Our True Employer

ONE'S job security, viewed humanly, seems to depend on many things: company prestige, location convenience, adequate pay, and, above all, good working rapport with one's boss. A trade association I worked for met all of the above criteria. It was a one-assistant office, but I liked keeping busy. Then one day my cozy contentment was blown sky-high! My boss resigned to take a new post.

I was stunned. Who could ever replace him?

The annual conference was coming up and I had plenty to do. Sending out several thousand invitations -- just me and the mailing machine -- making telephone calls to set up exhibit space, arranging speakers' panels, awards: the works. Then the association president called to let me know that the office might be moved out of town entirely.

That day I caught my hand in the office door. One finger was severely injured. The pain was intense, and it was impossible for me to type.

Alone in the office, with my finger throbbing, I finally realized that I'd been thinking of my job security as being dependent on all those human factors -- my boss, the company, the location. I saw that I must turn completely to the Father-Mother God for help and courage, as my study of Christian Science had taught me. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ``The very circumstance, which your suffering sens e deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.'' Elsewhere in the book Mrs. Eddy speaks of angels as ``God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect....'' The injury certainly wasn't desirable, but it had stopped my rushing around and got me back on track to pray -- as I should have done right at the start.

I kept my thought prayerfully focused on God, divine Love, knowing that He made all His children totally good. I prayed, ``Father, reveal Your will to me now.'' All my hidden resentment over the changes came to the surface to be washed away by my renewed sense of God's love and care for me.

I resolved to let God be my true employer. And I knew that whatever God required of me, I could do. The fear and uncertainty left, and I turned to the tasks that needed doing. And then I realized that the finger had stopped hurting. The pain was gone. Trusting God had freed me. I felt deep gratitude for the healing, and even more for the progress that I had made in trusting God as my employer.

The conference went well, the new executive director was selected, and the date was set for headquarters to move. What was more important to me, though, was that I was no longer worrying about what would happen to me, to my job.

The day of the move, everything was packed and ready. In appreciation for my help, the new boss gave me a bonus check, a good reference letter, and the electric typewriter I'd used. I still have it. I didn't need to relocate, for it wasn't long before I had a new job, nearby. And I had learned that job security doesn't come from a ``perfect'' physical setup. Our real security comes from our trust in God to place us where we're needed.

Christ Jesus told his followers, ``I can of mine own self do nothing,'' and later John's Gospel also records that he said, ``The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.'' Whenever I read these words, I am reminded of just who our true employer is. That's job security for eternity.