Article July 27, 1987 Issue

"Excuses, excuses"

Sometimes it seems easier to rationalize failures than to make spiritual progress.

Jeffrey Vincent Scoville

A Few years back I was employed by a small firm that was owned by a very businesslike and efficient woman. One of the lessons I learned from her was to recognize when I was making excuses. We often had brief conversations, which she started by asking me a question. When I began to give what I thought was a valid answer, she would interrupt me by saying, "Excuses, excuses" and end the conversation.

Now, I admit that I didn't see the lesson the first few times this happened. In fact, I felt she was being very unfair by not listening to what I thought were perfectly good explanations of why things were the way they were. Then one week, as I was reading the Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly, I stumbled over a verse in the Bible. The part of the verse that stood out to me was "Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?"^{Gal. 5:7.} By stumbled I mean that it stuck in my thought each day as I read it. It was as though the Bible were saying to me, "Excuses, excuses."

I realized the epistle was pointing out that nothing could hinder my efforts to do God's will. I knew that since God is divine Principle, the source and governor of all that exists, every detail had to be under God's control. As the loving Parent that He is, God holds His children in order and harmony. Man was created to express God; so God could not create anything that would hinder His child's ability to shine as Love's own idea. I determined right then to prove this in my life—to let nothing convince me that somehow something was out of God's control and could put me in a position where I wouldn't be able to do what I was intended to do—to express God. I could do my part as best I understood it, and trust everything else to God.

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