Article April 11, 1925 Issue

Paying Our Debts

LUCY HAYS REYNOLDS

A WIDOW with little children to care for was struggling bravely to make ends meet, but in spite of her efforts the bills continued to accumulate, and her creditors had become very insistent. Turning for help to the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, she read these lines from the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation (p. 17): "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And Love is reflected in love." As she pondered the words, it flashed across the woman's thought that her first debt to her creditors was to reflect Love,–a love great enough to cast out her fear of and resentment toward them. Soon a new sense of love, impartial and universal, accompanied with great peace, filled the woman's heart, and she easily forgave whatever unkind behavior there seemed to have been. After this, only the most courteous treatment was given her by those whom she owed; and shortly afterwards one to whom she had lent a considerable sum of money, so long before that the debt had been outlawed, sent her a check for an amount more than enough to meet all her obligations.

The Apostle Paul has said, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." In paying our debts, then, the first question to be considered is, not how much money, but how much love we have on hand. If we are fearful or doubtful, suspicious or burdened, we certainly are not dwelling in a loving state of thought; and so, even though we may have met promptly every obligation, we are still morally in debt. Lifting our thought of supply and demand above the woes and speculations of human belief into the realm of prayerful thinking, we learn to let the law of divine Love, with its higher equity and righteousness, adjust every responsibility, thus blessing, as it does, all parties concerned therewith. With this law operating in our experience we become more humble and trustful, learning to lay hold of those spiritual ideas of Love that are always on hand to supply every need and to take care of every situation. Verily, abiding in the consciousness of Love imparts that spiritual insight which, undaunted, looks beyond material sense to the infinite resources of Soul, and proves them to be ever present and available.

Thus, if the time is approaching when certain obligations are to be met, and there seems nothing on hand to meet them, instead of being cast down by the situation, or wishing that we may evade it, in Christian Science we learn how to face it with absolute assurance in the power of right to fulfill every moral obligation. This freedom, however, never tempts one to incur debts unwisely, or to regard obligations carelessly; but rather does it enable one to be better prepared to work out all one's financial affairs on the basis of unerring, invariable, divine Principle. Lifted above the touchiness of pride and personal sense by an understanding of the abundance of Love, we can go forth confidently, however embarrassing or difficult the financial situation may seem to be, to find its proper solution.

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