"Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science comes to reveal man as God's image, His idea, coexistent with Him—God giving all and man having all that God gives," writes our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, on page 5 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany." From this statement it is clear that the realm of the physical senses, where limitation seems to be experienced, is a false mental state, a temporal dream, from which mankind needs to be awakened.

True giving is spiritual, the expression of God's love for His creation. Then man, the reflection of God, Life, must forever manifest His love, and man's every thought must be imbued with the desire to give.

When one realizes the source of that which he has to give, he thereby opens the door to eternal abundance. Knowing that man forever reflects the abundance of the goodness of God, one can never feel reluctant or afraid to give, for he knows that man's wealth is spiritual, unlimited, infinite, ever present. He also knows that the child of God can never be deprived of the ability to express, or give forth, the qualities of God, because he is divinely endowed with intelligence, productiveness, holiness, beauty. Neither can he be impoverished by expressing good in giving, for his supply, which is always at hand, is incapable of being exhausted; it is infinite and flows from the divine source. Our Leader says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 79), "Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us."

When we consider our supply in terms of what we give of good rather than of what we receive of matter, we find divine law proved in our experience. Gifts in their truest sense are testimonies of divine Love. Such an offering will always be spiritually impelled and cannot fail to convey a rich blessing. The expression of God's qualities is man's only reason for existing, and this giving forth of God's glory, the expression of God's ideas, no matter in what form, constitutes man's oneness, or unity, with God.

Wise practitioners and teachers of Christian Science and members of Churches of Christ, Scientist, know that a life dedicated to giving, not to getting, receives the blessings of Truth. He who loves the Cause most and self least wins these blessings. If one goes to church chiefly to get, he may not stand firm in times of trial or tribulation.

No sense of martyrdom or self-righteousness can enter into one's giving when he realizes the true source of supply. The desire to give is one step toward the realization that one always has something to give. The joy of sharing one's bounty is the reward. That which seems to be one's own possession is seen in a new light as he learns in Christian Science that true substance is Spirit, shared alike by all of God's ideas.

Many valuable gifts, such as loving-kindness, good will, friendliness, courtesy, and mercy, cost no money. These qualities expressed individually by the members of a church constitute true building—a healing church, which brings a rich blessing to the community and to the world.

Do we give our church that which is left over in our budget, or do we do as Elijah admonished? The widow at Zarephath said she had only a handful of meal and a little oil which she was going to use in preparing a last meal for her son and herself. Elijah turned the thought of the widow from herself and helped to break the mesmerism of limitation when he said to her (I Kings 17:13), "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son." She was obedient, and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail.

A Christian Scientist was heard to express her gratitude in this manner: "This church does not depend upon me for its income; I depend upon it for my income. Everything I have I owe to Christian Science." Is it any wonder that we learn to place the church first in our giving? The sunlight is not less warm because it gives, for as we read in Science and Health (p. 516), "The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth."

Never need we fear lack of wisdom in opening our hearts if first we separate our impulse to give from emotional sentimentality and place the responsibility in the hands of divine Love. As consciousness is filled with the riches of our heavenly Father, we learn that only in true giving do we bless others and ourselves. Whatever is really valuable is ever present as idea and does not pass from one place to another or from one person to another, but from God to man.

If the student of Christian Science does not differentiate between his needs and the needs of the Cause, his sense of supply will broaden proportionately to cover those of the Cause as well as his own. How perfectly this was exemplified in the life of our beloved Leader. We can sum up the whole of giving as the understanding and demonstration of man's oneness with Love and Love's universe. As to the reward, it is mentioned in a verse in Malachi (3:10): "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

What is it to bring all the tithes into the storehouse? Is it not so to fill consciousness with such spiritual qualities as love, gratitude, humility, purity, mercy, and truth that there is no room for material belief, a false witness, a false attraction, or a wrong influence?

Every seeming void is filled with good, every evil destroyed, when we understand and hold fast the spiritual fact that God's love fills all space. Then spiritual ideas uplift us and maintain us in the way that divine Love outlines, plans, and provides.