Occasionally we hear the remark, "Why do you not try Christian Science?" or, "I thought I would try Christian Science." As this was being pondered one day, it occurred to a student of this Science that to solve a problem in mathematics we do not say, "I think I will try mathematics." The law of mathematics is absolute, with rules to be used and proved; and we would never blame the law if a problem were not solved immediately. Such a procedure would be absurd, because mathematics has its fixed rules and we need only to gain a better understanding of them to prove them in our work.
Then, since Christian Science is the truth, and absolute, we do not try it so much as it tries us. If we be found not wanting, we shall of course manifest the perfection of divine Principle. If the problem seemingly is not solved at once, that is not the fault of Christian Science. It simply means that further work is needed to establish the perfection and absoluteness of Principle in human consciousness. We are going through a test like unto that of our school days, when we knew the answer was there but had to prove it. Occasionally, if the problem seemed beyond our ability, we went to father or mother or teacher and had a little help or advice. Their larger experience enabled them to detect mistakes more readily than we could. In similar fashion do we go to a practitioner of Christian Science.
We learned in our school days that our teacher could not actually solve our problems for us,—that we ourselves must put forth an effort to understand; otherwise, we should be unable to solve the problem. We could, however, have his help and support. Thus the problem tried us. So it is in our life's work: every problem before us is ours to solve; and it is there because we can solve it. No impossible problem could present itself, because mortal mind merely reverses in belief the divine Mind; and "with God all things are possible." As we, therefore, approach our problems from this standpoint of provableness,—making of them opportunities to know God better, being willing to stand the test of our studentship,—we shall better understand what our Leader means when she says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 66), "Trials are proofs of God's care." The fact that we are growing more Godlike because of them proves that more of God is being manifested by us, more of divine Principle is being shown to the world,—just as a perfect examination paper shows forth the correctness of our knowledge of the rules of mathematics.
