"Therefore do not be anxious about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be
sufficient for the day." (Matthew 6:34) The word "trouble" (or what in the
King James version is called "evil") signifies incompleteness or whatever needs
perfecting, development and fulfillment. Jesus was reminding us that we have enough to do
to make each present moment full and complete without being distracted by worry over what
we are to be or to do in the future. When the present moment is so filled with the most
perfect life that we can possibly realize, seeming incompleteness becomes a perpetual
growing process in which lesser good grows into greater good.
How often do we look around
and say, "Isn’t it awful!" When you are driving down a road and see
flashing lights (ahead or behind) what is your first thought? Do you recognize the
presence of God or the absence? This question can be asked about finances or even health
as well. If appearances seem to indicate that there isn’t money enough or some lack
of life and health, what is the automatic response in thought? In these moments our state
of consciousness may be revealed clearly in the pure light of Truth. This became quite
clear to Myrtle Fillmore, Unity’s co-founder. In the late 1800’s she developed
tuberculosis and was told at one point to get her affairs in order, that her condition was
incurable. That was a hard fact to face at the time with a family of three children to
raise. It must have been a low point in her life when she attended a metaphysical lecture
given by E. B. Weeks. Medicine could not help her, perhaps here she might find some
answer.
She took home that day one
thing, a new thought. "I am a child of God; therefore I do not inherit
sickness." Where before her attention had focused on the absence of God, she now
began to affirm God’s presence in the midst of her. She realized that God’s
healing power was greater than any disease. She finally faced the facts...with Truth and
asked the various parts of her body to forgive her for the limited, God-denying thoughts
she had held about them. She realized the most perfect life and health in every cell of
her body so that what appeared as lesser good began to grow into the greater good of
health and wholeness.
I’ve been told to face
facts more than once in my life. Usually this meant that I was to accept some limitation
in the moment as reality and make some sort of peace with the situation, if only to resign
myself to it. But there is one great truth concerning facts and that is that they change.
With time, greater understanding, more knowledge, revelation or prayer, they change. They
are not as immutable as they first seem. The fact that tuberculosis is incurable is now not
a fact. The earth is not flat and God is not dead! Facts change but Truth is now and
forever the same, unchanging reality of the universe. The days of miracles are not over.
The healings and other miracles which happened in the time of Moses, Elijah or Jesus are
still happening now because the same principle of health and healing exists today.
In the face of challenges in
our lives it is difficult to remember the truth and not be taken in by facts which cause
us to pre-live in the negative or "be anxious about tomorrow." When we start to
fall for facts and tell ourselves, "There isn’t enough, I can’t get over
it, there’s only so much time," we are futurizing in the negative. Let the
incompleteness of today be enough for today. It does not have to last forever. Take charge
of the now moment with the "single eye" of Truth which sees God alone and no
opposite, that beholds reality and not the illusion of appearances.
The universal law of mind
action is: as in mind, so in manifestation. What we think about, what we focus our
attention upon we become. To constantly think and believe in the limits of human nature is
to open our minds to weakness, discord, failure, illness and unhappiness. We grow into the
likeness of what we think about the most. Whatever we meet in life, we need to remember
that the good within all things is far greater than anything that appears on the surface.
But we are not ready to experience that greater good until we give it our first thought,
no matter what the circumstances or how things may look.
When Moses came to the Red
Sea and his people began to blame him for bringing them into the wilderness to die, he did
not let limited human thinking keep them from finding freedom. He lifted up his rod and
the sea parted. This is what we do when we remember God’s omnipotence, omniscience
and omnipresence—all God’s power and wisdom at all points. Wherever we
are—whatever experience we seem to be having at any moment—all the power and
intelligence of God are right there ready to perfect the present moment as we affirm the
Truth that sets us free.
When faced with the
impossible situation of 5000 hungry listeners and only a pair of fish and a bit of bread,
Jesus did not tell the people that there just wasn’t enough or to come back tomorrow.
He gathered what he had, raised his vision to the limitless resources of divine substance
and gave thanks for more than enough to go around. All were fed with plenty left over. The
key is vision. Sight will show us facts that seem insurmountable. Vision reveals the
greater good available in the present moment. Greater is the power within you than
anything that appears in the circumstances outside of you. Remember that all God’s
power and intelligence are at all points in time and space. Let this be your first
thought.
When the bud ceases
to grow it decays, and becomes unwholesome, disagreeable. Likewise, when the buds in human
life are checked in their growth they produce disagreeable conditions. And here is the
cause of all the ills of the world. The remedy is to so live that all the power of life is
centered upon the present moment. To live a full life now is to live more life now.
—Anonymous