It's a good feeling to master a skill—to bake a top-notch apple pie, to get a carburetor running smoothly, or (if you are a young child) to tie your own shoelaces. Everyone can excel at something worthwhile. To succeed at one skill builds confidence in your ability to make progress in other areas of life, some of which can seem mighty challenging at times.

The desire to excel is often inspired by example. In observing another's success in a worthy endeavor, new light can begin to dawn in our own thought—"If he can do it, perhaps I can learn to do it, too." And much is said these days of the need for strong role models to inspire young people to set high goals for themselves and to persist in making the necessary efforts to reach them. A good example is helpful to everyone.

Humanity has never had a better example of high achievement in its midst than that of Christ Jesus. In the book of Revelation, St. John represents Jesus as saying, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star" (22:16). Because Jesus was the Son of God, we might conclude that what he accomplished is out of our reach—something we cannot learn to do. But Jesus' motive was never to outshine his fellow beings. Jesus did what he did, not to show his superiority over us, but to show us God's supremacy, and to illustrate for us what we are each capable of doing through obedience to God—through conformance to His spiritual laws, the divine Science of being.

Yes, Jesus' example points us to the Science of Christ and its demonstration in our own lives. As Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, says: "Because you cannot walk on the water and raise the dead, you have no right to question the great might of divine Science in these directions. Be thankful that Jesus, who was the true demonstrator of Science, did these things, and left his example for us. In Science we can use only what we understand. We must prove our faith by demonstration" (Science and Health, p. 329). Perhaps that is why the Revelator referred to Jesus' spiritual selfhood, the Christ, as the morning star. A morning star heralds the dawn of a new day. It is indeed a new day in our individual progress toward higher achievement in any right endeavor whenever Christ, revealing our true identity as God's spiritual idea, dawns in our thought. Christ shows us that our real ability is spiritual and unlimited, which we experience and live here and now through right motives, and through learning and doing.

From Jesus, "the true demonstrator of Science," we learn to turn our attention away from comparing our achievement with the achievement of others, and feeling either inferior or superior because of that comparison. We learn, rather, to glorify God, our universal and impartial creator, in everything that we do—for the inspiration of everyone. Learning, in Science, that all things are possible to God, and that you and I, as God's spiritual image and likeness, are capable of all good, we turn our attention away from others toward forwarding our own development as God's expression—and thereby benefiting others as well.

Excellence in any area of life, be it in some simple task or in a very challenging assignment, often comes step by step. We learn by observation and study. But mostly, we learn by doing. Reading a recipe for an apple pie is important, but making apple pies is what develops your expertise. The carburetor runs smoothly because you did the right things to make it run smoothly, not just because you watched someone else repair another carburetor. And as a child, you learn how to tie your shoelaces by trying over and over again until you succeed. Even so, we excel in the demonstration of the Science of Christ through practicing day after day what we are learning from the teachings of Jesus as explained in the Bible and in Science and Health.

When our motive is to glorify God as supreme—as the creator and governor of all—we find the ability to do everything necessary to excel beyond what we have done before. Then we will persist in our endeavors, being encouraged by Jesus' example, by the Science he proved, and by each one of our own accomplishments. What an inspiration that will be to others! It may very well dawn on them that they are capable of more than they realized, and set them at work to achieve it. Then, Christ, "the bright and morning star" of being, will be leading them too in the way of excellence.

Barbara M. Vining

PSALMS

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Psalms 90:16, 17