The Psalmist sang, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." To the student of Christian Science right expectation assumes increasing importance. From the moment he earnestly starts to study and apply the rules of this Science, his expectation of good steadily advances. To the Christian Scientist, life is no mere span of threescore years and ten; it is a constant state of unfolding activity, intelligence, health, wisdom, strength, joy, and peace; a constant achieving of a higher understanding of God, good, and so an increasing realization of his sonship with the Father. Thus, right expectation is a mental state carried forward under divine impulsion.

Right expectation is an aid in the ordinary experiences of human living. Indeed, it should and increasingly does influence the daily life of the sincere, earnest Christian Scientist, in his home, his business, and his church. What does he expect to contribute to his home? It does not take the conscientious student long to learn that home is not made up of bricks and mortar and so forth. Rather does he find that home is built of the strong and beautiful qualities of humility, purity, gratitude, unselfishness, loving-kindness, patience, generosity, appreciation, and the like. Humbly desiring to aid in maintaining this true sense of home, the faithful student prayerfully seeks, and confidently expects, to cultivate and bring out in his thinking more and more of the Christlike qualities. If this work at times seems difficult, he finds support in the wise declaration of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, regarding the consistency of individuals "who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 254).

The student realizes, as he progresses in spiritual understanding, that there is no place in the true sense of home, as understood in Christian Science, for self-will, self-love, self-righteousness, or other selfish beliefs of the carnal mind; and he works zealously to defend his consciousness from such beliefs. Thus thinking and acting from the noblest motives and purest ideals, the alert student expects to achieve the true sense of home, which, Mrs. Eddy says on page 58 of the textbook, "is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections."

Basically, all true business is an expression of divine Principle. Humanly speaking, business is the occupation or activity by which one earns one's living. The student of Christian Science who is engaged in business seeks to achieve success not through human will, but through demonstration of Truth. Relying wholly upon Spirit, and seeking through prayer to know the Father's will in every circumstance of his daily experience, he gratefully expects divine guidance and good results in his business undertakings. He sincerely strives to realize that all with whom he associates, in his own organization and elsewhere, are, in their real being, children of God, ideas of Mind; so he naturally expects to see manifested everywhere such true qualities as wisdom, justice, honesty, courtesy, and so forth. And he is very careful to see that those qualities are expressed by himself. Indeed, he knows that unless he manifests such qualities himself he may not discern them in others. The Christian Scientist respects business competition of the right sort. Allowing no unfairness, no dishonesty, to enter his consciousness, and regarding his business as a service to the public, he sincerely seeks to bring out the very best service possible. And his expectation of good is enhanced as he gratefully sees his competitor doing the same, for this competition, he perceives, is really co-operation governed by righteous and lofty ideals.

In attending church services the faithful Christian Scientist expects to find a sacred opportunity to unite with other members of the congregation in prayer and praise that, silently and with power, go out into human consciousness to bless and heal. He therefore takes time before each service to prepare his thinking, that it may be true, positive, and free from the distracting "cares of this world."

The true Christian Scientist's expectation of good is without qualification, for he has learned through experience that to limit or qualify one's expectation of good is to attribute power to evil. Nevertheless, he is no dispenser of shallow optimism, realizing, as he does, that the claim of error to govern thought and action in his family, in his business, and in his church seems at times very strong. Jesus' admonition to his disciples, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves," he finds of incalculable value in guidance and help.

To the loyal student of Christian Science comes sooner or later the glorious conviction that the answer to every righteous prayer, every true desire, is already established in the divine Mind, and that it is available to him in the solution of all problems in proportion as he lovingly, patiently, and humbly puts into practice the rules given in his textbooks. With peculiar joy he learns that already through spiritual understanding he has entered into life everlasting, and he has the calm expectation that, as he is faithful, he will become progressively conscious of the infinite spiritual idea, even unto the fullness of eternity.

"O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come."