"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" ^{I Kings 3:9.}

This cry to God, attributed to Solomon, could just as easily be uttered by the manager of a business, a teacher, an administrator, a parent—any individual supervising or caring for others. Solomon is an interesting example of an executive who had to make decisions during momentous times. He made some good decisions and also some very poor ones. Nevertheless, in this early turning to God for wisdom, he certainly recognized a key point: the value of people.

Sitting in my office, I have wondered at times, "What more can happen to me today? What do these people want of me?" I've even declared, "This would be a great business if it weren't for the people!" But of course there would be no business if there were no people. So I've found that what I've needed is to get a better understanding of what it is that people really want.

Last year I was involved in a situation that absolutely demanded true wisdom—the wisdom God promised Solomon. As one of our clerks had left our employ, we advertised to find a replacement. Somehow, applicants did not seem to meet our requirements or wanted more money than we were prepared to offer. Meanwhile, other staff pitched in to get the work done. But as weeks passed by without a solution, both the department manager and I began to feel pressure to fill the position.

After the job had been offered to several likely prospects and been turned down, I began to realize that there was something deeper involved than just filling a vacant position. In praying about the situation I realized that we had become mired in "recessionary" thinking—that is, we had been accepting lack as a condition of our business, trying to get by with fewer people and holding the line on wages to compensate for lower profits. Our search, as a result, had focused on meeting the minimal requirements of the job, rather than on appreciating the spiritual and moral qualities a candidate could bring to the work and to the company. Now we changed our attitude and began to see that the position to be filled actually required a much more qualified person than we had ever before employed for that work.

In evaluating the job we realized that a higher salary would have to be offered. But then we wondered how that would affect the other staff members. Could we be both cost conscious and fair to all the employees?

A most helpful statement from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, says, "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,—Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply." ^{Science and Health, p. 206.} This opened my thinking. I soon realized that as with the job we were seeking to fill, this question of fair pay was really a question of value. Weren't these the people who had worked so hard at a time when we were understaffed? Why, we had never had a more cooperative group! Were we only paying lip service to our goal of pay equity among our employees? (This department was composed primarily of women.) An investigation of salary levels followed, during which it was discovered that although this group of employees was making a larger contribution to the success of the enterprise than ever before, our method of implementing raises (on a percentage basis) had caused them to be undercompensated for their work. It was decided to adjust their salaries immediately, in line with our new appreciation of them. With this recognition came much gratitude; also I gained an improved understanding of spiritual abundance. We could indeed afford to set things right. Together we had survived the worst recession in forty years.

In the end, eight employees received unexpected raises. We were then able to look back through our applications and choose the person we felt was the right one for the job—someone who had been patiently waiting two months for a reply. She accepted our offer and has proved to be just the employee we needed.

This whole experience showed me the wisdom of this instruction in Science and Health: "Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept." ^{Ibid., p. 454.}

The blessings of this experience go further than the replacing of an employee and the strengthening of a company. I learned that Christ's teaching applies as readily to life today as it did in Biblical times. The Golden Rule, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise," ^{Luke 6:31.} in today's terms might be called the law of equity.

Christ Jesus sums up the rewards of following his teachings in these words: "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." ^{John 15:10.} The desire to do right gives us the spiritual power to act in accord with divine law. Through this experience I actually came to understand better that there is divine law, or Science, that underlies Christian healing.

What a contrast between the enveloping love that followed this experience and the misunderstanding and self-condemnation that had attended previous such experiences. The difference was in the listening for God's guidance. The spiritual fact is that God, good, is All. An understanding of this leads to the realization that exactly the right solution already rests with God. How do we know when we have seen the correct answer? We overflow with it; we see it so clearly. We know it.

What is it that we really desire—whether we're employee or employer? The answer, it seems to me, is startling in its simplicity: love and justice. These are spiritual qualities that each one of us reflects as God's manifestation, His child.

As it turned out in this case, it wasn't a surprise to our employees that we would attempt to solve the problem. They expected that. Their surprise and the outpouring of gratitude came from our recognition and appreciation of their worth.

The truth of each individual is that he or she is totally spiritual and already includes and already expresses all good. Therefore we each naturally can respond to the ministrations and inspiration of Love. As the divine sense of judgment and love are brought out in our lives we become more sensitive to what is right and just, and act out of love for others—as instruments of God's love. Then we begin to see that the inevitable outcome of love for our fellowman is justice for all. Justice, in turn, allows love to be expressed more freely among people because justice recognizes that we are all equally worthy and equally loved in God's sight.

The Christ-spirit, ever present in consciousness, surely brings with it the wisdom to love and rightly "to judge this thy so great a people."