This past November, the Christian Science Board of Directors gathered to present some ideas about the global economy during a Time4Thinkers podcast. This excerpt has been edited for readability. To hear the whole podcast go to: time4thinkers.com/the-economy-of-gratitude.

Michael Pabst: When we talk about the economy, we think that there’s something big out there that we don’t have any control over, and we feel threatened, and helpless. But when I looked at the definition on my iPhone, I found that the word’s origin comes from the Greek, oikonomia, which means “household management.” 

That’s a lot more tangible. It made me think of the Bible story in Second Kings where a woman’s husband died and her two sons were to be taken away as bondmen to pay the family debts. Elisha, the prophet, asked her a very simple question: “What do you have in the house?” In a way, he was bringing the situation back to a more manageable question of economy. And the little pot of oil that she had turned out to be an almost inexhaustible resource that enabled her to pay the debts (see II Kings 4:1–7). 

Nathan Talbot: What we have in the house—in our own consciousness—is inexhaustible.

Margaret Rogers: It’s like Elisha was acknowledging her completeness—that she had everything she needed. That’s the way God sees all of us.

Lyle Young: In Christian Science there’s the idea of perfect God and perfect man. Each of us is perfect as God’s image and likeness. Implied in that is the idea that each of us understands our perfection, and understands that sense of abundance. So, it’s not as if we have it, but we don’t understand it. We have the understanding, too, because we reflect that as well.

Mary Trammell: And the Bible is so full of examples of God supplying the needs of those who turn to Him for help. The children of Israel, for years, were wandering in the desert, but they were given quail and manna each day (see Ex. 16:11–18). They were supplied. Think of Jesus feeding the 5,000, men plus women and children, with just a few loaves and a few fish, but he multiplied it (see Matt. 14:14–21). People were preserved through floods, diseases, and what have you, but they had the resources that they needed from God, and from their faith in God.

MP: We cannot limit our prayers just to ourselves. Why is that? It’s that selfless element—the selflessness—or as Mary Baker Eddy puts it, the “unselfed love” (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 1) we feel in that moment. It embraces, not just ourselves, but our economy, our country—it embraces the world. 

NT: One of the challenges is that sometimes people get on to this idea of “Think bigger about things. Let’s expect the greatest material things.” Well, no matter how much we think about materiality being great, it’s limited by nature. 

MT: So much of what’s in the Bible involves starting with something very small, very modest, and building from there. It’s not more money, it’s not more matter that we need, more resources—it’s fresh ideas from God. And who is the source of ideas but God? Around the time when our children were headed to college, it felt right to all our family for me to quit my job (which was going to help pay for their college education) and become a Christian Science practitioner. We didn’t know how it was going to happen. One day it suddenly hit us all, “We could sell our house and buy a little one.” So, that’s what we did, and that helped pay for the education. But again, it wasn’t money that we needed, it was just a good idea, which we felt was kind of like an angel. 

NT: Some of that may have come just from opening your thought to the practice. In a way, your house was growing!

MT: We were growing spiritually, and that just had to bring a supply with it.

LY: We’re recording this close to the time when people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, and there’s a pretty direct connection between thanksgiving and the economy. When you’re grateful for something, then your eyes are open to it. When you’re grateful for health, it’s because you’re seeing health—you’re experiencing it. When you’re grateful for the presence of good, in a sense, that’s the healing. And, when you’re grateful for what you need to go forward in serving others more, in a sense that’s the healing. 

MR: When my husband and I were first married, we decided to start, in a very small way, to invest some of our money. One of the main reasons was we felt we wanted to invest in good—we wanted to begin our savings plan by really supporting industries or businesses that we felt were doing good—that had a pure motive, and had integrity. Over the years, that has helped us so much during markets that swing, or go down, or you just think, “I don’t know what to invest in.” If you think, “investing in good,” that’s always going to bring a reward.

MP: In an article called “Angels,” Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 307). When we hear about the economy today, it’s not so much, I feel, a report on what is happening today—it’s much more a prediction of what will be happening next week, next month, next year. 

All the gloom and doom we hear about Europe, with Greece and Italy—predicting for decades even, the damage we will have to live with—that’s almost like a diagnosis that can be so devastating. But we don’t have to buy into that. The angels are here today, and they will be here next week, and next month, and in ten years. They will feed the need at whatever time. 

We are tributary to God, and to God only, not to the predictions of economists. If we bring our house in order, or realize the goodness we have in our house, that will meet our needs. I’ve seen proof of that many times: in unexpected jobs coming to me when I needed money. When I had no idea where the food would come from, it was there, dependably.

NT: The idea of the unexpected, whether it’s an unexpected job, or whatever, is worth cultivating in our thought. When Jesus needed some tax money, it was found in a fish’s mouth. While the need was supplied, to me what was significant was the unexpected way that it came. Just to open our thought to be willing to be surprised about how God is going to bless us—that in itself can open up some doors.

MT: In the article on angels that Michael quoted from, one of the other sentences says, “What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love!” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 307). Often people think, “Well, so and so is wealthy because he inherited a lot of money from his mom or dad.” The inheritance that really takes care of us is omnipresent Love. No matter where we go, if we really know that omnipresent Love is there, God is going to supply our need.

LY: Just like the little child who confidently reaches up and puts his hand in his father’s, and knows things are going to be taken care of, that childlike trust is actually a very powerful resource to contribute to well-being in the world economy. Why shouldn’t we expect good if good is infinite? That’s the only logical expectation, really. 

NT: Some people might think that when we talk about expectation it’s just kind of a human optimism, but there can be a deeper expectancy. In fact, Mary Baker Eddy says, “. . . expectation speeds our progress” (Science and Health, p. 426), and I don’t think she’s talking about a surface optimism. I think she’s talking about a deep, Christian realism, and that’s the kind of realism Jesus had when he knew the money was going to be there in the fish’s mouth (see Matt. 17:24–27). 

MR: I was thinking that’s really the way to best secure your financial situation—to take that time to acknowledge your oneness with the source. Just to become conscious of how much God loves each individual, and how each one has talents that are essential to the whole. You will always have a place because you are individual and you are needed. To establish those facts in our consciousness day after day is what takes us through any kind of economic scene.