What Are You Waiting For?

A FRIEND recently joked that she'd always been waiting for the high point in her life but was now beginning to suspect that she'd passed it without noticing! We all sometimes find ourselves waiting for something to happen ``down the road'' that will make our lives better, don't we? But her comment made me wonder why we put up with waiting. Perhaps the frustration of waiting for things to get better comes because we measure our lives by external events and accomplishments. Seeking fulfillment and joy can be so fruitless when we expect the material world to bring them to us.

Christ Jesus didn't wait. He talked with learned men in the temple when he was only a young child. Although some of his followers later wanted him to be king, he eschewed worldly power. He knew that his purpose was different. In the Sermon on the Mount the Master taught that even our everyday needs for food and clothing shouldn't be our first priority. ``For,'' he said, ``your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.''1

Seeking the kingdom of God doesn't mean that we have to ``wait'' for better things up ahead, however. God's kingdom isn't a future kingdom; it is an ever-present reality. Christ Jesus knew that God's will for His children applies to the present need. And he healed the sick and cast out evils in accord with God's will. Is this dominion, this harmony, possible to us? Jesus told us it is -- if we seek God first.

Referring to St. Paul's statement in II Corinthians, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: ```Now,' cried the apostle, `is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,' -- meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life.''2

Experiencing salvation -- freedom right now, for example, from an illness or sorrow we're facing -- becomes possible as we understand more of the Science of Christ. Jesus taught that we are all God's loved children and that God is Spirit. Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy explains: ``In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry.... Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being.''3 Acknowledging our true identity right in the midst of inharmony, loneliness, or illness brings God's salvation into our lives in practical, healing ways. His tender Christ is ever present, admonishing us to look away from material circumstances and strengthening our resolve to seek good in God alone. As the Psalmist said, ``My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.''4

My life the last few years has included some very unsettling times. And quite honestly I've often caught myself just waiting for things to get better. But then I remember that psalm -- ``Wait thou only upon God.'' And I take time to pray, to be grateful, to acknowledge God's allness and His love for me.

As I strive to follow Christ and to understand the true completeness I have as God's wholly spiritual child, practical evidence of His goodness begins to heal what needs healing; to restore the wholeness I thought had been lost. And I know once again that all I really need is right here, given to me by God.

1Matthew 6:32, 33. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 39. 3Ibid., p. 63. 4Psalms 62:5.