Abraham, who lived almost as many years before the birth of Christ Jesus as we live after it, heard God's message to take his people to a place where they would live and prosper. Obeying God, he led his people to Canaan and there found a good land of pasture, trees, and water. Today, as then, the fact is that God places us right where we need to be when we obey His leadings.

Sometimes we may be concerned as to whether we are in the most appropriate place in regard to work, home, travel, or human relationships. If this is the case, the answer is to turn to God, to subordinate material sense to the spiritual perception of God, good. There are certain steps we need to take, however, if our turning to God is to be effective—namely, to watch, pray, and work. Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, often speaks of this need, and in the opening chapter of Science and Health writes, "Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-immolation, are God's gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christianization and health of mankind." ^{Science and Health, p. 1.}

The need to watch our thinking is continuous. Are we giving the limitations of human belief a foothold in thought—limitations such as chance, age, lack of opportunity, and the poor state of the economy? These are really not determining factors. Self-examination—a sort of mental quality control—helps us separate true thoughts, which have their source in God, from the false, which originate in a finite sense of things. As Paul tells us, we must bring "into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." ^{II Cor. 10:5.} Christ, the true idea, gives us the truths that help us see through the falsities of material limitations.

What does all this have to do with our being in our proper place? A great deal! For example, we may have consented to the thought that our work is at the mercy of others, or that we are stuck in a job with too much pressure or no chance for advancement. But the Christ tells us that man's real work is to express God. When we realize this truth, we recognize that the source of limited thinking is not God, so we can reject it. Thus we clear our thought and make it a better reflection of God and His attributes: all good, harmony, order, direction, and fulfillment. This transforms our lives and helps us see more clearly where we should be and what we should be doing.

Prayer affirms the eternal fact that God governs all, and brings our thinking into harmony with divine Principle. Prayer acknowledges the inseparability of man from God and the allness of God's power, thereby developing trust in, reliance on, and expectancy of good. Prayer is listening for and receiving God's thoughts, which unerringly guide us. Radical reliance on prayer brings God's harmony into our experience, progressively reducing our subjection to insecure housing situations, unproductive jobs, unpredictable travel, or discordant human relationships.

We also need to work, as well as to watch and pray. Our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus, said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." ^{John 5:17.} Christly work is more than passively accepting the truth of God's governance; it is actively expressing this truth, daily and hourly, in every aspect of our lives. It is striving to obey God's great commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. ^{See Matt. 22:35-40 .} To work as the Master worked is to live consistently with the divine guidance and the revelation we receive from prayer.

We can follow Paul's admonition, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." ^{Phil. 2:12.} When confronted with the need to better discern our place in God's plan, we can discipline not only our thoughts but our actions. Mrs. Eddy tells us, "Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and they assuredly call down infinite blessings." ^{Science and Health, p. 15.} When we live and work in ways that express God's good qualities, we do dwell in "the secret place of the most High." ^{Ps. 91:1.} And as we work to glorify God, we learn that God places us.

One time I was responsible for a personnel management program in a large organization. The department director, my supervisor, began efforts to have my branch coordinate group-therapy sessions given by a psychiatrist whose previous individual consultations had not proved fruitful. The director proceeded with his plans contrary to my recommendations and those of my branch members.

Soon I began to feel resentment, rebellion, and a false sense of responsibility for having to work this problem out. I thought I had to combat this situation all alone—a big mistake! A Christian Science practitioner lovingly helped me better understand my inseparable relationship with God, on whom I could lean for guidance. When I mentioned seeking employment elsewhere, she explained that I was always in God's employ. I began to see that the place where I could best serve might well be where I was currently employed. What I needed to change was not the job but my thinking about it.

As I prayed I saw that, in this case, underlying the thought of finding another job was the mistaken notion that God could be in some places and not in others. To go or to stay was not up to me. I stopped outlining the way I thought things should work out and put complete trust in God. I knew that either the situation would change or else I would be removed from it. In a short while, an opportunity for a transfer to a fine position in another organization opened up. I was taken out of the discordant position and placed where I was able to make many contributions to the workers, to the organization, and to my own professional growth. I was happy about this change, but I was even more grateful for having caught a glimpse of God's law in operation, forever maintaining man in his rightful place.

If we find ourselves disturbed about our situation, let us watch to see the nothingness of thoughts whose source is not God, pray for the revelation of an eternal fact that governs the situation, and work by expressing this God-given truth. Then we find that it is God who places us.