Success: Failure kicked to pieces by hard work.
~ Noah Lott, (George V. Hobart), The Silly Syclopedia, 1905
Hard work alone doesn’t guarantee success. Wisdom and intelligent action are necessary ingredients. Nonetheless, there is an element of truth to the above. Laziness, procrastination, and apathy do not breed success. They foster failure.
As Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 199).
Love must be the goal of all success.. It’s a love that expresses supreme intelligence, wisdom, and integrity..
An early Christian Science worker said: “It’s all uphill until you learn to love the uphill, and then it’s downhill from there ion in”.
Love the thought, moving uphill. I left the flattest part of the midwest for a move to Montana following the unintended consequence of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, which scattered volcanic ash all over Montana, Brought the cherries off the tree branches down to the ground, before they were picked, but when the growers saw their orchards littered with cherries on the ground, they announced all the fallen cherries were there for the picker who wanted them.. Went to gather fallen cherries, canned them using the dorm kitchen where i was working, then left Montana to explore the north west, from the northern border, all the way down to the southern border of California. Each stop along the way, the canned cherries were gifted to all who hosted me for a night. Love’s labors are not lost.
11 The
five personal senses, that grasp neither the meaning nor
the magnitude of self-abnegation, may lose sight thereof;
but Science voices unselfish love, unfolds infinite good,
15 leads on irresistible forces, and will finally show the fruits
of Love. Miscellaneous Writings: 100: 15
Thank you dear John for your comment. I Appreciate it very much. However, I would like to ad some ideas to it.
The goal of success should also be to understand God more and more and our spiritual identity as God’s likeness, totally at one with God, so as the ray of the sun is at one with the sun giving the warmth and the light of the sun to the earth. Reaching this goal of spiritual understanding is intelligence and success for me. ♡♡
I love your comment, thank you
So true…Failure kicked to pieces by hard work. An apt picture too put up by Evan and his team…a tiny ant with its persistence and hard work is able to move a rock.
However difficult the goal may be, but as Mary Baker Eddy our leader says in Science and Health, if we devote all our thought we can achieve the seemingly impossible too.
I am reminded of an incident that happened many years back. I was not very good in one of my subjects…Accounts, when I was appearing for my graduation. I was taking the help of a professor to teach me Accounts. He knew I was weak in Accounts and said “Why are you struggling hard with Accounts when I know very well you will fail in your exam.” I doubled my efforts and spent 4 to 5 hours daily practising Accounts. My mom would say, What about your other subjects? You need to study those too.. but I PUT EXTRA EFFORTS FOR ACCOUNTS. Finally I appeared for Accounts and scored very well too. My professor was surprised at my achievement and congratulated me.
Yet I have to achieve another seemingly difficult goal, of gaining confidence to become a good driver. I have got my driving licence but I panic on the road.. With patience, practice and trust in God who is in control of the wheels, I am sure I can achieve this goal. I request all you, my dear friends of Spirit View to support me in prayer, to achieve this goal. With divine help and grace and your prayers, I am sure of becoming a good driver
Thanks Evan for this lovely post. Thanks to everyone who contribute their lovely ideas on Spirit View, daily.
Nergish you have my support in your goal of recognizing yourself as a good driver. You reflect God who guides you every moment. As you said, “God is in control of the wheels.” He is the driver of ever aspect of all our lives.
I didn’t have Christian Science in my life many years ago when I was trying to learn to drive. I struggled with the same issue you describe. It would have made a big difference to understand I did not need to be so tense and feel so scared and out of control, which made me try to over-control humanly. Driving is not a human endeavor, but a spiritual one, like everything else. Driving is transportation, getting from one place to another, moving harmoniously with the other drivers and pedestrians, all under His care and guidance. In Him we live and MOVE and have our being.
Dear Nergish… the only action is Gods continuous good action.
The only mind in control is the one Mind.
Gods cherished idea, that’s you, me and everyone else on the road is never separated from the calm and competence and safety of Divine Love.
We are so fortunate to be in Gods care….Happy driving❣️
Hi dear Nergish, am glad you again are commenting here like years ago!
Yes, God drives, is the driver and leads you through the traffic. But God is on everybody’s driver’s seat. Our omnipresent God is regulating and guiding the whole traffic in including the bikers and all passengers in the street. When I drive I pray: and on the whole journey God’s Love is with us a l l! with much love to you, dear Nergish♡♡
Thank you dear Evan!
We actually are God’s effortless reflection in everything we do. Am happy that this is the truth! Well if it seems not to be so we should pray and listen to God’s guidance. He guides us because He loves us, His able divine children!♡♡
Thanks Evan and John. I loved the quote from the early CS worker about loving the struggle uphill which turns into downhill through our Love.
Congrats on your Accounts exam, Nergish and of course, you will be safe and at ease when driving too. Keep on keeping on. Thanks to you too Rose. Lovely comments.
Working for success is an ongoing journey, but one worth pursuing
to gently move us forward in our quest for “honest achievement” in
our lives. We are constantly having challenges to prove God’s help
in improvement, but as a flower buds and opens with grace and
beauty, naturally, we are capable of achieving whatever God/Spirit
guides and directs us to do. As a flower can not be forced to open,
it is step by step that brings forth it’s perfection.
Hymn #293 gives us the encouragement:
“Rock of Ages, Truth divine, Be Thy strength forever mine;
Let me rest secure on Thee, Safe above life’s raging sea.
Rock of Ages, Truth divine, Be Thy strength forever mine …
Christ, the Truth, foundation sure, On this rock we are secure;
Peace is there our life to fill, Cure is there for every ill.
Rock of Ages, Truth divine,
Be Thy strength forever more.”
Thoughts of Love to you, Nergish and All
Thank you very much Carol!
It’s a great hymn and very
needed for spiritual strength. I love that hymn a lot!
Thank you Evan and all. Nergish you are a good driver. Panicking is an unreality. You will achieve your aim. In Science and Health 261:4 Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good and the true and you will bring these unto your experience, proportionally to their occupancy of your thoughts.
We are achievers, no wavering.
Practice not profession, the ant is practicing constantly…Mrs. Eddy shows that steady vision, as a woman multi-tasking ..there was a story of a man who thought ..was it Science and Health.. or perhaps a lecture of hers, that ..”Only a fool or a woman could write this…” and she compared that to a blade of grass bending in the wind, .”…when he took his foot off my back , I stood up.”
Every move and which ever direction, like a tuning fork in music…is in perfect pitch.
Thank you so much for everyones thought and endeavours of practice, and patience. My perspective of height where God is, we’re already astounding. Christ is constantly in the groove…One Mind-ing..
Happy days, thank you Evan ..truly
When I drive, or am in a car driven by someone else, I always prayerfully affirm
that God is the Mind and Life of every one driving every car, and that includes
you and everyone else, Nergish. I see them all as courteous, unselfish, calm
and caring for everyone else on the road. No impatience or selfishness or
feelings of superiority are any part of any of us.
God performs everything for us, so you can look forward to enjoying reflecting
God as the Driver, and you as His reflection. As everyone is reflecting God, everything
must work together for good as you love God and let Him take charge of your every
movement and action. You will be driving with Love, and your three point turn
( If they still are part of the test) \will be governed by Life, Truth and Love. What a
joy to look forward to this experience. Love will be with you all the way.
After my husband and I moved to the Boston area (which is known for its aggressive traffic) I was at firs afraid to drive. As time went on I drove by affirming that everyone on the road expressed the Divine Mind because there is no other. If someone passed me too fast I would affirm it again…and again…and again. Soon my drives in the Boston area became inspiring! Truly, God is governing you, Nergish, and everyone else on the highway–and that includes the person who is testing you. Thanks to everyone and to Evan for this inspiring thread today. The remarks apply to a lot more than driving!
I am so thankful for this Spirit View as this is something that I have been striving for.
“The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible”.
S&H p. 199.
It’s been a blessing to have applied for Christian Science Branch Church membership and been accepted. Working for success, Yes!
So wonderful, congrats! 🙂
“Live success day by day” by Barbara Vining:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/wv84nysh76
Dear “J”, thanks very much. That is a very inspiring and interesting article!♡
Correction to the comment above:
Consequences of Mt St. Helen’s eruption in May, by July, an unexpected change in weather swept through Montana, a hail storm, which took an entire crop of ripe cherries, to the ground, instead of to picking them for harvest. The change in weather allowed me to gather and can cherries, which were offered for free by the growers to those who would gather them.
Divine Love is the expression of Good, grace is can be, sometimes missed, yet an accompanied characteristic.
Reading all of the inspiring comments and looking again at the
photo, I remember reading somewhere that ants can move
20x their body weight. Amazing creations of God. These worker
ants, like bees, are symbiotic with their colonies and work
together for the benefit of good. Our harmony and loving
helpfulness, too, is beneficial to so many in ways we hope
are comforting, although we may not always know for sure.
Awesome!