Are we attempting, with God’s help or without, to build a grand and noble life? Or are we allowing the excellence of the life God has already given us to appear? Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures states, “We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 248).
Growing up in Christian Science, I read that statement and ran with it. I thought, “Fantastic! Not only do I want a grand and noble life, but if I focus on the life I want, I’ll get it.” You might say I read what I wanted to hear.
In my defense I was not completely off course. Mrs. Eddy’s statement does highlight the fact that living “grand and noble lives” is not only attainable, it’s a right desire. That said, my all too quickly deduced conclusion allowed for two mistakes: first, putting a false sense of human accomplishment in place of listening for and doing God’s will; and second, working to attain something I had never lost—and could never lose.
“God saw every thing that he had made”—not me-made but He-made.
As a result, even when I humanly seemed to attain goals I worked for, I never felt a deep satisfaction. It was as if I were trying to pick up a ball that kept getting kicked away. In fact, I was attempting to pick up something that in reality I’d never dropped—the truth of what God already caused me to be.
Mrs. Eddy’s statement indicates the Christian Science demand to demonstrate our ever-present spiritual identity, instead of catering to a limited view of who and what we are. To fulfill this demand, we need to get the order of things straight. That’s what I hadn’t yet done. Like a checklist that airlines regularly run through as part of the maintenance of their planes, we need to regularly check our thought to be sure we “grasp the reality and order of being in its Science” (Science and Health, p. 275). To be in order we must put God first—acknowledge His all-power, goodness, and perfection.
For me, this mental checklist includes regularly asking myself the following questions:
Am I seeing that God is the only cause and creator and that I am His good and perfect expression or idea?
Am I correctly identifying God as guiding my day and my life? Am I listening for His direction? Or am
I telling God where I want to go and asking Him to help me get there?
In identifying myself as God’s idea, do I see myself as presently able to demonstrate what God is causing me to be? Or am I seeing myself as an imperfect human, needing—or being asked—to become something better?
As I’ve asked myself these questions to ensure I’m following God’s lead instead of asking God to follow mine, I’m more appreciative of, and satisfied with, the accomplishments unfolding in my life. And I’m no longer waiting for these events or accomplishments to bring me fulfillment. Satisfaction and peace are just naturally being demonstrated as an aspect of who I already am—regardless of what is or is not happening in my life. I’m also finding my endeavors are accompanied by less fear, friction, and frustration, and are instead companioned with a greater sense of trust and harmony.
One of the most important things these questions do is keep me alert to subtle justifications which might steer me off course and have me break the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Through my study of Christian Science, I have come to realize that anytime I attempt to create excellence or goodness from a starting point of myself as the creator (even of my own progress and unfoldment), I am putting person, or self, in God’s place.
This truly can’t be done. God has already created all perfectly, including our individuality as His image and likeness. Christian Science helps us discover who we already are.
Along with the First Commandment, there are other useful tools that help keep the flight deck clear of the corrosive beliefs of a personality-driven existence. One of these is a statement from Genesis: “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (1:31). Not me-made but He-made. What a sense of relief—that my job is to see His work, not struggle to paint a new portrait of myself.
Another tool I’m keeping on hand is this statement: “The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man’s origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly” (Science and Health, p. 262). I now understand that to witness the unfoldment of our already existent goodness —our “enough-ness”—we can’t proceed along the runway of life with the assumption that we are for now incomplete, midway through production, on our way to perfection.
Some further guidance Christian Science provides, which helps me navigate my way, is this: “Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence” (Science and Health, p. 249). Right here we’re directed to the “models of excellence” divine Mind has already produced and caused.
My job is to see His work, not struggle to paint a new portrait
of myself.
Other guidance follows this: “Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine ‘powers that be.’ Such is the true Science of being” (p. 249).
How beautifully Mrs. Eddy starts these statements with the word let, and how powerfully this word describes the ease of turning away from a false sense of human will and turning to the qualities of our real identity—qualities such as trust, obedience, and love. It is natural and normal for us to “let”—relax into and trust—God’s allness, goodness, and greatness. It’s equally natural for the unfoldment of our lives to be joyous and inspiring, instead of disappointing or sluggish.
Striving to let God’s will be done instead of attempting to forge my own path, doesn’t mean I never lose my way. But when this happens, Christian Science gives me the map that leads me home—to God and His outstretched arms of Love and His correct view of me as whole and complete, safe, essential, good, and eternal.
The thing about these navigation tools is that we have to use them. When we do this, we can feel confident about the course we’re on, trusting we’re being led rightly. Putting God first allows us to discover the life of excellence God has already given to each one of us. And the work we do individually to demonstrate this excellence blesses us all collectively.
Clearer skies (and lives)—shining with God’s glory—naturally result from the work we are all doing in our discovery of God as our cause, and of us as God’s effect. Let’s celebrate the glorious spiritual nature we all possess as His beautiful, harmonious, and accomplished ideas.
