Probably most people at some time have longed for a positive means of guidance. It is so much easier, one may think, to want to follow the right course than to know what it is. The complexities of modern life seem to have accentuated this uncertainty, and the need for a spiritual means of guidance in human affairs is more apparent than ever before.
From the time when the idea of one God dawned upon men's thoughts, there have been those who have turned to Him at times of need and have found a peaceful, confident sense of guidance. Isaiah said, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee" (26:3). Christ Jesus, who understood his heavenly Father more fully than has any other man, lived and acted in constant obedience to His directing. Today we have a scientific means, based upon the Master's teachings, of aligning thought with God and His creation and applying spiritual understanding with the certainty of divine law.
Christian Science teaches that God is actually the Mind of man and that all that seems to oppose His wisdom and goodness is an illusive material sense. In truth, man is the compound idea of Mind and includes the right ideas of supply, position, home—all that mortals strive to attain. Christian Science prayer does not attempt to call God's attention to human conditions, but it does lift thought above a personal, human sense to spiritual reality. The more consistently one lifts his thought in this way, the more he is led to take the right human footsteps and see the outward unfolding of God's plan. It may appear that the needed idea of the moment comes from an associate, from the printed page, or from some other outside means. Or it may come spontaneously to the inner thought.
