One day a real friend, an advertising man who talked Christian Science modestly and lived it generously, said to me, "Charlie, how's business?" I was a space salesman for a number of magazines and admitted, "Only fair." He pursued the matter. "Are you the only Christian Scientist on the sales force?" "Yes," I replied. "You should be an outstanding salesman," he insisted. "Why don't you get going and do something?"
For a while I continued to struggle along without much happiness or success. Finally I went to see a Christian Science practitioner and said to him, "You know, if I had a physical problem, I wouldn't bother you with it. I could easily handle it with God's help. But here's a business situation I can't deal with successfully. And the reason is that there's a lot of competition out there, bad economic conditions, and other problems." His typically hard-hitting reply was that the challenge had to be resolved right within my own consciousness. I had to change my view. "I think I have," I protested, "but right here in my business Christian Science is not working." "What's that?" he retorted. "Christian Science isn't working here in business," I repeated, "Not now, not for me." "There's a screw loose somewhere," he assured me, "and you can be sure it isn't with God." That began to wake me up.
A short time later while on a sales trip I thought, "Suppose I were a lawyer. Would I get paid primarily for reading lawbooks? No. If I were a lawyer and just read lawbooks, I probably couldn't pay my bills." Then I could see my mistaken approach toward Christian Science. I was reading the Bible LessonIn the Christian Science Quarterly; and the Christian Science periodicals, but not taking the truth, articulating it in my own words, and applying it specifically to the situation at hand.
