Haven’t we all, when faced with a daunting task, been tempted to say, “I just can’t do this?” Maybe it’s concerns about lack of time or resources or personal ability that convince us that there’s just no way. Fear of failure, if allowed to take hold in thought, can paralyze our best efforts, and stop us from even trying to succeed.
But there is a spiritual premise that allows us to go forward without fearing, or expecting, that we’ll fail. I’ve found the following saying to be a useful reminder of this spiritual premise when tempted by thoughts of failure: “ ‘I can’ is the son of ‘I AM.’ ” In Exodus God revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM” (see 3:14), whose ability is infinite, and it is because we reflect God’s infinite ability as His dear children that we are able to succeed at whatever we are called on to do.
Mary Baker Eddy, a deep spiritual thinker, and the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, describes a revolutionary way of thinking in her work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. On page 124 she writes: “The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.”
