Excellence

The January 2026 Christian Science Journal article “Christian Science and athletics” really covers the topic of excellence for us. The article is divided into sections with the words Preparation, Inspiration, Motivation, Proper Competitive Attitude, and Sharing. 

In the section “Proper Competitive Attitude,” I love what follows.  “This is important. The word competition is derived from a Latin word meaning ‘to strive together.’ We are not really playing against someone else, but playing for God, and we are agreeing with our opponent to do our best, overcome limitations, raise the level of play, progress, and improve,”‘  The writer follows with the quote from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 233, “Progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfill.”  That part of the article says it all.  

Here is a Bible quote, “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isa, 40:31) 

“…every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” (I Cor. 9: 25 every)

From the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, “Is a musician made by his teacher? He makes himself a musician by practising what he was taught. The conscientious are successful. They follow faithfully; through evil or through good report, they work on to the achievement of good; by patience, they inherit the promise. Be active, and, however slow, thy success is sure: toil is triumph; and — thou hast been faithful over a few things.

The lives of great men and women are miracles of patience and perseverance. Every luminary in the constellation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in the darkness to shine with the reflected light of God. (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 340:18–29)