Graduates' road ahead
A Christian Science perspective on daily life.
This month and next, colleges and universities are releasing thousands of graduates to start their careers. It's an exhilarating time for these students who are eager to finally put to use the studies that have occupied them for years. Yet the reports of a faltering economy are filling the airwaves and could put a damper on the graduates' upcoming job search.
Many would say it's inevitable, given the present economic climate. They argue that the economy is governed by certain inescapable laws and that only a marked shift in the factors involved can alter the landscape.
There is, however, another solution, and that is to alter our view of the landscape. The laws that say present conditions will make finding a job very difficult or even impossible are based on a view of life as material and limited. But if we look at life from a spiritual standpoint, we find laws in place that trump limitation of any kind. God's laws are all-encompassing, and they support good for everyone, not just a chosen few.
Within the divine economy, everything is already in balance, complete, and orderly. There is no excess or lack in spiritual reality. No one is left out, or left without. No one is overlooked or forgotten. God supports all of His children perfectly, lovingly. The Bible makes this promise: "I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord" (Jer. 23:4).
A man coming out of a business school graduate program proved this spiritual law. From the individuals next to him during the final days of classes to the thousands applying for jobs in his narrow field, all he could see was competition. This made for an unnerving job search until he turned to prayer. In prayer his thought was illumined to the spiritual nature of good – that it is unlimited rather than finite and divisible. God is the Giver, and gives to all of His children. Instead of seeing a feeding frenzy over jobs, he was glad to hear from friends and classmates that they had been hired. He saw this as a step of progress for them and a promise for him. Before long, he, too, had a job that offered growth and opportunities for over 20 years.
Limitation need never be accepted, because God is infinite good. Divinity's supply never runs out, dries up, or is lost. If we accept this as a spiritual fact and let it guide our thinking, even when times are difficult, we will find the answers we need.
The Psalmist wrote: "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand" (139:17, 18). God offers a well of infinite good to be tapped by our prayers. In an article called "Angels," Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, wrote, "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies" ("Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896," p. 307).
What do we need to do to obtain these daily supplies? Gratitude opens our eyes to see more of God's provision. The Bible refers to the oil of gladness. Oil moves things along, and the oil of gladness, or gratitude, moves our thought out of the stress of lack or limitation to a bright and confident expectation of good. It makes sense that as we're grateful for the good we acknowledge, our view expands to see more. Continuing her remarks in the article "Angels," Mrs. Eddy wrote, "Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment."
We don't need to accept and suffer from reports of doom and lack. We can turn to Love's law of limitless good, and experience it.