Article January 4, 1988 Issue

Can man be unemployed?

When one is suddenly out of a job, the outlook can appear bleak. Christian Science shows us how to get back to work—spiritually as well as vocationally.

Sue Eppes Shields

While attending a seminar, my husband received word that he would have to lay off his entire shift because the company by which he was employed was experiencing difficulties. Even though this came as no surprise, it was an ordeal. As for him, he was given the choice of taking early retirement or accepting a retrograde step, despite thirty-two years with this company.

The thought of seeking employment after working in familiar surroundings, which for many years had seemed like a second home, was so unnerving that it literally made him sick. The sickness was healed, through Christian Science, but in the course of this healing, and of my husband's working toward and finding full-time, satisfying employment, many lessons had to be learned. We have been grateful for each one, not only because of the permanent blessings brought into our own lives as a result, but also because of the healing light shed on the wider problem of employment and supply faced by people everywhere.

My husband's reaction is not uncommon. A person facing unemployment tends to be mesmerized by fear, feeling that his skills are no longer of value, or that the job market is already inundated by others seeking employment. Fear distorts perceptions, magnifies human shortcomings, and leads thought into needless gloom and depression, and even sickness, as with my husband. This being the case, fear is always the first thing that needs to be overcome, whether one is faced with unemployment or any other problem. Why? Because fear would prevent the recognition of and gratitude for the good already at hand, the ever-available good that comes from God.

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