Article March 12, 1990 Issue

Go straight for the goal

Sometimes it's hard to tell if we're making progress. Ensuring our efforts are divinely directed makes all the difference.

Gloria Marlatt

On a balmy afternoon, a group of five-year-olds eagerly awaited the kickoff of their soccer game. Just as the game started, the coach called to them, "Which direction are you going to run?" With great excitement they pointed to the correct goal and cried, "That way!" Periodically throughout the game, to keep these children on target, the coach would call out, "Which direction are you going to run?"

After the game, I thought about the coach's directive. If we want to keep our lives focused on the right goal, we too need to be persistent in checking the direction we are going.

This same point also relates to prayer. The temptation is to begin our prayers by focusing on the wrong goal. We accept the goal as being some difficult material situation to be healed. Fear and a desire to change matter can end up directing our prayer. But, in Christian Science, instead of fearfully focusing on the problem, the objective of prayer is to acknowledge the spiritual facts of man's being, and this brings about the needed healing.

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