Editorial June 23, 1917 Issue

Gifts

William D. McCrackan

Virgil makes the hero of the Æneid say, Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes,—"I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts." Mortal mind has been very apt to attach some sort of suspicion to gifts, and frequently to pervert their meaning into bribes; and perhaps the more costly the gift the greater the distrust. It was Mary's grateful, unstinted outpouring from the alabaster box which laid bare Judas' greed and made him attempt to rebuke what he wished to believe was extravagance on the part of the woman, instead of recognizing in her act a high order of noble economy. Christian Science makes ever more clear to its students that the value of a gift resides not in its size, but in the motive which accompanies it. The widow's mite meant wealth to the temple, but the charities of a Dives might have meant poverty.

In fact the psychology of the human mind, which availeth nothing without the corrective of the divine Mind, lays bare strange anomalies in the realm of riches. It is possible for a human being, a church, or a nation to be obsessed by the desire to make a display; to attempt to gild the lily, to overload, to overdecorate and overdo; to oppress the public with an artificial, meretricious pretense of wealth that palls. This is to write one's self down as poor. It is a habit which is founded upon the belief that wealth is material and substance is matter. This results in a painful effort to talk wealth while believing in poverty. The moment an individual, church, or nation has reached the scientific perception that riches are spiritual, the straining after effect ceases, because wealth is recognized as the universal gift of an infinite Father-Mother God.

The belief of personal possessions is also a bar to the giving of real gifts. It is akin to the belief of personal control, and needs to be uprooted as thoroughly as the latter. Since all good comes from God, all men have an equal source of supply. All are alike depositors in a bank with an unlimited supply; they can draw upon it indefinitely and not rob the bank or rob any other depositor. True riches are to be found "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;" namely, in the realm of Mind. Paradoxical as it may seem, riches can only be gained by being willing to surrender them. "Who steals my purse steals trash," the great dramatist makes one of his characters say; i.e., he who robs me of matter takes from me that which has no value, for it is a false belief. Many a man has not awakened to true riches until deprived of the material counterfeit, until the veil is torn aside and reality revealed.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Gifts

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access