If your most cherished dream of progress were to come true today, are you prepared for it, really prepared?

"Yes!" you exclaim. "Haven't I waited and longed for this? Of course I'm prepared." But then maybe you add disconsolately, "Not a chance, though. It won't happen. My life is one long stalemate."

If this seems to be the case, have you ever thought that probably you are not really prepared for progress? Willing, yes, but not prepared. These states can be poles apart.

Then let us say that someone, noticing your unhappiness, tells you that Christian Science can reveal a new world of healing and progress, but that because blessings do not just drop out of the trees you yourself will have a part to fulfill. So you agree to look into Christian Science. However, you have some questions.

"First," you ask, "what does Christian Science offer that I couldn't gain just as well from kindness, consideration, a few opportunities opening up, and some badly needed funds? Secondly, does Christian Science guarantee that everything will work out to my advantage? Anyway, I have already been trusting God to help me, but nothing happens. So what more can Christian Science do?"

These questions, sincere as they are, stem only from a human concept of things. Christian Science, which is in accord with the works and teachings of Christ Jesus and the prophets, penetrates deep into spiritual facts before considering beneficial effects.

To reason to conclusions in Christian Science one begins with God, divine Love, and with man as His perfect, spiritual likeness, fully satisfied, fully cared for, and possessed of limitless opportunities to express the best and highest qualities. Translated into terms relating to our human experience, this means that we are not governed by finances, physical conditions, or geographical locations, not dependent on personal approval, recognition, or favors for our progress. This reality, once grasped, heightens achievement, makes progress possible where it appeared impossible, and establishes it on a permanent footing. "The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and God." ^{Science and Health, p. 258;} writes Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and author of its textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Gaining "the true conception of man and God," the actuality of who we really are, wherein human hopes and yearnings are purified by being measured against what is spiritually durable, is the greater part of preparation for progress. It is essential because we are confronted on every hand by claims that we are mortals living in a material world where progress often seems to be the result of maneuvering string-pulling, or buying one's way.

So what is it that keeps your ship of promise riding at anchor year after year, held fast, you tell yourself, by fate, bad luck, or unbeatable competition? Honest answers to some penetrating questions may reveal the reason. For instance, ask yourself what makes you so sure that what you have longed for would be a continuing blessing to all concerned? Why is this particular thing so important to you? Have you a lurking wish to top someone else's success or "show him"? Is applause, importance, wealth, or status your criterion for progress?

Note that most of these questions can be reduced to the one significant word "motives." In applying Christian Science we must never lose sight of why we want to achieve a demonstration of Truth. We have to be merciless in our scrutiny of the integrity of our purpose and the hidden reasons movitating our desires. Mrs. Eddy cautions: "A wrong motive involves defeat. In the Science of Mind-healing, it is imperative to be honest, for victory rests on the side of immutable right." ^{p. 446;}

Motives also need to be taken into account by one who feels he has trusted God to help but nothing happens. What is the quality of his trust? How free of self-seeking? It is useless to expect Christian Science to step in and bring to pass a selfish purpose. Christian Science is not a means of bargaining with God: "Father, I will do this for You if You will do that for me."

Trust in God that is based upon stipulated material gains, or even colored by the expectation of receiving them, is not trust at all and has no part in the practice of Christian Science. Indeed, the hand of Love may be most protective when the answer to our prayers is No. Mighty wrestlings may take place before we can finally say, "Father, Thy will be done in all that concerns me." But when the heart is free enough of self, of outlining, and of an urgent sense of human timing to say this and mean it fervently, preparation for progress has taken a giant step forward.

This does not mean that Christian Science belittles thorough, conscientious academic training and study or native ability; but it never gives them top billing. They cannot bestow the consciousness of peace that spiritual understanding affords concerning our present and future activities. No frantic pushing or competitive striving, no elbowing our brother or racing to get ahead regardless of who is hurt, should be allowed to cloud this peace. Anxiety should be replaced by certainty that God is at the helm and that we can safely wait for His pattern of progress to appear.

In this pure trust we find strength to ride out any storms of envy or malice and see their nothingness. We may gain the perceptiveness to recognize the futility or the unwisdom of a preconceived human goal, and the humility to veer our course or abandon it completely, without rancor.

As for whether Christian Science guarantees that everything will work out to our advantage, the answer is Yes, in the deepest sense. Dedicated, faithful study and consistent efforts to apply Truth in every daily experience do guarantee that our human affairs will work out according to God's plan for us—and God's plan is always to our advantage. He knows, though, when we are truly ready. We read that it took Moses eighty years to be prepared for his massive role in history. Eighty years! But when he was finally ready, his mission to mankind gave a whole new concept of moral law that still underlies our legal codes. Christ Jesus spent thirty years preparing for his ministry, about which he said confidently, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." ^{Mark 13:31.}

Therefore our part is to make sure that we are spiritually in trim for whatever progress is right for us, so that when the hour strikes we will be alert, on our feet, and ready to go.