“The only thing wrong with doing nothing is that you never know when you’re finished.”
~ Author Unknown
Life is not a do-nothing experience. It is meant to be productive, active, progressive and inspirational.
God is Life. God is always causing good things to happen, and you exist to live out that goodness.
When you are actively accepting and reflecting God’s presence, you will be productively occupied. Any “do-nothing” waiting is transformed into accomplishing significant works.
Thank you, Evan. This post reminds me of a little verse I often use –
Patience is not in waiting for good to happen.
Patience is knowing that all of God’s goodness unfolds at exactly the right time.
Yes, such a good point, Sue.
Another definition of patience that has helped me countless times:
Patience is the active acknowledgement of the Christ.
Thanks Evan for this “no waiting around” message.
Thank you for this explanation on patience. In my current situation It helps to know that goodness unfolds at exactly the right time
Such a great daily reminder that life is productive, active, progressive and inspirational!
If we prayed yesterday to love our neighbor more, we cannot think we are finished with doing that
today. Consistently holding onto only good thoughts wherever we go throughout our day makes challenges less (until they disappear) and this consistency is an ongoing process for us every day. Today’s inspiration is most likely to be even greater than yesterday! Grateful for new perspectives and growth along the way.
Thank you. Evan for all the daily inspiration you share with all of us and great appreciation too, for all the loving comments from all who contribute to this blog.
Oh, yes!
Thanks, Evan!
Dear Evan: I’m going to conduct a Christian Science Bible Class today and this is such an important idea for the prisoners! It is so easy to think one can do nothing in prison. We will discuss this today in class.
Many thanks
Sallie
Thanks for this message! I’ve been feeling like I’m not accomplishing much, and it’s very tempting to feel bad about it. But I’ve been working to know progress isn’t about what happens materially. MBE talks about “divine Love becoming nearer, dearer, and more real” – a loving practitioner emphasized to me that’s the real measure. And that can take many forms.
I realized this morning that I’m now doing more than I used to be able to do, easily and regularly – so much so, I hadn’t really stopped to appreciate it. I am so grateful for this progress! And, grateful to know productivity comes in many forms: it’s certainly not just about matter!
Yes! If you Believe in Something – Take Action! Take Note and Vote! Each One Makes a Difference! Treat and Move Your Feet! You Go! Me Too! Blessings All!
My Christian Science teacher often said, “Patience is not the endurance of evil, it is the assurance of victory”. I cherish the other comments on Patience
Thank you Evan for this reminder. I took a Project Management course and it emphasized, you must know what “done” looks like before you start. Otherwise, you will never know when you’re done and you’ll just keep tinkering unproductively with no end in sight.
I consider myself to be DIY (do-it-yourself) savvy. I’m smart enough to know you save time and effort by taking the right tools with you to the job before you start. It saves a lot of trips back to where you started.
Sometimes we don’t even recognize “done” or its varying degrees (underdone, well done, overdone, etc.) but most people are familiar with “not done yet”. If it isn’t done metaphysically, it isn’t done. That’s good advice for any laborer.
God is the Potter. He provides the tools, wisdom and sufficient resources to complete the task. Our job is to admire His handiwork.
At times we may be attempted to “improve” on His creation. Attempting to paint the potter’s finished product is like gilding the lily.
It’s important to get “self” out of the way. I chuckled at a Ziggy cartoon once. He was looking at a beautiful sunset. The sky was multiple shades of crimson and gold, emphasizing hues of blue sky and majestic white clouds. Rays of sunshine shown like in beacons of light painted across a majestic canvas. Ziggy commented, “Too much red.”
Expressing gratitude (testimonies of how God is working in our lives) is our sufficient work.
Thank you for this opportunity to share. I’m new to this blog and am finding lots of inspirational comments and new tools for future projects.
Yes! Time to Take A Stand! Don’t let Evil just wash over You, Us, Them, Our Country, Our
World, Our Planet! See it, Stand Up to It and Vanquish It with Action for Good! My Goodness what would have happened, if little David hadn’t used his Prayers to Take Action and To Defeat the Giant Goliath?? What if he had just stayed in his room on his knees praying? Would that have gotten the job done? Metaphysics is Great, but it has to be put into Action on this very Human, Material Plane of Existence for it to produce any Good! That’s what Jesus came to show us – How to Demonstrate Healing right here in this material world! This is the Plane of Proving and Demonstrating our mastery over Matter. Only then can we ascend and move on to wider spheres! And we don’t have to be “polite” about it: “Jesus’ rebukes were pointed and pungent.” ( somewhere in Science and Health)
What an inspiring and thoughtful topic. Thanks, Sue Cooper, for sharing the definition of patience which I pray with daily. I’ve never heard anyone else refer to it. It has been such a great reminder to me when tempted to be impatient.
a bit funny, I must chuckle about the verse from unknown author.
But it is an importent topic, thank you for making us comment and discuss about it, Evan.
Hereby a suitable sentence by MBE from SH comes to my mind i.e. ”we rest in God and God rests in laboring.” So in that sense.
That could also mean, patiently expressing God’s doing as His loved and lively child.
As Evan states, we exist to live out that goodness God is always causing to happening – so wonderfully blessing!
Thank you all for your so lively comments !
Thanks, all. My C.S. teacher would say often, “Your thinking determines your experience.” If we follow the commands of Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, we will “watch”—watch what we are allowing into our thinking. We will “stand porter at the door of thought” and allow only good thoughts to enter. They will produce active, progressive, joy-filled lives!
Patience is confidence in good. This definition of patience led me to my teacher in Christian Science. It has stood me in good stead many a time.