Increasing our productivity

It is generally desirable to increase productivity, but what is the most effective way of doing it?

I needed to grapple with this issue, because demands on me were growing, and I seemed unable to fulfill them properly. I tried various ways of using my time more effectively, yet my productivity was not really increasing in any significant degree. And sometimes the more effort I put toward being more productive, the more dissatisfied I was with the results.

Noticing that lagging productivity was a common problem around me, I decided to take the spiritual offensive and look to the Bible for an answer. I found these statements Christ Jesus made regarding his work: ''I can of mine own self do nothing'' and ''The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.''n1

n1 John 5:30,19.

Here was the Saviour, the unparalleled healer - the one who had fed multitudes with just a few loaves and fishes, who had raised others from sins and even death - saying that he himself could do nothing! That God, his Father, was the source of all good works.

I examined my own outlook. I had been feeling that I could accomplish a certain amount on my own, but would need God's help to be more productive. Had I imagined that I could do anything through some power of my own? It began to seem ludicrous that I should claim an ability apart from God to accomplish anything, if Jesus hadn't claimed such a personal ability. He had attributed his healing power and all his good works entirely to God.

As I continued my study of this subject, I found these helpful ideas from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:n2''In Science, Mind neither produces matter nor does matter produce mind. No mortal mind has the might or right or wisdom to create or to destroy. All is under the control of the one Mind, even God.''

n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

And earlier on that page Mrs. Eddy writes, ''In God's creation ideas became productive, obedient to Mind.''n3

n3 Science and Health, p. 544.

These statements brought out to me some distinctly spiritual lines of thought: first, that God, the one infinite Mind, is the one and only producer (not me!); second, that as God's, or Mind's, idea, I am eternally productive in the sense of reflecting God's tireless impartation of good; and third, that in my daily activity I must be consistent in acknowledging God as the source of all good, and see that my thoughts and motives are in accord with the one Mind.

Although these ideas were helpful and clear to me, they weren't always easy to hold to. But as they have developed in my thought, my capacity has increased, and my work has been of a consistently higher quality. Not only has it had a better effect, but I've been more joyful in doing it. What's more, while I've been conscientious in devoting time to what needs to be done, it's often accomplished more quickly.

Extending our understanding of God extends our ability to accomplish. To increasingly acknowledge infinite Mind as the producer of all good will enable us to see, and prove, that His offspring are always productive. In this way we can contribute to the healing of the individual and collective difficulties associated with lagging productivity. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God. I Peter 5:6