Affirmative action and healing

Is a physical or racial factor in your background a barrier to getting suitable employment? What if you qualify for affirmative action but equal opportunity laws are not enforced? What can you do?

You can begin a different kind of affirmative action program today through prayer - prayer that acknowledges that God, with His wisdom and justice, is the only true governor of man.

God, divine Mind, knows us as He created us - as His image and likeness, according to the Biblical description. He knows harmony to be the ultimate and only reality, not discrimination or frustration or handicaps.

Job experts can tell us how to dress, act, speak, and what to include in a resume. But God, the only genuine Mind, tells us what to know; He tells us the truth of our being. The ideas we need come to us as we listen for them in silent , humble prayer. And they are infinitely better than what we might have concocted without prayer.

During a job interview, confidently realizing who you are as the perfect spiritual offspring of God is not mere wishful thinking but a powerful acknowledgment of the truth of being, unseen to a limited, materialistic sense of life. Whatever the history on your resume, you can bear in mind, ''My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.'' n1 There's no better reference than God Himself.

n1 Job 16:19.

A secretary, who was a good worker despite a physical handicap since birth, found herself unemployed through no fault of her own. The state employment office referred her to their affirmative action specialist. The specialist looked over the secretary's credentials and droned, ''You have too many strikes against you - age, handicap. You can expect to be unemployed a long time.'' The secretary cringed at this prediction, but she was obligated to report to this office periodically during her unemployment.

Months of frustration and rejection followed. Although she had good business experience, no one would hire her. It seemed unfair to her not to be allowed to put her ability to use, but employers reacted with fear to the handicap.

Finally, instead of responding to negative statements directed at her, the secretary realized the teachings of Christian Science could affect this situation in a positive way. There had been physical improvement for her since becoming a student of Christian Science. Now she could take affirmative action and pray about something other than her own problem.

A feeling of compassion for the employers came over her as she desired to see them released from fear, appearing as prejudice. In the reality of God's creation, which is the only genuine state of being, there is no fearful, prejudiced mortal, just as there is no handicapped mortal. Man reflects the Life that is God; he is complete, loved, and loving.

Soon after she lifted her thinking from a material basis to a spiritual level , the secretary found employment just right for her. And there was further physical improvement too.

In his healing work, Christ Jesus proved that all individuals have a spiritual heritage that includes no disadvantages. His prayers were action of the most powerful kind. Mary Baker Eddy n2 writes in the Christian Science textbook, ''It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, - of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.'' n3

n2 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 12.

As we realize that man is subject to spiritual law only, we'll see that each individual has equal opportunity to express understanding, patience, accuracy, judgment, honesty, alertness, and loyalty. Aren't these the qualities of a good worker?

Instead of blaming circumstances, you can take the prayerful action that heals. DAILY BIBLE VERSE The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are falen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. Psams 16:5, 6

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