It's your decision
FLABBERGASTED! That's the word that best describes my husband's feelings when, without any warning, he was told that his job had been terminated. He had been with the firm about fifteen years, and this made the termination even more surprising. In what management called a sweeping move of economy, half the staff was dismissed. At first I reacted resentfully to what seemed to be a most unjust decision. The initial shock left me as I began to see that man, under God's jurisdiction, cannot be subjected to injustice. It came to me very clearly that this was an opportunity, one that was forcing my husband to progress. He had been dissatisfied with his work for a long time, but it was at a period when jobs were very scarce, and no one quit a job unless he knew another one was waiting for him. This turn of events opened new paths for my husband to explore.
With great compassion I was able to help him see that God was working His purpose out. Then his attitude completely changed. Fear was gone. Courage replaced anxiety. He saw this as an opportunity to find a position more to his liking and to put his talents to better use.
When my husband went to an employment agency, he met a man who had been employed by the same company. This man was disgruntled and bitter because he considered the treatment they had received to be very unfair. My husband shared with him, almost word for word, the things that I had told him earlier, and this fellow then felt very optimistic.
How are we dealing with trials in our lives? Are we making millstones of them or milestones? It's up to us. We make the decision.
God's purpose for us is always good. Our job is to trust His guidance and omnipotent care. What appears to be a calamity can turn out to be one of the greatest lessons. It was for us. Within a very short time my husband found a new position that nurtured hidden talents and opened new vistas of thought, horizons undreamed of.
Through prayer we can turn to God for every need and lean on Him. This isn't an impractical course of action but a wise and helpful one. Through prayer our thought comes more into harmony with the spiritual reality of God and man, with the truth that God is supreme and that He governs His offspring wisely, unerringly. Discerning this truth, sensing God's care as we commune with Him, helps us to see the way more clearly; it brings appropriate solutions into view.
When thoughts of discouragement come to us, we have a choice. We don't have to accept them as an accurate assessment of things but can reject them immediately and discern in prayer what God is telling us. And what He tells us is good, because God is Love. God doesn't love one more than another; He loves each of His offspring equally. Everything that God has and gives is ours, because man is His spiritual image. All that we need, then, is really ours at this moment, and we can begin to see evidence of that fact as we lean totally on God.
In divine reality, man is never unemployed, because he can never stop expressing the divine nature. As a boy, Jesus once said to his parents, ``Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?''1 This is the business we all need to be engaged in, all the time. The Father's business is a prosperous, progressive one. We can always be busy expressing good, expressing Godlike thoughts and qualities. Doing so, we'll find that our daily needs are cared for, because we're living in harmony with the very source of all good.
Studying the Word of God in the Bible is another activity that keeps us about the Father's business. The inspired spiritual message of the Scriptures helps us to make right decisions and to follow the right path.
``Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take,''2 writes Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. And she says, ``When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.''3
1Luke 2:49. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 392. 3Ibid., p. 254. You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine.
DAILY BIBLE VERSE: The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Psalms 37:23
