Article June 25, 1984 Issue

Another kind of oil

ROBERT A. MOSS

I'd struggled with the recalcitrant bolt on my lawn mower until my wrist ached and my brow perspired. I'd used several kinds of wrenches on it. I'd borrowed a heavy hand-wrench and exerted all my strength to move the thing. It stayed firm, fixed, immovable. I sat down. Then I had an idea. I fetched the oilcan and let oil drip into the tiny space where the screw part of the bolt entered the metal body. I waited a bit, then attached the wrench again and turned it leftward. To my astonishment and delight the bolt moved. In a couple of seconds I could turn it with my fingers. A drop of oil did what brute strength and sustained physical effort had failed to do.

Another kind of oil can do far more wonderful things for us. It's Christly oil, the oil of love. In giving the spiritual significance of Bible terms, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, defines "oil" as "consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration."^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 592.} This oil heals sin and disease. It can soften the hard heart, subdue the human will, uplift the downcast, comfort the sorrowing, calm the troubled waters of human life.

The oil of love, spiritual affection, is ours to share unselfishly and without stint or discrimination. It can work miracles. It does work miracles, as authenticated testimonies in the Christian Science periodicals prove. Some of these testimonies have recorded how the infusion of prayer and inspiration has healed stubborn claims of illness and brought peace to family strife and other disputes.

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