An old adage reads, "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well," meaning that anything not worthy of wholehearted effort scarcely deserves to be undertaken. It also means that every activity engaged in should be carried out, not carelessly, but with the fullest ability of the person who is responsible for it, thus ensuring the "perfect work," which means patient effort. In this day of many seemingly hit-and-miss enterprises, when there is a maximum amount of rushing around to every minimum of accomplishment, it is important for all of us to analyze our work, and see if it measures up to the best that is in us.
Every Christian Scientist has a definite price to pay for the limitless blessings he is offered, the price being his consecrated devotion to bringing out in daily living what he knows of Christ, Truth. He cannot afford to fritter away his time, since, as Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 183 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience, affection, and strength," and, further, "No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty." Though it may be possible to deceive human beings with work half done, we receive no reward from God, infinite divine Principle, for slipshod service. He who is All-in-all and absolutely perfect does not condone anything unlike Himself. Even Jesus of Nazareth, that unparalleled demonstrator of the perfection of God, declared, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." Thus he showed that one's ability to fulfill the demands made invariably keeps pace with those demands.
Mortal mind is the one enemy, the one hindrance to rightful demonstration and progress, but over this enemy the one who continually expresses infinite Mind has inviolable dominion. He is not responsible for the multitudinous suggestions which hammer at his mental door, seeking admission to his consciousness, but he is responsible for those he admits. He has the power through Christian Science to "stand porter at the door of thought" (ibid., p. 392), turn away all unwelcome visitors, and keep his mental home and his human experience free from the inroads of sin and disaster. This power is won only by the exercise of patient, persistent effort. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
