We Are Not Trapped in a Job

HAVE you ever felt trapped in the place where you are employed? How easy it can be to feel trapped when the boss seems unreasonable or something else makes condi-tions unbearable. When economic conditions are bad, and there is massive unemployment, that suggestion of being trapped can even seem more credible: If you quit one job in protest, you know there will be hundreds of applicants for any vacancy you might find! Resigning, even from an unbearable job, could, perhaps, mean putting yourself out of work permanently.

When circumstances seem really irksome, tiresome, or even downright dreadful--when we may long for escape, yet humanly cannot see how--Christian Science can help us find an answer. Some years ago I felt trapped in a job that was quite unsuitable. When nothing I tried alleviated the situation, I became very downcast.

As a result, when I finally took time out to pray, I was quite desperate. I went to a nearby Christian Science Reading Room, where I could quietly study the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. As I was reading Science and Health, seeking an answer, I found these inspiring words: ``Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God'' (p. 258).

I was so uplifted by this truth that it guided all my thoughts. I wasn't a mortal, stuck in a horrible job that I had to escape somehow. I was God's idea--His reflection--right now! It was to me such a wonderful answer that I had no desire to make any further attempts to take any human action to force a change in my situation. I glimpsed that I had no need to escape because I reflected infinity! This truth became so powerful that it filled my thoughts continually.

To my surprise, only a few days later I was offered a post in another town. It seemed just right; so I took it. It did indeed prove to be exactly right for me. The circumstances were very different and much more congenial. I enjoyed the work, which was compatible and harmonious.

Now, you may be wondering how filling thought with a spiritual truth changes a bad human situation into a good one. Christ Jesus assured us, John's Gospel records, ``Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'' (8:32). To ``know the truth'' includes getting spiritual inspiration. When we glimpse something of the spiritual truth, this truth completely erases whatever is untrue--such as the particular suggestions of limitation we may be facing. The power of truth floods our thinking with spiritual light. In the same way that light extinguishes darkness, spiritual truth frees us from entrapment in discord and limitation.

To recognize that ``man is more than a material form with a mind inside'' as Mrs. Eddy explains it, lifts our thought to ponder the truth that a spiritual idea, which ``reflects infinity,'' cannot be trapped. At all times Jesus was fully aware of his spiritual identity, the Christ idea, or the immortal reflection of infinity. Of course, Jesus expressed the Christ nature so spontaneously that his work seems effortless. It may appear more demanding to follow his example ourselves. This is because we need to grow in our understanding of the spiritual facts of life. Jesus solved problems, he healed, by perceiving the spiritual truth, which makes discord and limitation impossible.

This Christly truth about our reflection of infinity gives a truer idea of God and causes us to be grateful for each experience that teaches us more of our real, spiritual identity. We can never be trapped because we reflect infinity. This truth has power to flood our thinking with comfort. And our human experience is adjusted naturally.