Suppose you're rushing through an airport to catch a connecting flight. Or in a traffic jam creeping forward inch by inch. Any time spent indulging in frustration or worry is time wasted.

In any circumstance Christian Science can help us understand—with effective results—our present state of fulfillment and harmony. It shows us that because we're created in God's image we're the expressions of God, Spirit—spiritual, not material.

In reality, God, Mind, is our consciousness, and divine Mind guides all our actions with infinite intelligence and accuracy. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action." ^{Science and Health, p. 283;}

So any feeling that a journey is going badly can be corrected at once by realizing that its progress doesn't depend on matter. We can pray to know that wherever we need to be at any given time, the success of the effort to get there is assured at the outset in accordance with divine law.

The successful journeys narrated in the Bible need to be read not just as marvels but as opportunities used by the travelers to develop their spiritual qualities as they acknowledged the presence and power of God. Elijah, fleeting Jezebel's threats to his life and resting under the juniper tree, was aroused from his depressed thinking by an angel, a true sense of God's provision for his protection. "An angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise .... And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights" ^{I Kings 19:5, 8;} to the security of Horeb, the mountain of God.

As the Samaritan in Christ Jesus' parable ^{See Luke 10:30–37;} found the opportunity on his journey in an unfriendly country to be a good neighbor, to help someone who'd been attacked by thieves, so we all can be alert to right opportunities on a difficult trip. We can watch our thinking to rule out indifference and resentment, and to express more of divine Love.

Recently, thanks to Christian Science, I had a successful journey in spite of overlooking a detail that threatened to make it chaotic. Completing a holiday abroad, I was rushing by train to catch a special student flight back to England. Suddenly at a border stop I was abruptly told to gather my luggage and get off the train. I had known sometime before this return journey that I needed a second transit-visa, but I had been assured by local police that it could be obtained without difficulty at the border. It was now obvious this wasn't the case.

Communication with the border police in a language unfamiliar to me was difficult. I soon found out, however, I could obtain the necessary paper only at the road frontier. Such a detour, I calculated, would certainly prevent me from reaching the airport in time for my group flight. And I didn't have enough money with me for a regular plane ticket.

I was told a train going in the opposite direction would come in an hour. By going back to the nearest town I hoped I could obtain necessary visa photos and somehow find transport to the road frontier. Looking at the desolate scene around me while waiting, I realized I had to correct my thinking, as I had learned to do as a Christian Scientist. I had to replace my frustration and fear with love.

I could love, I realized, because the evidence of a hopelessly snarled journey had nothing to do with God's faultless, spiritual universe, the only real creation. I had a new sense of God's supreme control over both me and those around me. My fears of the complicated detour ahead of me vanished. I remember a warm inner feeling, in spite of the cold wind, welling up and enveloping me.

After an hour I was prompted to make inquiries again. This time I found the stationmaster, who was very friendly and could speak a European language I could understand. He told me there was no passenger train till several hours later that day, but I was soon helped onto a local goods train. I began to enjoy the adventure.

During the rest of the journey I encountered such kindness that I was reminded of Mrs. Eddy's spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer:

Everyone I met was helpful and good-humored. One man I met carried my suitcase and paid both the luggage fee and my tram fare from the station to the shops. I was grateful he did. When I reached the photo shop, which he directed me to—only a few moments before it closed for midday—I found I had the exact amount of local currency left to pay for the required photos.

When at last I reached the road frontier by bus, an official suggested I should get a lift back to the train station. He introduced me to the owners of the car being examined when I arrived. They just happened to mention they were traveling to the city from which I was to catch my plane.

In the evening I arrived there with them only two and a half hours later than the scheduled arrival of the train I should have been on, although I had got off the train some thirteen hours earlier. I was able to find a room for the night without difficulty, and the next day I completed the journey as planned.

Because we can't really ever be anywhere outside the presence of God, Love, we have nothing to fear or worry about when we travel. Mrs. Eddy says, "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 149–150.}

So when we run into frustrating delay on a journey—no matter whether it's a holiday trip across a continent or just part of the daily routine—the delay can be a source of spiritual progress for us, if we use the time to turn to God. And the journey can be a happy experience.