Article February 14, 2011 Issue

The gift of giving

By Mark Unger

If you’re like me, once you realize the good that comes from giving to others, you may start to wonder if it is somehow selfish to just keep giving all the time, because now you know how much it adds to your own life! The conclusion I’ve come to is that we are wired to give. That is how God created us. I’ve learned through the study of Christian Science that God, our Father and Mother, is the great Giver and that we are made in His/Her image and likeness. That is why it feels so good to give, and when we are tempted to go against that divine impulse, or not embrace it, we don’t feel quite right; we are never quite satisfied.

My quest to better understand the spiritual nature of giving began after I saw how much good God was pouring on me. By the time I was 18 years old, I seemed to have everything I could possibly want in my life: a comfortable home, a steady income and money in the bank, good friendships, and a loving family. These words of Jesus became my motto in high school: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). But while I was always eager to help people by sharing the spiritual inspiration I was getting as a student of Christian Science, from my study of the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings based on the Bible, life was pretty much “all about me”—I was focused mainly on things I felt I wanted to accomplish. At a certain point, I felt I had so much, but still wasn’t completely satisfied.

Then, when I was 19, an idea came to me to leave it all for a year. I knew that feeling God’s presence, and seeing His work in my life, were the most satisfying things I had experienced, and I wanted to understand God better. I took off on my motorcycle with little money and no plans, and to make a long story short, all my needs were abundantly and divinely supplied. It was an amazing trip!