A friend shared an insight with me that I thought was revelatory. She said, “It came to me that since all that really exists is the eternal now, that if we hold on to the past, we are making that our now!”
Oops. Making the past our present. That doesn’t sound progressive.
In reality, God is our Now—our perpetual, eternal, ever-present Now. And God is all good.
For the best experience, live in the Now of God! The Now of God is not a mortal past. It’s the omnipresence of God’s good here and now.
This insight is fabulous!
“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” (2 Corin 6:2)
We cannot find our connection to God if we’re looking into the past or future. He is only found here with us in the ever-present NOW.
This is something I am having to work on at present, as past failures on my
part keep looming up into my thoughts. and are quite difficult to shake off.
I know they were never any part of my true being, and I need to “put
on the new man” – as mentioned in this week’s Lesson.
Here is one helpful article about living in the eternal now, and I am sure there
are many more..
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1txkyfb6lka?s=copylink
That is a very insightful article, Maggie. Lots of original ideas and unique ways of expressing them. Thanks for sharing.
Maggie, thank you for sharing the article.
Thank you Maggie for the link to this article. It is so excellent that I have bookmarked it!
This article is very helpful thanks
Thank you. such an important reminder.
What a wonderful truth. We have no mortal history. We were never mortal, with all the baggage that goes with it. We must drop it it now and live in the purity and beauty of Now, the only reality is Now.
Life itself is liberty!
Blessings to all Now.
Wow ! Thank you ! Such a simple truth.
Yesterday I overheard parts of an article my wife was listening to as a result of the Daily Lift. She located the root article by John Tyler, and his comment moved a mountain for me regarding my alleged separation from God.
A subtle edit on “My Father and I are one” to “My Father and I is one”
…similarly if one engages thoughts of the future, we are making that our now.
Quite true John B. Most people waste altogether too much time ruminating about what might happen in the future, either fearing it or using human outlining and will to decide what must happen in order for them to be happy and manipulating things so it will go their way. In letting thoughts get hypnotized in this way, we lose the Joy and Peace and Harmony of this ongoing moment with God, we lose the Now.
Already this morning I have brought this insight into my thoughts and saved myself a heap of regrets.
Thank you
Evan, what a beautiful and healing experience is your message today. NOW is our Reality. I also loved Maggie’s comments about needing to shake off false memories. The article she included is marvelous. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts today.
The now is “…hid with Christ in God.” Safe and secure.
“Think in the present tense” by Charles M. Carr from the May 20, 1985 issue of The Christian Science Sentinel:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/2cdt8kg6we8?s=copylink
Thank you, J – that is another very helpful article. Several very good examples of
people who immediately turned away from their past experiences,, having found
the spiritual inspiration that they needed – particularly Paul, even though
he didn’t realise he needed it! Such a radical turn around from his previous
experiences. And, of course, Mrs. Eddy, who found the spirituallight which led her
through the attacks of mortal threats to her well=being, having found the
scientific laws of Christ, which she used to keep herself safe and toe help others.
Many thanks Evan for this very helpful post and many thanks to all who share
their inspiration here.
What came to me right away was the statement “All the good the past hath had remains to make our own time glad”. Sorry I can’t tell you where that is, as I don’t have Concord.
Thank you all for the inspiring articles and thoughts! The quote above is from Hymn 238 in the CS hymnal. And thank you Evan for your daily sharing of these spiritual insights. They always bless and I am grateful !
Thank you CB.
Lorraine, you can get Concord for free with somewhat limited access. Still, there is no fee.
How?
Search for Concord Christian Science and go to the site. It will let you create a free account with your email and a password. When you get in, it will ask you to subscribe. But just below that there will be a way to continue with limited access. That will let you look up passages, but not create lists or listen to hymns.
Indeed holding on yo the pastnis counterproductive. Our Mother God is forever present and readily attends to our needs lovingly
You’re welcome Maggie. And thank you so much for including your very insightful article and thoughts.
This is a great topic from Evan. Maybe it’s just my experience, but I’ve had more than a few people share that they seemingly suffer from anxiety. Anxious, ruminating, intrusive thoughts and negative, fearful thought loops, etc. Also shared, is that meds and grounding techniques are used as coping methods. I love that Christian Science looks at life from a spiritual vantage point. And that we can use the “Mind-fulness” of spiritual sense, that innately belongs to each of us as God’s dearly beloved children…to see life from a spiritual standpoint, instead of from limited, anxious thoughts. A helpful way to re-focus and turn away from negative thoughts is by using the instructive advice from the article posted from Charles M. Carr: “Our job, then, is to see good in everybody and everything now—to acknowledge the truth of present spiritual perfection.”
That is such a good truth, laid out in a straightforward way that is easy to remember and put into practice. Thank you, Evan, and your friend!
I have been delving into Mrs. Eddy’s chapter on Genesis, upon reading this topic and how
we always were, are now and always will be, created to be spiritual and eternal. Was life
or “death” real 2,000 years ago, in the past, now or in the future?
From the article, “Material belief, regardless of the time involved, is simply a misstatement
of spiritual truth”. The Adam dream myth [definition: a widely held but false belief or idea,
a misrepresentation of the truth, a fictitious or imaginary person or thing, an exaggerated
or idealized conception of a person or thing] – believes we can cherry pick which dreams
we wish to believe in – past, present, or future. It (a bite from the adam-dream apple)
believes in good and evil, is a false illusion which is not our true self or identity which is
not mortal, but spiritual. Mrs. Eddy states, ” We run into error when we divide Soul into
souls, multiply Mind into minds and suppose error to be Mind, then Mind to be in matter
and matter to be a lawgiver, unintelligence to act like intelligence and mortality to be the
matrix of immortality”. The way I understand this, believing that we are mortals in matter,
man-kind based, is an illusion and we can not be “present with the Lord” in the
demonstration of Spirit…..we can not serve two masters” (S&H pg 14). We can not be in
the present if we allow ourselves to “have mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demonstration of the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, – by Spirit,
not by matter”.
So simple, yet so profound. Clears up for me my daily work “to stay in the omnipresence of God’s good here and now.” That will make life easier. Thanks, Evan.
So grateful to have that inspiration shared today!