If you think the span of three generations is a long time, think again. In just over a year's time, some folks have happily made the transition from working with one generation of personal computers—the bulky, desktop kind—to the lighter, more mobile laptop, to the totally portable handheld device. Now able to read, write, do research, or communicate electronically anywhere, these folks have found a little more time to give to some of those "wish list" items we're all familiar with.

Computers are not the only things being transformed in the world of work. So is the very nature of work itself. TIME magazine recently noted: "A decade ago, who would have guessed that Web designer would be one of the hottest jobs of 2000?" Also, some businesses have stopped thinking simply in terms of employers and employees, and instead treat people as remarkable assets, requiring investment and love. Then there's the forward-looking business consultant Charles Handy, who suggests that if work is defined as activity—some of which we are paid for—then our life becomes our work, and terms like retirement or unemployment no longer apply to us in the way they once did.

How does one prepare for whatever changes may come to the workplace? For one thing, it helps to be flexible. Change is inevitable. There isn't progress without it. People who understand this won't allow themselves to become prisoners of the status quo. They will realize that change is an opportunity for learning. They'll stop thinking of it as an unwanted, unnecessary event, and start thinking of it as a time to grow.

A vital help during times of transition is to have a firmly grounded faith, one that rests on an understanding of what God, Spirit, is causing. God is the cause of genuine progress. We can feel secure in His law of progress, even when we see the world around us changing so rapidly. We can expect good things to come our way constantly from God. The prophet Isaiah said he received this message from God: "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?" (43:19)

When change comes to the workplace, a place where we spend long hours and may have grown very attached to a particular routine and surrounding, we might not welcome such change as progressive. Instead, we ask, "Why now?" "What's wrong with the way we've always done things?" "How will this affect my life?" We may react as though change were synonymous with uncertainty rather than with advancement.

But if we remember spiritual causation, if we ask, "What is God causing?"—in you, and in me, and throughout the whole universe—we will discover new possibilities for learning, unexpected opportunities for development, and at a deeper level, even the continuity that we are searching for. In what could be called a textbook for spiritual progress, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, author Mary Baker Eddy explains, "Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progres" (p. 170).

When considering this question, remember that the cause we're talking about—God—is totally loving and intelligent. Good and productive ideas spring from God, as do adaptability, wisdom, fresh energy, care, inspiration, and freedom. The message Isaiah heard from God, mentioned above, still reassures us: "These are the things I cause. You have nothing to fear."

With the pace of change increasing as it is, will we keep in mind what God is causing? We will, if we consistently look to and put our faith in the progressive, loving, and all-inclusive action of God. Doing this, we can be confident, flexible, calm; and we'll discover how the law of spiritual advancement governs us in times of transition.

Russ Gerber
Associate Editor