A Solid Foundation

[Written Especially for Young People]

KATE E. ANDREAE

Every student of Christian Science, whether engaged in art, or some business or profession, hopes for success in his career. Glimpsing the promise of attainment, he plods on, and finds that gradually a firm foundation is being laid on which to build his hopes and achievements. If, however, primal rules are not mastered, one will find that he cannot advance in his chosen study, for no profession can be built on the basis of ignorance or slipshod work. A good, solid foundation is a vital necessity in all branches of study.

In training for a profession or business a demonstrable understanding of the elementary rules of the given subject is all-important. If the student would one day become a successful singer, he must first patiently learn and practice the fundamentals of voice production. If this has been neglected, he cannot expect to get very far along the road to success. An engineer, to be properly trained in every department of his work, has first to learn the elementary rules of mathematics and practice them. This gradually prepares him for the more complicated problems and leads him on to the necessary efficiency in his line of endeavor.

A child was once in a class studying algebra for the first time. Fear of this new subject, as well as the suggestion that she was slow in grasping what the teacher said, seemed to paralyze her capacities. After a demonstration on the blackboard of the first simple problem, the children were asked to write down in their notebooks what they had been taught. Thirty bright and intelligent children quickly responded. One frightened little girl, however, who had not in the least grasped the first rule, wrote down from memory the figures she had seen on the blackboard.

When the teacher praised her she was miserable. But greater and greater grew the burden when she was asked to do more advanced problems. How could she ever succeed in more difficult work when she had been too ashamed to acknowledge that she had not even understood the first rule? What chaos she had been laying up for herself! Dishonesty, resulting from lack of moral courage, had led her into a hopeless tangle, and many steps had to be retraced in order to start afresh on a right basis. Since coming into Christian Science this child has often remembered the early lesson.

Wherever we are practicing the rules of Christian Science, whether in the healing of sickness or in the working out of our own problems, the elementary laws of our religion must be understood and faithfully practiced. Sometimes we may hope that things will come right of themselves without our having to do very much about them. Or perhaps someone may "hope for the best" at examination time, or believe that a good night's sleep will take care of a headache. Another may have a fairly good opinion of his own intellectual capacities, and leave the preparation of his schoolwork to the last minute. "I shall get through all right," he may think. This attitude is very insecure; and it is one which ignores the indispensable elementary rules of Christian Science.

One can be assured of success only as one humbly acknowledges that there is only one Mind, God, and that man reflects this Mind. Then his intelligence and ability will be seen to emanate from the eternal source; and his tasks will be well done, because he has understood and faithfully practiced the fundamental facts of Christian Science.

The one who really obeys the demands of divine Science will realize the unreal nature of any physical discomfort before he goes to sleep. Then his problem will be scientifically met, and the simple verities of Christian Science demonstrated. Obediently facing little errors when they present themselves and practicing the first rules of this Science will strengthen our faith and build up our understanding. Should bigger problems come along, we shall know how to solve them fearlessly and quickly.

Christ Jesus said, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much." Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes on page 123 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," "Seeing that we have to attain to the ministry of righteousness in all things, we must not overlook small things in goodness or in badness, for 'trifles make perfection,' and the little foxes ... spoil the vines.'"

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