Eric Butterworth Speaks: Essays on Abundant Living #63
Delivered by Eric Butterworth on August 31, 1975
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The average person spends about 2,000 hours a year at some kind of work. It would seem that he should have an attitude that integrates his work involvement with his overall life. One of the root causes of the nation’s economic difficulties may well be the loss of healthy, spiritually oriented work attitudes on the part of the nation’s workers.
It has been said, “Most persons stop looking for work when they find a job.” The emphasis is on getting on a payroll somewhere, but sadly neglected is the matter of the personal need to release the creative flow by rendering service. Man is a creative creature. To become whole there must be a releasement of that creativity.
He may think of his work as the means of “making a living”, whereas it is his opportunity to “make a life.” Many persons engage in work as a necessary evil, a period of drudgery between coffee breaks...and thus they totally frustrate their creative flow. You may feel that your wour work is beneath you; but it is where you are right now. Thus, by the law of consciousness, it indicates what you are. You may change jobs, but nothing is solved until you change consciousness. The place to begin to find your right work is right where you are. Find yourself in your work by overcoming resistance to it and see it as a challenge for growth.
What is the difference between a patch of weeds and a beautifully cultivated garden? There is no basic difference. Each was produced by the fact that seeds were scattered into the soil, which brought forth plants into manisfestation. However, one is cared for, while the other is allowed to take its course. The difference is not in the garden, but in the gardener. You may long for an interesting job, but there are no jobs that are interesting. Interest is invested in a job by someone interested. The difference is the worker...not the work.
A compass needle is an interesting thing. Turn the compass around in various ways, and the needle always points to magnetic north. It is a lesson in the power of a spiritually oriented life. A compass needle is useless until it is permanently oriented by being magnetized. Many persons are like unmagnetized compass needles, going round and round, working at jobs that have little attraction for them, tempted into fields that offer rewards but do not challenge their inherent abilities. And these are the first persons to be affected by economic difficulties and job layoffs.
Thought controls your life. Spiritually oriented thought will always lead you to stability in your work and success and prosperity in your life. Whether your need is to find employment, to find a better job, or to find betterment in your present employment... the great need is to find yourself, to become spiritually magnetized. Thus, like the compass needle that always points to the north, whatever direction your life may take, you will remain in the flow of guidance.
An idea that may be of inestimable value to you is this: YOU ARE A MOST IMPORTANT PERSON TO GOD, FOR YOU ARE HIS LIVING ENTERPRISE. YOU CANNOT GET OUT OF THE INTEREST OR ATTENTION OF GOD BECAUSE HE HAS INVESTED LIFE AND BREATH AND TALENT IN YOU.
Don’t let yourself dwell on how bad things are “out there.” Instead, keep your mind stayed on God—on the realization that you have something going for you, something working in you, someone on your side.
You can take the irk out of your work by blessing it. The word “bless” is a much neglected word of great power. It means, “to confer honor upon.” In other words, change your thought about your work and yourself while you work, and your work will begin to bless you. There isn’t a job in the world that can’t be done better than it is being done. And...no one is doing right by himself or his employer if he simply rocks along, going through the motions of doing his work.
Truth students talk much about “demonstrating prosperity and success.” And, there is a prosperity law that works. However, many have been deluded into thinking that they can engage in prosperity treatments in a compartmentalized process of mind while engaging in resistance and resentment toward their present work. This is totally impractical—like trying to run oil and water throught the same pipeline. Instead of thinking “get”, think “give”. Certainly the windows of heaven may open unto you with a flow of abundance, but most likely it will come through your present job. At least your present work is the place to begin to form the shape of consciousness through which the greater good will come to you in some way.
If you are unemployed and looking for work, remember...you have a job, one that will take the utmost of your skill and concentration. That job is to get work. Your attitude is all-important. If you become obsessed with the idea of inactivity and lack, then you may well become unemployable. The question is: Are you “unemployed” or are you “ready for work.”
The first step is to think for yourself. Don’t let the world around you decide how you think and feel. Don’t listen to what “they say”, for they will be saying that there are no jobs to be had, and that at your age no one wants you anyway. Pray for guidance... and then “move your feet.” But don’t start out with the thought, “One would be mighty lucky to find work when so many persons are being laid off.” If this is your attitude, you might as well stay home and watch TV and go out only to collect your unemployment check.
Get yourself spiritually oriented. Remember, “You are a most important person to God. You are His living enterprise. There is a right and perfect work for you.” Remember the compass needle. Know that regardless of the turn of life’s circumstances, you are in the flow of guidance and in tune with your good.
You can’t expect to spend a few minutes affirming and treating for guidance and success and then spend the rest of the day thinking how bad things are, and telling everyone who will listen about your unemployment or your poor job or your stingy boss. Get on the success beam and stay there. Get it into your mind that you are going to succeed in finding your right job, or in advancing in your work. Know that you are forever in the flow of substance and success wherever you are.
And, when you find a job, or are called back after a layoff, or when you return to work after a vacation or just begin again after a weekend, you may find yourself saying, “Well, back to work!” Change this thought. Never go back to work. Always go forward to work. Back to work is what you must do—forward to work is what you want to do. Go forward in a new positive consciousness, with a new commitment to keep your “mind stayed on God.” Things will be different because you will be different. And...you do make the difference.
© 1975, by Eric Butterworth
