I was dejected as I faced a college entrance examination. The results of the test would determine whether I qualified for a remedial or a college-level English class.

The first portion of the test had been a breeze—the words had been easy to define. But as I proceeded, the definitions were harder to come by; I wasn't doing well.

Even though it was a timed test, I stopped to pray for God's guidance. I asked God what I needed to know. Almost immediatelty the title of this article came to mind. Why don't I know how to fail? I asked. Because God's man reflects divine intelligence! came the answer. I realized that God's man was the true selfhood of me—and everyone.

Mrs. Eddy clearly links intelligence with God in her inspired definition of God in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." ^{Science and Health, p. 587;}

How can I use this divine intelligence? I asked, continuing my silent prayer. By claiming it, acknowledging its presence and activity in my consciousness, came the instant reply. Time and pressure were deflated as I pondered this and tried to put it into practice.

I reasoned that one way to claim divine intelligence is to realize that God is the authority behind intelligence. God is intelligence; therefore man is intelligent. God is all-wise; therefore man, as God's manifestation, expresses wisdom. "Mind alone possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension," ^{ibid., p. 488;} Mrs. Eddy states in the textbook. I knew this was true and that claiming it would banish anxiety and confusion.

Then Daniel of Bible times came to mind. He was facing a pretty tough situation—a test of his allegiance. The king had signed a decree ruling that no one could pray to any god or man except to the king himself for thirty days. But Daniel was steadfast in his allegiance to the one God. By choosing fidelity to God over a false sense of personal well-being, he proved that God is the sustainer of man and that man is exempt from failure or harm. Then King Darius made a decree, "That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever." ^{Dan. 6:26;}

The Daniel of whom this account is given is an ancient figure of the Old Testament. He preceded Jesus in history, but he didn't precede the Christ, which Jesus so faithfully and fully represented. The Christ, Truth, has always existed. "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness," Mrs. Eddy tells us. "The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual,—yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death." ^{Science and Health, p. 332.}

My understanding of the Christ, Truth, supported by Daniel's dramatic experience, broke through the sense of inability. I looked at the difficult words again. As I pondered the first one, I realized that Mrs. Eddy used it in Science and Health. A sentence containing the word came to mind. I thought about the meaning of the word as she used it. A definition came to mind. I looked at the definitions on the answer sheet. One was identical to the definition I had thought of! Almost all of the other words on the exam were ones used by Mrs. Eddy. I handled each of them as I had the first and finished the test in the allotted time.

What brought the solution? Had the words changed? No. Had a material brain begun to function better? No. Like Daniel, I had prayed. I had dropped the burden of the trouble and sought peace through an acknowledgment of my unity with divine intelligence. My affirmation that I could achieve all good through Christ had erased my dependence on human ability or so-called brainpower. By claiming my right to the expression of divine intelligence, I had established the true basis of intelligence, and the solution followed.

We can't expect our prayers to be effective in a situation like this if we haven't done our homework. But in my case such study had not been in order. The exam was designed to test what I had learned over a span of years.

But I had done my homework. Over the years I had been learning more about God, and man's relationship to Him. I had been affirming that God's intelligence is reflected by man. I had prayed, knowing that this intelligence can't be manufactured by man, only reflected naturally. I knew it was right at hand to be demonstrated.

If we stumble over the argument that intelligence can be lost or that we can't grasp it, we can pray to be released from this barrier. We can deny the generally accepted reasoning that intelligence is in matter or brain. Nothing good can be in matter, because all good is from God. God is not in matter. He is not cognizant of matter, because matter does not exist in the infinite realm of Spirit. Matter is a dream, a wrong sense of substance, paraded before us and disguised as reality. But if we understand God, not matter, to be the source of intelligence, we can't fail. Intelligence is a part of our true being. It's ours forever. It can't be taken away, concealed, denied, misplaced, limited.

As these truths are claimed through prayer, they give us the tools to work out problems—sometimes in unusual ways. I had no idea when I entered the classroom that the writings of Mrs. Eddy would play such a prominent role in my work on the test. When the test results were announced, I was ranked in the top 10 percent. As I had been out of school for more than twelve years, an administrator expressed amazement at my high score. But I knew that the credit belonged to Mind.

We all face tests daily. Some may seem relatively unimportant, while others assume tremendous importance. But each one provides an opportunity to demonstrate what we are learning about God and His Christ and man. Man truly doesn't know how to fail!