Amazing race or rat race?

One of my favorite television shows is The Amazing Race. It airs on CBS and features teams of two racing around the world for a million dollars.

Each leg of the race is fraught with elaborate roadblocks, detours, and U-turns. But, don’t worry! There are also express passes and fast forward opportunities that can zoom some of the more efficient teams out ahead of the rest.
 
The first team to arrive at the final pitstop wins the money—and bragging rights!

If it sounds exhausting…it is! I like to watch The Amazing Race. I don’t want to be in it.
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The hurry, hurry, hurry, the detours, the roadblocks, and the U-turns are all part of the fun of getting to the finish line. But, when our everyday lives start to resemble The Amazing Race it isn’t fun and can feel like we’re just part of the rat race. 

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“Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 230). This fact is something to remember when you find yourself running around in all directions. It’s a quote from an article written by Mary Baker Eddy titled, “Improve Your Time.” In fact, the pointers she gives to improve your time can be like one of those valuable passes that moves you ahead to painless project completion.

Added bonus: The article is very succinct; it takes no time at all to read!

Here are some to-dos from that article:

• Work hard and persistently.

This one seems obvious, but here’s another way to see the importance of hard work. The first chapter of Genesis describes God creating all of spiritual creation. It says that He made all that was made and called it very good. Included in that very good spiritual creation is man, all of us, made in God’s likeness. Since we are like Him, it is natural for us to work with purpose, love, and a final declaration that what we’ve done is also very good.

Hard work doesn’t mean arduous work. Hard work is acting on the understanding that we come from a divine source, fully equipped with wisdom, efficiency, and endless energy. This quote from Mrs. Eddy describes hard work well. “The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 199).

Hard work is being devoted to an honest achievement, working persistently, and seeing it through to completion.

• Improve moments.

Instead of having a moment of angst about how to accomplish all that needs to be done, we can take that moment to still our thoughts and be calm. One of the synonyms used in the study of Christian Science is Principle. Divine Principle represents order, law. Everything about you and your day is governed by the law of God, good. The same Principle that ordered the spiritual universe, is ordering every detail of your life. Acknowledging that your life is being ordered by God is calming. It quiets thought and leads to the most efficient next steps.

• Make the most of today.

We can make the most of today by yielding to the fact that Life is eternal. We don’t have our own life, but God is causing us to express Him, eternal Life itself. This day is His. There’s no need to focus on the past or the future. Living with a focus on God, the Life that is eternal, helps us to better understand eternity, which is completely without time. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “now is the accepted time” (2 Corinthians 6:2). In the eternal now, you are free from the regrets of yesterday, or the uneasiness of tomorrow.

Here are a couple of do-nots from her article:

Sheer idleness.
Talking, but not saying anything.
Indecision.
Day-dreaming.

It’s easy to see how these do-nots “drop human life into the ditch of nonsense, and worse than waste its years” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 230).

Next time you find yourself running into roadblocks, detours, and other disasters, get back on track. Improve your time and you’ll find yourself calmer, more efficient, and completing each task easily. You'll be crossing that finish line in no time!

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