Are you without a job, or feeling frustrated in an unprogressive career? Do you think there are no opportunities in sight, and that the door to your advancement is closed and tightly bolted? If you have tried unsuccessfully to extricate yourself from such a situation, Christian Science can show you a way out of the difficulty. Mrs. Eddy assures us in Science and Health, "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way." ^{Science and Health, p. 326;}

When facing any problem, we can naturally turn to God. Science teaches that God is the omnipresent source of all good, and that this ever-present, changeless, spiritual good is continually imparted to man. We can demonstrate man's unity with God and experience its blessings through the prayer of right thinking. To recognize our unity with the divine source is to stand every day at the threshold of divinely bestowed opportunities.

We can never be separated from opportunity as we see that man is God's ceaseless, active expression. Opportunity to prove God's goodness is never fleeting or uncertain. Good never passes; it is as ever present as one's true being.

Mrs. Eddy writes, "My faith in God and in His followers rests in the fact that He is infinite good, and that He gives His followers opportunity to use their hidden virtues, to put into practice the power which lies concealed in the calm and which storms awaken to vigor and to victory." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 204;}

Lack of a job should not prevent one from seizing moment-by-moment opportunities to exercise the Godlike qualities of creativity, intelligence, and usefulness. God, Mind, gives His offspring, man, countless right ideas. Material circumstances, however grim, cannot deprive us of the occasion to act on inspired ideas. Thus we begin overcoming the limitations of material sense.

Looking beyond the human sense picture, Christ Jesus was continually conscious of immediate opportunity for the fruition of good. He said to his disciples: "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." ^{John 4:35;} So consistently did Jesus recognize and seize opportunities to uplift and heal that he became mankind's Way-shower.

Mrs. Eddy was also aware of the moral demand to make the most of each moment. She says, "A lost opportunity is the greatest of losses." ^{Miscellany, p. 12.} Because she discerned her God-given opportunities and acted on them, she was prepared when she discovered Christian Science to become its Founder and Leader. Our lives will become increasingly progressive and productive, too, as we nullify the aggressive mental suggestions that claim our opportunities are limited.

I proved this when circumstances forced me to leave graduate school, and I found myself without activity or income. I was qualified to teach, but it was during what was called the teacher surplus. The school year had already begun, and I was told by several educators that it would be virtually impossible to find employment at that time, as there were hundreds of applicants for each job.

I began to affirm my unrestricted capacity as the reflection of ever-active Mind. I reasoned that I was not a victim of constricting circumstances. I saw that opportunity to demonstrate good was not a chance occurrence, nor had it any relationship with the mortal belief of an overcrowded teachers' field. I knew that my progress rightly lay in spiritual activity, and that I had positioned myself in spiritual preparedness. I recognized my God-given talents and my readiness to express them.

Soon I was offered a temporary teaching position in a large city public school system, which provided a most worthwhile activity and needed income. Two months later a fine permanent post appeared in a suburban high school.

Here indeed was proof that opportunity never passes but is always present to bless us. If we clearly grasp the immutable fact that no circumstance can take away from us one iota of good or the opportunity of doing good, we can demonstrate that man has an intelligent purpose and, in turn, can be abundantly supplied.

Christian Science has brought to all mankind the opportunity to learn the truth of God, man, and the universe. To know God aright is our greatest opportunity and includes all other opportunities.