The race has been called! All preliminary arrangements and preparations have been made! The contesting boats are vibrating and pulsating in eagerness to speed forward! The signal sounds. The race is on. Every pilot uses to the utmost his ability, intelligence, and strength, and the skill which his training and experience have taught him. When the race is over, and the victory is won, the contestants greet one another in the spirit of true sportsmanship, and the losers as well as the winner are pronounced "good sports," according to the spirit they express.

In the material realm there is a belief of constant change, unrest, and struggle; constant combat with adverse elements. It is like a continuous race for supremacy, position, and power. On the other hand, in the realm of the real there is no race; everything in God's universe in its place, changeless and eternal. There is nothing beyond illimitable infinity, where all is perfect and complete. Therefore, there can be no race or combat; nor can there be any competition, where all reflect God's perfection, God's completeness.

The sense of human existence is as a race in which each individual is a contestant, not one against another, but against the opposing forces of evil and materiality. In this race, the student of Christian Science knows himself as a child of God, and he is striving to rise above the material beliefs which cause struggle, such as pettishness, selfishness, animosity, hatred, and jealousy—all of which are expressions of self-will or willfulness. It might be said that he is trying to be "a good sport"; but rather is he proving the real self, which is always victorious. There are no failures for Truth.

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 254), Mrs. Eddy concisely expresses the thought of true victory where she writes, "If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms. Your good willbe evil spoken of. This is the cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it you win and wear the crown." Each boy and girl, each man and woman, has daily, even hourly and momentarily, to encounter the storm of material belief—this is the test.

Each contestant in a race must be thoroughly prepared before he enters the contest. The equipment of Christian Scientists consists of the Bible, Science and Health and our Leader's other writings, including the Manual of The Mother Church, which, used together, contain all the rules and regulations that enable us to meet every situation aright.

The use of this equipment enables us to learn that all real existence is in God, the One altogether perfect, altogether lovely, the creator of every right idea; that God, being Spirit, fills all space, is All-in-all, and that He is the controlling, governing power of the universe, including man. We also learn that man is the expression of God, the idea of Mind, the representative of Truth, the manifestation of divine Love, never for one instant separated from the Father-Mother God.

When the individual makes spiritual preparation as regularly and as consistently and conscientiously as he prepares for his material needs, this unfolding process becomes joyous and healthful, and storms of error which arise are seen as affording opportunities for proving spiritual strength.

The children of Israel who were in Jerusalem at the time the Greeks came into power through the conquests of Alexander the Great, were influenced by the Greek national games and amusements, as well as by their language and literature. This influence was shown early in Paul's writings, in which he makes many references to sportsmanship. Also, in the epistle to the Hebrews we read, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." The weight and the sin referred to, as well as the storms we face and the cross we bear, are beliefs of mortal mind, forces opposing the truth of being—a challenge to the truth. One of the sins to watch out for in our course is self-will, which would hinder the progress of the student. The loyal Christian Scientist, understanding that man is governed by divine Mind, turns instinctively to God, Spirit, and in prayer declares, "Thy will be done." Fortified by this assurance of knowing God, good, he pushes forward in his course, undisturbed by the error self-will stirs up in its varied forms, such as false pride or egotism, jealousy and criticism, even malice and revenge.

Whether the race be on water or on land, in the schoolroom, on the athletic field, in the office, in the workroom, or in working out some physical or mental problem in the quiet sanctuary of one's own heart, the good sport is he who clings steadfastly to his highest sense of Principle, he who, undeterred by the machinations of mortal mind, uncomplainingly holds to Truth and rises from a fall with a smile and a firm determination to go forward to greater achievements.

Our Leader closes the paragraph above referred to with these words: "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God." Such is the reward of good endeavor.

Joy is for all men. It does not depend on circumstance or condition; if it did, it could only be for the few. It is not the fruit of good luck, or fortune, or even of outward success. . . . It is the . . . wealth of the soul's own being, when it is filled with the spirit of Jesus, which is the spirit of eternal Love.—HORACE BUSHNELL.