On page 80 of "Retrospection and Introspection" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, "There are no greater miracles known to earth than perfection and an unbroken friendship." "Perfection and an unbroken friendship"! How wondrously significant the association of those qualities! How it sets us to thinking, and causes us to dig deep down under the surface of things! Truly, the words contain worlds of meaning, and are boundless in their inspiration; for these qualities reflect the fundamental facts of being and the glories of divine Love; and, demonstrated, they are indeed miracles.
By linking together perfection and friendship our Leader has given us a spiritual model which should always occupy a foremost place in our consciousness. But in order to make sure that we have an intelligent and practical understanding of this model, let us briefly analyze it. Perfection! What does it involve? A scientific or provable knowledge of God and of His universe, including man. Now God is Love, as the Bible teaches, and the real man is the image and likeness of God, divine Love. Therefore the friendship which is associated with perfection must reflect divine Love. Since God, divine Love, is eternal, perfection as a quality of God is the same; and spiritual friendship as allied with perfection must, consequently, remain unbroken.
Just here we recall the Master's words to his disciples, as quoted in the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel: "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." In this declaration we see that true friendship is a divine or spiritual characteristic, grounded upon God's Word, and illustrated through the life and works of our great Teacher and Way-shower, Christ Jesus. It is based upon an impartation of spiritual truth from the Father to the Son, and, in human experience, to all who will accept and follow the Christ, Truth. Thus do we gain a clear concept of "perfection and an unbroken friendship;" and thus are we shown how to establish and maintain them in our daily activities and in our individual relationships.
