An article on executive ability, published in a widely read business magazine,Nation's Business, December, 1968; came to my desk a while ago. It began with the query "When was the last time you took stock of yourself as an executive?" and continued with a list of fifty questions designed to test one's effectiveness as an executive.
The questionnaire prompted me to ask myself how I measured up as a Christian Scientist. I arrived at these five questions that seemed to get to the core of the inquiry:
1. Are you taking full advantage of the weekly Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly?
2. Is a branch church being blessed by your membership?
3. Are you utilizing the aids of spiritual growth provided by The Mother Church and the periodicals published by The Christian Science Publishing Society, and by attending lectures given by members of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship?
4. Are you an effective practitioner? That is, do you put into practice the truth you learn in Christian Science?
5. "Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?"Science and Health, p. 496;—a question in Science and Health that Mrs. Eddy asks us to ask ourselves concerning our progress in spiritual understanding.
Many answers, and some additional thoughts for self-evaluation, were prompted by those questions: Question 1. In order to progress in any line of scientific study, some orderly study plan should be followed. Students of Christian Science have such a program—daily study of the Bible Lessons in the Quarterly. Genuine unfoldment comes from growth in spiritual understanding, and the hours spent each week in consecrated study of these lessons provide manna for sustaining one in his understanding of harmonious activity.
