Limitation Overcome

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 307), "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." An experience proving the truth of this statement stands out to me as a milestone in my journey from sense to Soul. Our church had purchased a lot on which to build a new edifice. On my return from a stay out of town, I found that half the amount of the purchase price must be paid by the first of the coming month. This seemed to put me into an extremely perturbed state of thought; for not only did I have nothing to contribute, but as my own home had but recently been built, other financial obligations confronted me. To add to my sense of confusion and helplessness, came the suggestion that even if any money came to me I would not know where to place it,—whether to give it to the fund for the church lot or apply it to the payment of some of my own personal accounts. All were legitimate demands, and must be met. This state of thought lasted for two or three days. I seemed to be facing a blank wall. Then my inability to work it out in a material way came to me; and I turned to God as my only hope. I began to read in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," written by Mrs. Eddy, and in a few minutes came to this sentence on page 232: "The right way wins the right of way, even the way of Truth and Love whereby all our debts are paid, mankind blessed, and God glorified." This gave me my first working basis for the solution of the problem; and I carefully considered each phase of this statement. It became clear that the "right way" would win the "right of way" when I looked for it where it was only to be found—in Truth and Love, not in any form of material reasoning.

The ability to pay all our debts next claimed my thought. I remembered the Bible injunction in Romans, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." Then came the blessed realization that even if I did not have any money, I could at least do what I could with what I had in consciousness, and pay my debt of love to my fellow-men. This I took up as carefully as I would have written checks. I went over every experience in my life where a question was involved of injustice, resentment, unkindness, and the like; and I separated all these from my thought of man in each instance, thus destroying their seeming power. Then it came to me to get a clearer concept of man as reflecting God's qualities. Mrs. Eddy writes, in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 475), "He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." I took up some of these qualities,—honesty, justice, kindness, mercy, gratitude, and so on. I could truthfully say that I loved justice; I knew that I loved kindness; I certainly loved mercy; there was no doubt about my love for gratitude. Then, since man is the aggregation of all right ideas, I most assuredly loved man. This brought a glow of joy that lifted me above all opposite arguments. This prepared me for the next decision,—as to which was the greater obligation, the payment on the church lot or the payment of bills that had accumulated during my absence. Quite clearly the answer came: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Unquestionably, this was the higher demand, because the lot was to be dedicated to the service of God. The payment on the lot must be made by the first of the month; there was no pressing demand for the payment of the bills, as I had kept my credit good by having met, promptly, previous indebtedness. I resolved to give every dollar to the payment on the lot during that month, and refuse to spend anything on self. This was doing all I could; and it brought a sense of peace and assurance that passed all human understanding.

Later, I found that other members of the church were turning over to the treasurer small amounts as they came in, and not waiting until the last of the month. To my surprise, I found myself unwilling to do this: I wanted to give a certain amount in one check. Thus was pride uncovered to me. This was quickly overcome; and I followed the example of the others. For a few days, only small amounts came in; but one day a much larger check came. It had been owing to me for some time, and I had forgotten about it. The suggestion came that I wished that I might keep that; it would make a nice payment on some of my accounts. This I recognized immediately as a temptation of evil, put it from me, and reported that amount to the treasurer. Not until the next day did I realize that this was the same suggestion that had come to Ananias and Sapphira, as given in Acts. Not only did I get the blessing of resisting it, but I doubtless escaped the punishment that otherwise surely would have followed. The amounts continued to come in; and on the last day of the month, from a distant state, came a much larger check than I had yet received. It involved the meeting of an obligation of several years' standing, and was a complete surprise to me. The amount I was enabled to give during the month totaled almost twice what I had originally hoped for.

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December 2, 1922
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