Employment and the constancy of good

There is no question these are challenging economic times. But there are answers for those facing an uncertain job future. The fact is, man is governed not by economic law but by the law of God's constant good. Turning to Deity in prayer that is rooted in this truth, we can experience His blessings in our lives.

Man is God's very image, eternally at one with the source of all good. There is really never an instant when we are separated from His care. The man God made -- our real being -- is not at the mercy of evil and uncontrollable forces, and divine good is never subject to reduction or curtailment. Man's security as the idea of God, divine Love, is assured.

Christ Jesus once referred to his lifework as "my Father's business." n1 Doesn't this provide a clue to our higher purpose? No matter how bleak the employment picture, we can follow the master Christian in some degree and be about our Father's business. Living Christly qualities -- humility, purity, kindness -- is a good start. It's actually the most vital kind of work there is.

n1 Luke 2:49.

But how does recognizing the stability and security of God's creation and seeking to prove this constancy of good help one who is unemployed? Can prayer pay the mortgage and put food on the table?

What is does is open thought to God's goodness. And as we comprehend and live this goodness, fear and resentment, cynicism and apathy, begin to peel away. We find right before us concrete ideas for action and the ability to follow them up.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, "The Divine Being must be reflected by man, -- else man is not the image and likeness of the patient, tender, and true, the One 'altogether lovely;' but to understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire." n2 Our deepening understanding of God and man frees us from the limitations fear would impose on us. Nothing can threaten man's security because nothing can touch his source -- God.

n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 3.

After I graduated from college, friends made dismal predictions about the unlikelihood of my finding a teaching position. But at each step -- the applications, interviews, oral tests in my subject -- I held to what I knew to be my true purpose: to recognize and cherish the Christly qualities in myself and others. Keeping this purpose foremost, I prayerfully affirmed, for example, man's integrity and usefullness as God's expression, his innate intelligence and goodness. Because I knew God does not give to some and keep back from others, I felt no need to lend myself to a mad scramble for a job. Anxiety, tension, and fear of the future left me, and I was able to speak confidently with prospective employers.

I was appointed to a teaching position within a month of graduation. When the time came to relocate because of my marriage, another position opened. Then , when the subject I taught was eliminated from the curriculum, a school within two miles of my home offered me a job.

No fluctuating job market can rob us of our true security or tranquillity. The good that is ours eternally as sons and daughters of God is not subject to cutbacks and layoffs.

Mrs. Eddy, in writing to members of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, puts it this way: "As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oftrepeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing." n3

n3 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,m p. 165.

The more we demonstrate man's unity with God, the more certain we become that no economic condition can control us, deprive us, or cause us to fear for our livelihood. Ours can be a secure future, blessed by the constancy of good. DAILY BIBLE VERSE If ye . . . know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? M atthew 7:11