Article June 5, 1995 Issue

Provision that's not a matter of luck

Gail Griffith Murray

A Few weeks ago I received one of those mailings notifying me that I was a finalist in a national sweepstakes. Although I don't participate in sweepstakes, before I knew it, I found myself mindlessly sorting through the paperwork, feeling somewhat foolish as I glued on the stamps for the Jaguar I might win as an extra prize. I don't even want a Jaguar! But why did I feel foolish?

I began to apply spiritual reasoning to this question. I know that God, infinite good, is the source of all that I need—and that man is actually the expression of His goodness. And this good, being entirely spiritual, is eternally available. It is not subject to economic ups and downs. It is not subject to luck or even statistical probability. It is God's abundant love, for me and everyone.

What if I believe, however, that loving provision is a matter of luck? What if I've concluded that I'm basically unlucky and that by mailing in this sweepstakes form I might expect my luck to change? God is still providing His spiritual blessings. I am still perfectly cared for in His eyes. But what am I doing to those blessings on the receiving end? I'm distrusting them; trusting in a lottery—a mathematical improbability—to change my life, instead of opening my life to God who "maketh all things new" (Christian Science Hymnal, p. 218).

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