Beans and Biscuits

A spiritual look at issues of interest to young people

That's all it seemed like anyway. Recently my family and I heard about a cowboy cookout. It was not long before we were all in the car heading toward the event, which involved six cowboy ranches-and their cooking.

It wasn't so bad at first (except that there wasn't enough salt in the beans). But by the time we had hit the fourth campsite, which was still serving up the same menu, we began to get a little tired of the same old thing. Some of us stopped for lemonade and let the rest of the family continue the taste test.

It didn't take long for me to think how sometimes life in general feels a lot like those beans and biscuits. What makes one person different from anybody else? Sometimes you might start to think that you're not too important. You might feel even a little insignificant, especially if you compare yourself to others.

Comparisons can be tricky, you know. You always need two or more things if you're going to make a comparison. On the other hand, with only one thing it's often easy to see what's good about it. Have you ever thought about the fact that there's only one you? Maybe. But have you truly realized what that means? Other people can't do anything just exactly as you do it. They can't talk just like you. They can't work just like you. They can't even brush their teeth just like you. You're original.

God makes each of us original, individual. He needs you to express Him in your own way, as nobody else can. Why? Well, God is infinite, without a beginning or ending. And He has to be expressed in infinite ways. His nature, which is always good, has to have infinite expression. Otherwise God wouldn't be infinite. He needs you to express His qualities in your own special way. And that's why only you can be you.

So, what does this all mean? First, it frees you from boredom and monotony. It gives you good reason to feel perfect and worthy. It frees you from feeling like you have to do what might not be so good for you, in order to impress people. And it gives you the strength to be yourself, your true self, the expression of God, of good. The more you learn of the originality you have from God, the easier it is for you and other people to see it come out in your daily life. And there is no need to compare yourself to anyone else, because each one of us is equally important to God.

Have you ever noticed that one artist never depicts something, say a flower, exactly as another artist does? They both may create pictures of the same flower, but those pictures will be different. Each artist sees the flower in a distinct way, with distinct colors, shapes, and angles. This is what makes art original. Artists practice to be original.

And you know what? That's what you and I can do, too. We can express God's qualities in new ways each day, in ways that are ours alone. Then we're seeing-and being-what God made us. And we're never just the same old beans and biscuits!

Christian Science explains what the Holy Bible says-that God creates us perfect and original. It explains how much our expression of God is needed. The textbook of Christian Science, written by Mary Baker Eddy to explain the truth of the Bible, says this: "Man is the expression of God's being. If there ever was a moment when man did not express the divine perfection, then there was a moment when man did not express God, and consequently a time when Deity was unexpressed-that is, without entity" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 470). In the margin of that paragraph is this heading: "Indestructible relationship." That's what you have-an indestructible relationship with God. Jesus Christ had a lot to say about man's individual relationship to God. Your relationship to God is yours and yours alone. It's always unbroken. Because God is always being God, forever, you are always you, forever. So no matter how much it seems like you may fade into the background, in reality you, the expression of God, are always needed.

The next time you start feeling that who you are, what you do, or what you say isn't important or doesn't count, you can stop and remember that God never made it that way!