Always in Our Right Place

HAVE you ever wondered: What am I doing here, in this place, this predicament? How could I have been so misled as to get myself into all this? How do I extricate myself?

Some time ago I was having this kind of dialogue with myself. Everything in my life seemed out of place, and as I was trying to pull some heavy boxes out of a closet I injured my hands and my back. How ironic, I thought bitterly. It seemed like the last straw! Now even my thumb joints and my back were out of place. Then all at once, I realized what was going on. I was feeling as though I had made a disastrous mistake and was paying for it with misery, hopelessness, pain, and sickness.

I needed to turn completely to God in prayer to see what was actually true. For in His spiritual universe--and His is the only creation--none of this was true, or even possible. God never makes mistakes! How could He? God is all-knowing, all-seeing, the only cause. He is our Father-Mother Love, filling all space, caring for us throughout eternity.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ``For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality'' (p. 492).

This truth started me back on the path to joy and renewed faith in God, who always sees us, His beloved children, in our right place doing our right work. At its core, our right work is witnessing to Him, to omnipresent Truth; being obedient to His will, by following the example of our Master, Christ Jesus, who came to do the will of the Father.

I looked around at my small, neat apartment. I could begin there. I could look for what was right and good there. Instead of thinking of it as just four walls filled with my necessary things, I saw that it symbolized a dwelling place of consciousness--filled with order, convenience, comfort, and harmony.

The Bible tells us in Psalms: ``He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust'' (91:1, 2).

Recognizing that we abide in the presence of the one omnipotent creator of the universe should answer all our questions about being in our right place! How could we be out of God's presence? I often think of the Bible story of Job, whom God asked out of the whirlwind, ``Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding'' (38:4). And Job, chastened by God's infinite power and presence, said humbly, ``I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee'' (42:2). And from that time on, Job rose up, freed, and blessed of the Lord.

As my prayers showed me how to turn to my real home in God's spiritual universe, everything in my life began to fall into place- -including my dislocated thumbs and back. I had a more balanced work life, which gave me more time to study the Bible and allowed me to be obedi- ent in witnessing to and glorifying God in trusting His unerring direction. As Mrs. Eddy tells us in Science and Health, ``Everything in God's universe expresses Him'' (p. 331). So nothing can be out of place, because God keeps everything in perfect order!

Behold,

I send an Angel before thee,

to keep thee in the way,

and to bring thee

into the place

which I have prepared.

Exodus 23:20