Q: In my job, I have to write documents that detail particular students’ disabilities and limitations. I know, through prayer, that this is the right job for me. So how can I do my best at performing these tasks and yet see the true nature of these students?
A: Your certainty that God has placed you where you are is an expression of a prayer in Psalms: “Let thy work appear unto thy servants … let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us” (90:16, 17).
If you’re required to point out apparent shortfalls that require corrective attention, you can respond in the spirit of Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” Wouldn’t this include the softer response of truth and love, which you can bring to every assessment? Your practice of Christian Science could dictate constructive responses, turn away the wrath of false claims and cruel limitations, giving space for intelligent hope, and perhaps even spare students a permanent label of disability. The assurance of this is grounded in your right desire: not just to make diagnostic notations but to identify areas where students might benefit from coaching and remedial support, even while bearing faithful witness to the fact that God records only harmony on the tablet of their being.
