Getting a job means working
When I went with my two sons from the United States to London so they could complete their schooling, we didn't know about the work permit requirement. Therefore, since I needed to work to meet living costs and school fees, I was distressed to have my passport stamped, "Not permitted to workm without permission from the Ministry of Labour." The immigration officer said the only people who were likely to be granted permission were those with some special ability.
Had we made a mistake? Clearly, if the boys were to have the schooling we had come for, I needed to work. Yet if the Ministry of Labour gave work permits only to people with special abilities, I was out. I had ordinary clerical skills. The only special thing I could do was speak Spanish. And who needed Spanish in London!
Then we realized we had another kind of work to do. We all prayed. We searched the Bible, along with the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, n1 for a deeper understanding of God's love, for a greater awareness of His limitless means of blessing man. In the process we found a statement that set us on the right track. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee." n2
n1 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
n2 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,m pp. 149-150.
What tender lesson was God teaching us?
Not to limit Him!m Suddenly we realized that we were limiting God's infinite goodness when we assumed that the Ministry of Labour wouldn't give me permission to work. If I needed to work, and if my only true work was manifesting God, then the job I had to do temporarily wasm special. "The Ministry of Labour wouldn't want to keep you from doing God's work," the boys said.
So I began to answer advertisements.
Christ Jesus once told his disciples, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." n3 I learned truly to abidem in the Christ, Truth -- dwell there constantly, not just visit.As I set out for each job interview, I reaffirmed my gratitude to God for His care and guidance, confident that divine Love was always with me.
n3 John 15:7.
I asked God to show me more clearly the deep Science of His action, how He was causing all good and every vital element of life. And I was shown, for I began to see that there's no such thing as an unemployed creation of God. Man works forever as God's own idea, His spiritual image, living up to the standard of goodness He sets for His children. I realized that when we drop self- imposed limitations, quit outlining how things have to be, and humbly trust infinite Love as the only impulsion, He employs us in ways much better than any we could ever plan. Because in God's universe there is never an offspring for whom there is no use.
Jesus was always about his "Father's business." n4 I was beginning to learn what this business really was -- the constant living of God's immortal truth.
n4 Luke 2:49.
I came to know, finally, that my work was already waiting for me.
Before long I was employed by an international educational organization that had been searching for months for what they termed "just that special person" -- an American who could speak Spanish! The Ministry of Labour was pleased to give its permission for me to accept mym job.
That lesson not to limit God has inspired me ever since. Our actions are always productive when their cornerstone is a fresh and profound understanding of God's love.
Whatever your need, wherever you are, God is right there. Are you ready to accept your new job?
DAILY BIBLE VERSE I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word. Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Psalm 119:107, 165
