Article February 23, 1952 Issue

GIVING

NANCY BARNHART

There is something spontaneous about giving. Although we do not stop to ask why this is so, most of us just naturally love to give. And when anyone is feeling unhappy or sad, he will be told, "Give something to somebody, do something for somebody, and you will feel better right away," because the gesture of giving in itself has a salutary effect. Doing good to our neighbor is Christian, for it redounds to our own good, showing in a degree how God's love enfolds everything in creation and endows it with His abundance and power.

But suppose you say, "I have nothing to give." You may remember there is a gift that costs nothing and yet is one of the most valuable of gifts—the offering of thanks. Thanksgiving opens the gate for good to flow outward, and once the gate is open, more and more reasons for gratitude come tumbling out.

How shall we start to give thanks? We all admit that good exists. Then why not say we are grateful for good? This would really mean we are grateful for God, since God is all good. He is the great Giver of good and its sole creator. See how the Psalmist glories in the affluence of God (Ps. 145:16): "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." And see how many times the word give is used in Spirit's declaration (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 253): "I give immortality to man, for I am Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love. I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind."

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