In these days of increasing automation and ever-larger corporations, many people find that their employment is not fully satisfying. Seeing less and less scope for individual achievement in their work, they are inclined to turn to recreation, stimulants, and mere sociability for the joy which their work should give. How can Christian Science help such as these?
A student of Christian Science faced with a problem of dissatisfaction in his work applies to the situation the truth taught by this religion. He starts his prayerful reasoning with God, recognizing that God is the only cause, the only power, the only source of activity. He acknowledges that man's purpose is to express God, to evidence His qualities, and that this purpose cannot be obstructed, because it is in fulfillment of God's law. He is grateful that as the evidence of Principle, the source of law and order, man is always rightly placed; that as the idea of Mind, he reflects ability and acumen; that as the witness for Life, he is active and alert; that the omnipresence of Truth rules out the possibility of mistake and misplacement; that as the reflection of Soul, man is satisfied and joyous; that Spirit governs the quality and quantity of man's experience; that as the beloved child of God, who is Love, man has all good here and now.
As the Christian Scientist understands these and related truths, he rejoices that the suggestion of failure is a false claim without power or law to support it. And as he holds to these truths, regardless of what appears to be the difficulty in his work, he sees this difficulty solved.
The student does not outline the way in which the problem will be solved. For one individual the result of his application of Christian Science may be a change of duties, while for another it may be simply a new attitude toward his work or the removal of whatever seemed irksome. Often the recognition that dissatisfaction is an aggressive, impersonal suggestion, which claims to govern everyone regardless of circumstances, is enough to free one if the error is denied presence, power, or activity in one's experience. When thought is changed, what appeared drudgery before can be done with zest.
A study of the Bible in the light of Christian Science gives one many helpful ideas for finding more satisfaction in his work. In the allegory in Genesis, Adam was told, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; . . . in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground" (3:17, 19). But this allegory does not concern the man God created as related in the first chapter of Genesis. Therefore the widespread belief that man is a mortal, doomed to grind out his days in unsatisfying labor, in the sweat of his face, is to be rejected as a misconception about man.
Speaking of the two records of creation in Genesis, Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 522):
"The Science of the first record proves the falsity of the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are antagonistic. The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God's perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal,— as having broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible.
"This second record unmistakably gives the history of error in its externalized forms, called life and intelligence in matter."
All Christendom can find comfort in Jesus' words: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:28–30). While the word "yoke" in one sense signifies submission, it also describes the device that eases a burden. It is possible that Jesus was gently teaching his followers that if their sense of work was mere labor, it was bound to be burdensome and could be lightened only by a willingness to work as God directed.
Every mature person discovers to a degree that his happiness depends primarily on his own thinking and not on his physical circumstances or on the actions of those around him. The simple unselfish desire to serve others, however humbly, makes it possible for countless individuals to find satisfaction in work which, without this leaven of selflessness, would be utter drudgery. A Christian Scientist has the added assurance that every experience can be a stepping-stone to a higher demonstration of the ever-presence of God, good.
A Sunday School teacher once told a class of teen-age girls, "You can wash dishes to the bringing about of the kingdom of heaven." This homely counsel regarding work was remembered by one of the pupils during a vacation from college, when it looked as if she would have to spend a second summer operating an elevator in a store. While she was grateful to have the work, it seemed right to her to progress in her demonstration of activity. However, she accepted the offer and resolved to use the post to express good, to operate the elevator "to the bringing about of the kingdom of heaven." Because of a convenient parking garage in the building, the store's elevators were used not only by customers but by many medical patients and businessmen, and the young student resolved to listen for God's voice rather than to the erroneous suggestions of illness and business depression that were so prevalent.
After only a very few days of putting this resolution into practice, she was told by the store's personnel manager that she had been recommended for an opening in an investment firm nearby to help with an audit, at a salary considerably higher than the store could pay. The change was effected, and a fruitful experience followed. During many years of work after graduation the student found that the results of the application of Christian Science were satisfying work and the overcoming of erroneous situations in business.
The Apostle Paul put job satisfaction on a sound basis when he wrote (Col. 3:23, 24), "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ."
Mrs. Eddy's loved poem "Satisfied" sums it up well in these lines (Poems, p. 79):
Who doth His will—His likeness still—
Is satisfied.
