Article August 16, 1999 Issue

How a graduate school exam changed my life

Prayer leads to peace and success.

By Donald R. Ripperger

Understanding God led me from academic failure to success in undergraduate studies. From studying Christian Science I learned of man's innate intelligence as the idea of God, who is the infinite Mind. Practicing Christianity helped me prove this intelligence.

"Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10) set the tone for my morning prayer for the campus, and the example of Christ Jesus showed how to practice this prayer in love for others, thorough course preparation, and alertness in class. Before each test I spent a few minutes in prayer until mentally at peace. I learned under stress and duress that Mind, the infinite source of all intelligence, knows our specific needs and supplies the ideas to fulfill them.

Something that helps to relate academics and God is to think about other terms that express God's nature. For example, acknowledging that we express God as the all-wise Mind improves the mental discipline by which we overcome temptations and distractions. Consciously expressing divine Love, by both loving others and enjoying the good and progressive ideas we are studying, frees from fear. Truth is another synonym of God, and expressing the integrity of Truth gives confidence and guidance when working with ideas or reasoning through a research problem.

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