When I was selling real estate, one of my greatest satisfactions was brokering an agreement between two very different individuals. One such agreement involved a fast-talking young bond trader from Wall Street and a refined, soft-spoken older woman in no hurry at all. My fellow brokers called it reaching “a meeting of the minds.” I called it demonstrating that there is one Mind only, which is God.

The study of Christian Science has taught me to turn to God not only as our creator, our loving Father, who has made us in His image, but also as divine Mind, the source of our intelligence. Reflecting Mind’s intelligence in our daily tasks is a way of worshiping God. Listening for divine direction brings harmony and fulfillment to a project, whether building a home, writing an academic paper, or praying about a physical need. And when motivated by the desire to bless others, not just further our own success, our labor is more inspired, competent, and fruitful. In my real estate career, I found this to be true in transacting business deals.

Business agreements are as old as the Bible. When King Solomon needed lumber to build the large temple he had envisioned, he contracted with Hiram, king of Tyre, to supply timber hewn from trees in Lebanon. Solomon recompensed this merchant king annually with “twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil” (I Kings 5:11). This mutually beneficial exchange is an illustration of God’s law of harmony.