Article April 17, 2000 Issue

RECYCLING SUPPLIES A NEED

J. H. R.

My family and I discovered that recycling sometimes meets the precise needs of others in unexpected ways. Once my three children spent time filling grocery bags with small toys they no longer played with. We were inspired to share them with a homeless shelter where their pocket-size seemed to make good sense for the homeless children there.

When I delivered the toys, the worker who received them stared in stunned disbelief at this huge collection of little playthings. "Do you know," she exclaimed, "this is exactly what we need right this minute. We're having a carnival tomorrow, and we wanted to do a fish pond, but we didn't have any prizes to use. I just can't believe it!"

The experience reminded me of a phrase in Science and Health where Mary Baker Eddy writes, "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,—Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply" (p. 206). We were inspired by divine Mind to share with this particular agency, at that time, just what they needed. The shelter's reuse of our recycled toys indeed blessed the little ones who participated in the carnival. And my children and I were blessed by knowing that we had so perfectly met such a timely need.

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