends on understanding this and being grateful for it, not on people or circumstances. As with the recall of a healing, remembered joy points to the present possibility of health and joy.

A hymn adapted from the poet Whittier comfortingly proclaims:

In reality there is no past to remember. We dwell in the perfect now of God's presence, embraced by our Father's love and controlled by His tender hand. When we understand this, false pictures of sorrow and pain fade from view, and we perceive only the present bliss of knowing God as All.