Upfront February 14, 2011 Issue

Giving to others

Steve Graham, Managing Editor, Sentinel, Journal, and Herald

The other day I joined some friends for dinner at the China Sky restaurant. When the check came, and we each opened up our fortune cookies, mine said something I thought was rather profound (at least for a cookie): “If you continually give, you will continually have.”

I couldn’t help but think about this issue of the Sentinel, which was coming together at that same time. I’m not in the habit of attributing any sort of metaphysical significance to the messages on fortune cookies. But in this case, there’s more than a crumb of a spiritual underpinning—as writer Mark Unger brings out in his article on page 16. When we dedicate ourselves to giving to our neighbor, in the spirit of Jesus’ life and teaching, we do indeed receive rewards that are equal, if not greater. And this, because the action is based on an actual law of God as explained in Christian Science.

Fenella Bennetts sums this up nicely in our lead article on page 14: “Giving truly is a way of living,” she says. “It’s the heart’s orientation to God, the infinite source of our being. And as such, giving reflects the outpouring of divine Love, which describes God’s very nature.” Think of it: When we give, we’re actively engaged in expressing the nature and power of God Himself! Nobody has to look very far these days to see how much that’s needed.

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