Article March 5, 1927 Issue

Scattering

ELLA H. JOHNSON

"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." In the religious thought in which the writer was reared, this passage from Proverbs was sealed. How could scattering increase and withholding diminish anything? The only way to acquire was to accumulate; and scattering and accumulating were clearly incompatible! There was no apparent connection between giving and receiving, and the reason was that the perception was entirely material. The words, "God loveth a cheerful giver," seemed to be demanding an impossibility. How could we surrender cheerfully for charity or religion any portion of our limited supply of material money, which we wanted so badly for material comforts and pleasures? It was frequently a dreadful wrench to drop something of it into the contribution box; and the only thing that claimed to save the situation was the glow of self-righteousness which often followed the act!

Mrs. Eddy's wonderful book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," has indeed unlocked the Bible and shown us the real or spiritual meaning of its statements of Truth. In scattering good of any sort,—loving thoughts, kindly deeds, charitable judgments, or even monetary aid,— our own store of good is increased. The more love we scatter, the more love comes to us, when we are loving for the sake of loving, and with no selfish motive. The more love we give, the more we are capable of giving; and the more returns to us. The scattering increases, but the withholding tends to the receiving of little love.

If we give to God joyously because our substance is spiritual and to be used in His service, and goes back to Him who gave it, we enter an ever increasing circle of good. The more we give, the more we get; the more we get, the more we give. Unselfish giving of any good we have invariably comes back to us in kind. Walt Whitman voices this in his discerning lines, "The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him,—it cannot fail." Jesus said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." This is a literal truth, so simple that it is axiomatic; so simple that we do not always believe it, and are afraid to test it. It may be true, we think, of kind thoughts or good deeds; but when we consider the giving up of some of our very small store of money, mortal mind makes an outcry. It says: You are depriving yourself of needed articles, perhaps depriving those dependent upon you of something. You have it to-day; but will you have it next week or next year? Save it. Do not give it to any church or to any cause, however worthy. Put it away for a rainy day! And if we heed this artful serpent and put away for a rainy day that which we should share, the rainy day or day of lack will come along and use up the fund we have prepared for it.

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God Is Good
March 5, 1927
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