It's depressing. It's belittling. It robs joy. It saps energy. It preoccupies thought. It's "The Imperfection Blues." The refrain goes, "I should have done much better." Even if, having been D students, we have struggled and studied and fought our way up to B's, it says, "I should have earned A's. I'm just never going to amount to anything." It turns a triumph needing celebration into a funeral.

There's certainly nothing wrong and a lot right about striving to demonstrate man's God-given perfection. But there is a great deal wrong with overlooking our victories along the way. To listen to "The Imperfection Blues" is like taking a train trip with the window shades pulled down, traveling through awesome mountains, lush forests, graceful valleys, and never seeing any of them. "Let's focus on what's not accomplished," says The Blues. "Let's be unhappy that we're not there yet, and when we get there, let's be unhappy that there's another place we have yet to go."

Well, if that's our ticket, the destination is depression and failure. But that's not our destination. Christ Jesus showed us the way: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." he said (John 8:32).

What truth? There are many found in the Bible, but one of the most basic is in the very first chapter: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). A second is that God made everything that was made "and, behold, it was very good"—not just good, but very good (Gen. 1:31). Everything! These mighty spiritual truths revealed in the Bible show we can refuse to believe that evil is real or powerful, because such belief denies the allness of God. We have the opportunity to triumph over evil by knowing the truth, as Jesus taught us to do.

Sometimes we are tempted to feel unhappy, unskillful, unhealthy, un-something. Christian Science explains that the discordant in life can best be dealt with as mistaken perception about God and man. It is as if someone has told us a lie and we have believed it, and acted upon it, to our own detriment.

But Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Would he have said this if it were not possible? The absolute fact of our lives is that we are already perfect, always have been perfect, and always will be perfect, and thus creation continues to appear in dynamic, new, and wonderfully unfolding ways throughout eternity—because we are made in the spiritual likeness of God, of infinite Spirit. God—the one creator, the all-encompassing Being, the only cause and source of all activity—expresses Himself by means of His creation. And that creation includes us. Being perfect Himself in every way, He could not express Himself in anything less than His own natural perfection. So, regardless of the appearance, the underlying reality and indisputable fact of our being is spiritual perfection—perfection in health, perfection in intelligence, perfection in ability and understanding, in beauty, creativity, life.

Since man is God's own image and likeness, which image, of course, is wonderful, there is actually nothing for us to be depressed about with regard to ourselves. There is no factual basis for "The Imperfection Blues"! And if we accept our true nature as Godlike and live this fact as best we can from day to day, we will find more and more that it is the only truth of our lives. As we accept that we are the likeness of divine intelligence and listen for God's guidance, we find ourselves acting more intelligently. As we accept the fact that we include, by reflection, the invulnerability of God's health, we find ourselves more healthy. As we accept that we are the image of God, who is pure, we find ourselves able to act more uprightly and responsibly. We learn how natural it is for us to resist evil and temptation. And as more and more people realize the truth of these facts, won't the world become a wonderful place! "Sooner or later the whole human race will learn that, in proportion as the spotless selfhood of God is understood, human nature will be renovated, and man will receive a higher selfhood, derived from God, and the redemption of mortals from sin, sickness, and death be established on everlasting foundations," writes Mary Baker Eddy (Unity of Good, p. 6).

Where do feelings of failure, worthlessness, hopelessness, deficiency, come from? God, being good, and knowing His whole creation as good, would have no consciousness of such thoughts, nor do we as the expression of God. These thoughts of imperfection are simply false conclusions from a mistaken sense of life separate from God. In fact, they are not our thoughts.

Sometimes they seem very aggressive, very convincing. For this reason, Christian Science identifies such thoughts as aggressive mental suggestion. But since these thoughts are not based on reality, they have not the force of Truth behind them, and we can confidently reject as not having anything to do with our true being. We destroy these suggestions by going to Truth, God, to learn more of our being as God's expression.

Even if we do not feel like the wonderful spiritual expression of God that we truly are, we must start by accepting this reality of our God-produced nature as the underlying truth. By operating from this premise, we find in our daily experience that step by step we are expressing our perfection.

It is important in doing this not to let our thought get mesmerized by, stuck on, all the things that appear to be wrong. If a beginning typist were to concentrate on dissatisfaction over his inability to coordinate his fingers, over the numbers of mistakes he made, over the slowness of his speed compared to that of a champion typist, and so forth, would he be likely to improve very rapidly? So we need to rejoice in the fact that we are already the expression of God, showing forth God's ability and grace. This will speed our way to a fuller demonstration of our spiritual perfection and provide joys and victories along the way.

Is it really all right not to feel unhappy about imperfection? Yes, as long as we are trying to right our wrongs and do better. If we are tempted to moan yet another verse of "The Imperfection Blues," let's just say, "No thanks. Won't do it. Too busy singing the 'Hallelujah!' chorus. Praise the Lord for His wonderful works, including me."

ACTS

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Acts 2:28