Perfect Performance

CHRIST Jesus told us: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. But for a long time, this idea that we could or should be perfect seemed like a tall order to me because human experience constantly reinforces the notion that "nobody's perfect.

It's natural, however, to want to experience the perfection God made and Christian Science shows us how understanding the spir-itual nature of perfection helps us to express it more fully in our lives. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,--perfect God and perfect man,--as the basis of thought and demonstration. Im agine basing your thought and work on perfection! This whole concept came into clearer focus in my own life when I was seeking employment. I had been praying for direction from God and was led to seek a position at a local television station. The news director agreed to let me audition for a position.

The audition went smoothly, and when it was completed, I was encouraged to believe the job was mine. But after a few days had elapsed, the job was not officially offered to me, so I was not sure. Then I was asked to do a second audition for the job, which I did. I prayed earnestly for God's direction during the days that followed. And I asked a friend who is a Christian Scientist to pray with me too. She comforted me with this Bible verse from Job: "He performeth the thing that is appointed for me. She e xplained that I should learn more about God and how He performed. And that got me to thinking about perfection. Was perfection what pleased others or what pleased God? And, what was I most interested in doing?

I decided that most of all I wanted to please God. And I acknowledged that God was the real boss in this situation. I began to see that the important thing was to find the right person for this job--whether or not it was me. As I prepared for a third audition, I prayed to express more of God's good, harmonious, and intelligent nature. I knew that as His child I reflect these qualities myself, and I began to see that the others in the studio expressed this perfection because God had created them, too.

The audition again went well. But this time there was a point when I stepped on the microphone cord and the mike fell to the floor. I kept on going with my work as if nothing had happened.

Imagine my joy, then, when I discovered that I had been hired for the job! Correcting my thought about who God is, who I am, and who everyone is, had established a sense of perfection that made progress possible for everyone.

But, the real clincher came when I asked the news director why he had hired me after that particular audition. He explained that until that time, he had been afraid I might crumble under the pressure of live television if a mistake ever occurred while I was on the air. When he saw me keep on going calmly after dropping the microphone on the floor, he knew I would be OK even if an unusual situation did occur.

What had seemed like a damaging mistake was actually the way that he could determine my suitability for the position! Only divine wisdom could have uncovered this. And the lessons I learned through my prayer prepared me very well for the challenges the job entailed.

God makes us the best performers we can be when we rely on Him. We may still find we've got a lot of work to do, but striving for perfection is the best way to accomplish the work of expressing God--and this is the work He gives us to do.

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