Everyone at some time faces decisions regarding a career to follow or some other course of action. How can we go about making these decisions? It might be argued that there is no practical, dependable way.

But Christian Science teaches us that we do have a reliable guide for decision-making. It can be found in the teachings of Christ Jesus, who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ^{John 14:6;} As we follow Jesus' example, our way in life becomes clearer and more certain, because it is God-directed, not willful or haphazard.

Making a decision should never involve mere human will. It should be the natural outcome of expressing divine wisdom, which man reflects as the perfect image of God, infinite Mind. Human will springs from the false belief that man is mortal, separated from God, and subject to chance and circumstance. It is a product of mortal mind, a belief in a consciousness separate from God. But man reflects divine Mind, the only real Mind. As we let divine Mind govern us, we naturally express more of God's wisdom and need not fear that we'll make mistakes or that we will continue in a wrong course. Whatever the human situation, it will respond harmoniously to the facts of perfect spiritual creation as we understand and correctly apply these facts to the challenges that confront us.

The Apostle Paul writes, "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." ^{Phil. 2:13;} There's no element of human will in that!

How can we be certain we're not being influenced by human will? By determining the source of the thoughts that come to us. Divine Mind communicates pure, spiritually satisfying ideas, free from doubt or the limitations of materiality. The qualities of joy, peace, fulfillment, all derive from God, Mind. These qualities are real and eternal, and man includes them because he expresses God's nature. Mortal mind is belief only, not reality. The only power or existence it seems to have is what we attribute to it. Its negative suggestions can result in confusion and misjudgment only if we don't alertly reject them and deny their validity.

We can admit into our thinking either divine Mind's pure ideas or mortal mind's false suggestions. When we accept more from divine Mind than from mortal mind, our consciousness becomes more spiritual. Listening to mortal mind tends to materialize our existence.

Conflict in our thinking will progressively lessen and finally disappear as we understand Christ Jesus' words, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." ^{John 5:19;} Personal, human will conflicts with the divine will, and is selfish, materialistic, and finite. Its seeming origin is in unreal, supposititious mortal mind. When human will is subordinated to reliance on the divine will, making a sound decision is natural, and we can be assured that it will be a good one. Whether the decision seems of small importance or large, whether it has to do with governing oneself or a nation, those who must make correct decisions can be reassured by this assertion of Mrs. Eddy's: "Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life." ^{Science and Health, p. 215;}

Our decisions can be greatly significant. For example, one can decide without hesitation to be kind rather than unkind. One can decide not to lose one's temper or to hold a grudge or to rehash error. As Mrs. Eddy points out, "To decide quickly as to the proper treatment of error—whether error is manifested in forms of sickness, sin, or death—is the first step towards destroying error." ^{ibid., p. 463;}

As a young college student, undecided about what to do with my life, I spent some time studying the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy in a Christian Science Reading Room. I looked up the word "direction" in the Concordances to Mrs. Eddy's published works and came upon these arresting words: "You render the divine law of healing obscure and void, when you weigh the human in the scale with the divine, or limit in any direction of thought the omnipresence and omnipotence of God." ^{ibid., p. 445.}

What a powerful statement this is! The thought came, How much am I weighing "the human in the scale with the divine"? How much am I limiting God's omnipotence in any direction? Reasoning in this way helped me with decisions from then on, because I depended on God to govern me instead of on a limited, personal sense of adequacy or inadequacy. After this, an interesting career in business opened up, which I pursued for many years.

In God's perfect universe there is no such thing as vacillation or indecision. All is governed by unerring, omniscient Mind, of which man is the complete, satisfied expression. As we understand this truth, we'll find that when we let His will be done, God directs our way in every circumstance.