Article September 11, 1971 Issue

Prayer Precedes Mastery

SHARON SLATON HOWELL

While observing a golf match recently, I admired and was impressed by each player's calm deliberation preceding each stroke. There was no hurry, no wasted motion, just forethought and control. Not once did a player rush up to the ball and swing aimlessly; each play was executed only after studied effort. Each man was in complete control before he acted. As I watched the players' successful application of poise, alertness, and preparation, I thought how much these very qualities are needed in everyone's daily life.

Are we in control before we act? Do we prepare for each day by first spiritualizing thought, thereby bringing desires and expectations into line with God's plan for us, or do we swing first and think later? We cannot hope to gain spiritual mastery by exercising self-will, impulsiveness, anxiety, or confusion. True dominion is achieved only by preceding each step with the best preparation possible—that of prayer!

In a psalm we read, "Be still, and know that I am God."^{Ps. 46:10;} Scientific prayer as taught in Christian Science enables one to fulfill this Scriptural command. It uplifts one's consciousness from the mortal, erroneous view of existence, with its chance, discord, and disruption, to the serene understanding that God, good, is All, and that man in His image and likeness dwells eternally in harmony, joy, and peace.