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Inspiration in the night

When worry and regret kept today’s contributor up one night, a more spiritual perspective brought her peace and welcome ideas for how to go forward.

  • By Sue Brightman

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
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One night I awoke with myriad troubled thoughts. Some were related to things I wished I had done differently. Others were worries about the future.

I soon realized that it wasn’t going to work to take each individual concern and analyze it in the middle of the night. I knew a complete reorientation of thought was necessary and would be beneficial.

There’s a passage about God in the Bible that really resonates with me. It says: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Reasoning from this perspective, I saw that despite how complex or insoluble the challenges we sometimes face may seem, they are simply not the making of God, who is divine Love.

This reminded me of a phrase I knew by heart from a book I study closely together with the Bible – “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science: “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all” (p. 468). The spiritual “all” of the divine Mind, or God, includes harmony, peace, joy, purpose, and order. Therefore these qualities are naturally manifested, or expressed, in each of us as God’s creation.

As I thought deeply about the meaning of all this, a shift occurred in my thinking. First, the agitation disappeared. Then a complete sense of calm came over me. In a short time, I fell asleep and slept soundly. I awoke refreshed and ready for work.

When I awoke, I was grateful for that. But there was more. New ideas came to me that morning about improving my home. I also had the inspiration to form a new business partnership I hadn’t considered. And forgiveness dawned in my heart toward someone for whom I’d been bearing some resentment. My life felt filled with light.

Turning to the spiritual sense of things, even at small moments like that one, can transform trials into triumphs. It makes each day, and each night, an opportunity for good.

Adapted from the July 11, 2018, Christian Science Daily Lift podcast.

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