“[Jesus’s] students slept. He said unto them: ‘Could ye not watch with me one hour?’ Could they not watch with him who, waiting and struggling in voiceless agony, held uncomplaining guard over a world?” (Science and Health, page 48)

This statement is a real wake-up call to us all. Jesus spent the night in the garden of Gethsemane, awaiting what he must have known would be his eventual arrest and crucifixion. He found his students sleeping.

Jesus did not ask them to do all that he had done. He didn’t request that his students overturn every supposition of life in matter and of evil as real, or that they definitively demonstrate health and life as enduring and available in every place. Jesus didn’t require the apostles to do all that he himself had so willingly and lovingly done to change the world. He did not ask them to sacrifice their own lives for him.

He asked them for one hour. Jesus was standing at the brink not only of his human life being threatened, but also so near that momentous occasion that would reveal his resurrection and the world’s recognition of God as everlasting Life. He desired this one thing of his friends—one hour to guard over this truth, be alert for danger, and to watch with tender care, peace, and a deep and grateful love for the Master and his saving mission.

Will you take up a watch today? Such a watch is not sitting in wait for trouble. It is not paranoid or fear-based. It is a listening with Christ. It is taking an honest and earnest stand for an hour (or more!) to be love, see love, expect love, and act love for that small but powerful span of time. This is natural to us and it is powerful for our own well-being and for the world as well.

Will you watch with me and with the Christ for one hour? Will you be awake to the world’s need for your prayers, your trust, your love? Will you stay awake then to witness the results of your tender vigilance, empowered by divine Truth and Love?

These messages are based on passages from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. These books are our “pastor” in Christian Science. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday for fresh inspiration. Or get a free subscription to receive an inspirational message like this one every weekday morning directly to your inbox by contacting me at lauramoliter@gmail.com.  Put “subscribe” in the subject line. A downloadable compilation of categorized messages is also available by request.