"Knowing the Time" ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         The wise man declares that there is “a time to every purpose under the heaven.” He then presents a long list of human purposes and activities in which evil and good are so evenly balanced that no hope of overcoming the evil is introduced. Indeed it is little wonder that the summing up closes with this sad reflection: “What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?” Happily, however, the wise man goes on to tell us that God made everything beautiful, and that it is ours to enjoy the divine bounty. He also adds this significant phrase: “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been.” Christian Science teaches that the realization of all good is possible at all times, since to God good alone is real.          In going back to Solomon’s sermon one is reminded that mortals are very uncertain as to the right time to do anything, but the student of Christian Science knows that he must leave behind him all the shadows of mortal belief and come out into the life-giving sunlight of Truth and Love. Paul deals scientifically with the question of human unfoldment when he speaks of “knowing the time,” and at once declares that “now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” The awakening to truth may be said to be the very first step in real living, and we are reminded of this many times in the Bible. In her Message for 1902 (p. 17) Mrs. Eddy says, “Many sleep who should keep themselves awake and waken the world.” Our Master said that it was while men slept that the enemy sowed tares in the field.          If we are awake to the truth of being, we shall know the time in the fullest sense. We shall see the misery of the mortal outlook at all times, whatever the delusive promises of material sense, but we shall also know that when mortal mind has done its worst we may then prove the might and majesty of Truth, knowing too that this is the time of “God’s opportunity,” also ours to forward the cause of Truth. Having agreed that error is entitled to neither time nor place, we are privileged to consecrate all our time to the activities of Truth. A most beautiful and inspiring passage in our textbook reads: “In the figurative transmission from the divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to ‘the cattle upon a thousand hills.’ They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and keep pace with highest purpose” (Science and Health, p. 514). These manifestations of spiritual activity, upon the human plane, are inseparable from progress and success. In Exodus we read that the children of Israel were commanded to hearken “diligently” to the divine voice, then to obey, and the reason given was this: “I am the Lord that healeth thee.”          If we were always diligent in listening for the voice of Truth, we would never have occasion to fear the threatenings of error, whether of sickness or misfortune, for we would learn what to do and when to do it. It sometimes seems as if the lack of promptness is one of the gravest flaws in human character. Once we see a duty we should bend our mental energies to the task called for, without a moment’s delay for the arguments of error. This recalls the words of Christ Jesus, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou are in the way with him;” that is, we should settle the whole question promptly by denying the arguments of error as did our Master in his temptation in the wilderness. If we wait to be sure that we are ready to do what Truth requires, our lack of promptness may find us faint-hearted for the task, which should be approached with courage and joy.          Promptness implies readiness to obey, and it calls for perseverance. We do not labor for ourselves alone, but for the universal welfare. Even if we have begun to possess our divine heritage, symbolized by “the cattle upon a thousand hills,” we must persevere until with added strength, gained in unselfish endeavor, no task shall seem toilsome. Thus “knowing the time,” we shall see that the long night of materiality is “far spent” and the day of Spirit at hand, when we shall “put on the armor of light.”   "Knowing the Time" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, April 29, 1916

 

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