One afternoon while I was watching some high-school students swim their laps in preparation for the weekend's competition, the champion was asked how she was able to win so consistently. She said, "I stand on the box, envision the race, and then dive in and swim it." Simple but action-packed! Doesn't this tell us—whether we may be a young athletic competitor, a mature individual meeting the daily challenges of the workplace, or one entering the so-called retirement years—that success depends on some fundamental disciplines?
This young swimmer undoubtedly did not stop to analyze in spiritual depth the why of her special performance. However, in Christian Science we know that God's law is omniactive good. Man exists as idea, as God's image, and therefore partakes of this omniaction. In fact, Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis." Science and Health, p. 258. So every idea is active. Each one has to be continuously active through the eternally active law of God. Because these ideas are Godlike, this activity is of necessity decisive, wholesome, and pure.
The racer's story also enables us to recognize the fact that lives are defined by actions, and actions are defined by thought. There can be no proof of Christian Science without thoughtful activity because, as Mrs. Eddy says, "The words of divine Science find their immortality in deeds, for their Principle heals the sick and spiritualizes humanity." Ibid., p. 354. Right thinking, then, is paramount and can be likened to getting "on the box."
