All too often I have been faced with experiences that try to convince me that it is normal to be faced with limitations — such as never having enough time to complete all I need to without feeling exhausted.

It is interesting to me that as a Christian Scientist who has always been alert in defending my thinking from illness and accident, I have been far less alert to claims of tiredness and stress. For much of my life, I have been sucked into accepting the belief that these things were just inevitable in my experience.

Well, that was until recently, when I was fed up with just coping with my responsibilities. I finally realized that learning to live with limitation is different from being rid of it.

People learn to manage stressful conditions, for instance, during busy times at school by just scraping by. I know though that deep down inside we all yearn for something more fulfilling than just getting through the day.

I began fall quarter wanting to participate in many different extracurricular activities in addition to keeping up with my regular school work.

Consequently, I seemed to struggle through most of the quarter trying to stay on top of everything I had to do, almost as if I were balancing on the crest of a breaking wave. I was constantly feeling as though my experience at school had turned into a never-ending struggle to manage my time effectively in order to stay afloat.

I spent many sleepless nights trying to accomplish all the things that needed to be done, until finally I realized that this was not the way I wanted to spend the remainder of the quarter.

One night, when I was anticipating having to pull yet another all-nighter, I sat down at about 11 o'clock and found myself stalling. All I could think about was that if I stayed up late I wouldn't be much good in the morning for my first-hour class. So, I decided to call my mom, knowing that she would have some good thoughts to share with me to help me conquer this feeling of overwhelming burden. And that she did!

We talked about how important it is to deny the evidence of the material senses that would try to have us believe that we live in a faulty body with a mind inside that is subject to stress and worry — that somehow we only have limited energy.

Can you imagine infinite Spirit getting exhausted, run down, run out, or in any way diminished? No. Now, if you think of the divine energy of Spirit as our energy, then our energy must also be inexhaustible.

I realized then that this thought — the thought that if I stayed up all night I'd be worn out by the morning — was a complete and utter lie! Why should sleep have anything to do with energy?

As Mary Baker Eddy states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures on page 218, "The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness."

After [our] talk I started my paper, and all of a sudden ideas started to flow. Within two hours I had completed a paper that I had thought would take me the whole night. Not only that, I received an A on it.

That night was a wonderful experience for me for two reasons. I realized how my energy is not governed by the amount of sleep I get, and I saw how often time pressures are merely self-imposed.

It is so tempting and easy to complain about pressure or to feel obligated to be busy. It seems that if we're not busy these days, then we must not be worth much. Busyness, in and of itself, does not give our existence credibility, nor does it make our lives any more interesting or meaningful.

If we think being overtired or overworked is something to be proud of, then maybe we're actually missing the point and acknowledging our inability to master a false, limited concept of time and energy.

The need is not for more time, but for a higher understanding of God — that God already has everything in order for us, that each activity expressed is perfectly and logically synchronized.

Therefore, for each right activity, we are given just the right amount of time for it to be accomplished, and this also enables us to see creative ways to accomplish what's needed without pressure or panic. Hymn 49 in the Christian Science Hymnal reads, "Take from us now the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace."

Something I have also come to realize from this experience is how we really are directed and governed moment by moment. We do not need to feel burdened by everything that needs to be completed in days or even weeks to come. We just need to love each moment as it occurs and trust that we will be directed.

Mary Kimball Morgan says in Education at The Principia on page 222, "If you ever find that your work is becoming burdensome, just stop and place the responsibility where it belongs — in your Father's hands. Get rid of the sense of burden before continuing your work, for heaviness of thought cannot glorify God."

I am so grateful that I no longer have to just cope with getting through a day. I know a life without stress and without limitation is not only possible, it is a divine right. Jesus did not teach that the truth he presented would merely enable someone to cope. He said that it would make people free.