One day late last fall I'd been asked by family members who live near my office to help get their home ready for the coming winter. Storm windows were to be put on, leaves raked, and so on. The problem was that I had just finished a very tiring morning in the office after an especially strenuous week. I'd postponed lunch and hoped to hurry home to do the same last minute tasks there.

From the start, nothing went right at my relatives' house. The wind worked perversely against my raking. None of the storm windows would fit. I began to feel rising impatience and frustration. It was very late in the season, and the weather was threatening to close in. Perhaps I wouldn't get the work on my own home done at all.

Even as I worked in exasperation on the front storm door, new requests were made that I complete additional tasks before leaving. I tried to resist the feeling of "being put upon" that was developing, but it became overwhelming. As I struggled to force a stubborn glass panel into place, there was a violent gust of grit filled wind. Something sharp embedded itself in my eye with stinging force, and a rush of tears and pain forced me to stop work.

Because of my background I was grounded in anatomy and eye pathology before becoming a Christian Scientist. I have to remain constantly alert and try to keep the real facts of being—of man's perfect relationship to God—before me. In spite of a strong desire not to do so, I found myself running up and down the steps between the porch and the bathroom— where I would try to examine the eye in the mirror—accomplishing little except to further a sense of fear and frustration.

Eventually, feeling the futility of it all, I stopped in midstride, halfway up the stairs, and just sat down to think. What am I doing? I asked myself. I rested my head on my knees, closed my eyes, and tried to still my thought. What really is a Christian Scientist anyway? I knew I wasn't acting like one.

An easy answer to my query came at once: A Christian Scientist would be someone who goes to a Church of Christ, Scientist. But that obviously did not entirely cover it. Our church regularly has lots of visitors. Well, then, a Christian Scientist would be someone who daily reads the Lesson-Sermon ^{In the Christian Science Quarterly .} and the Christian Science periodicals. No, that wouldn't work either. Many people do that who are not church members. Then, a Christian Scientist must be someone who belongs to a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, and to The Mother Church—a person who carries a membership card that says so. There—that should do it!

But these words about Christ Jesus from the Christian Science textbook by Mrs. Eddy came to me immediately: "He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet be sensual and sinful." ^{Science and Health, p. 20.}

No, a Christian Scientist must be more: someone who lives and practices Christian Science. And what would that include? Well, knowing that God is All. That God is Love. And that man, God's image and likeness, is spiritual and loving. Also that evil, or the belief in material power opposed to God, has no reality. All these things. Yet here I was, feeling something much less than love for these very dear people who had cared for me as a child, raised me, sheltered me, and made many sacrifices for me. Another statement in Science and Health came to mind: "The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, —pulseless, cold, inanimate." ^{ibid., p. 113.}

I knew I should be expressing love instead of resentment. I should actually be feeling gratitude for the opportunity to do something in return for these people. To know that God is All is to make the effort to prove His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience in our lives. To know that He is all Life and Mind. All is a small word, but with tremendous meaning. It leaves no room for the belief in evil, discord, or the reality of matter; no room for any power or condition but the goodness and presence of God. And since man is God's spiritual idea and cannot be invaded or eroded, he is forever safe and intact in Mind. All forms of error must ultimately withdraw and give way to Truth, since error has no law or foundation to back it up.

I reasoned that whatever had happened to my eye was no real part of me, because in truth as God's expression I was entirely spiritual. The suggestion that something could be wrong was error and certainly not God-ordained. To look at the eye repeatedly, to study it fearfully, was far from trusting God. I recalled this statement in Science and Health: "A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive." ^{ibid., p. 463.}

As I sat on the steps, quietly pondering these truths, a change in my attitude began. Granted it was late in the season. Granted I was tired. But I needed to do more than make excuses for myself. What was needed was demonstration and example. A Christian Scientist deals with a problem by acting instead of reacting. He denies the error that would mislead him and endeavors to see its unreality. He affirms God's loving government of man and prays to live in accord with that government at all times. How else can he be a Christian Scientist? Christ Jesus proclaimed: "Ye are the salt of the earth .... Ye are the light of the world .... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." ^{Matt. 5:13, 14, 16.}

Would an impartial observer think I was fulfilling any of the above? The demonstration of Life, Truth, and Love, and of the God-derived qualities of forgiveness, charitableness, kindness, patience, must be vastly more important than a merely intellectual definition of the term Christian Scientist. If we can demonstrate Christian Science by our lives, our actions, and our attitudes, no one will ever have to ask us for a formal definition. They will see! They will know!

I went back to my work with new patience, mingled with love and gratitude for those I was helping and minus the debilitating fear I'd felt about my eye. I put the storm panel into place and found it fitted perfectly. From that moment I felt no more pain or discomfort in my eye, and it never bothered me again. All the rest of the day's work, both there and at home, was accomplished harmoniously.

Living the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes is a constant challenge. Continually attempting to abide by Principle is a minute-by-minute task. But our spiritual sense is a God-given guide. When mortal mind is leading us away from the high standards of Christian Science, we will know it. And we can immediately ask ourselves: Am I acting like a Christian Scientist, or am I reacting to evil? The more we work at demonstrating, the less explaining we will have to do—to ourselves or to others. One demonstration is worth any number of explanations!

The second stanza of Hymn No.12 from the Christian Science Hymnal outlines it very well: