Overflowing with Life's goodness
Whenever I hear that old adage about whether we view life like a glass half empty or half full, I think of the example of Jesus. Why? First, because I can’t imagine that Jesus would have possibly considered his own—or for that matter, anyone else’s—life ever to be half empty. To me, the Master’s entire teaching and practice were always illustrating something key about the wholeness and fullness of life when lived close to God. Didn’t he tell his followers that he had come to bring them life “more abundantly” (John 10:10)? Because of his unwavering trust in God in every circumstance, coupled with his pure understanding of the rich store of spiritual resources available to everyone, there was never a time when Jesus didn’t have exactly what he needed and exactly when he needed it. And he steadfastly used those spiritual resources to bless and heal others.
On more than one occasion, for example, Jesus was faced with the demand to feed several thousand people when only the slightest of provisions were apparent—enough to feed only a handful of people under normal circumstances. Impossible? No, it was not only divinely possible, it was readily accomplished.
Take the account that appears in all four of the Gospel narratives in the New Testament. We’re told that a huge crowd had followed Jesus into the countryside to hear his teaching and to be healed. There were well over 5,000 in attendance—and perhaps as many as twice that number. (The Gospel of Matthew counts them as “about five thousand men, beside women and children.”) It had become very late in the day, and in this “desert place,” the people were in jeopardy of fainting from hunger. Jesus’ disciples asked him to send the multitude away so that they might find food in the neighboring villages. But Jesus wouldn’t hear of it. He asked if there wasn’t anything at hand with which to feed them all. They replied that there was nothing more than five loaves of bread and two—that’s right, just two—small fish!
Yet Jesus was surely seeing something beyond what was noticeably at hand, for without a second thought, he directed the disciples to organize everyone into groups. Jesus then took the bread, blessed it, and distributed both the bread and the fish to his disciples. Now they, in turn, were sent to set this food before the people. Did it work? Could it possibly satisfy their hunger? Yes!
A perfect supply of good is ever available to every one of us.
When the disciples had completed their task, not only had everyone been fed, but Matthew’s Gospel provides the remarkable conclusion, “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full” (14:13–21). So, after distributing the five loaves and two fish to all those thousands of people, each of the twelve disciples returned to Jesus not with an empty (or even a half-empty) basket but with one now filled up full!
According to the Science of Christ, there is a clear spiritual rationale for what Jesus accomplished. It was actually based on the laws of God, which are still available to each of us today. Starting from the simple premise that God is both good and infinite, that the universe is governed in accord with His unwavering law of good, and that the good that God is constantly providing His creation could never be exhausted, it follows that God’s children must express infinite good in every aspect and activity of their being. A perfect supply of good is ever available to every one of us. There is never a moment or a place or a situation when we do not have access to exactly what is needed and exactly when it is needed.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the book that explains how the laws of God are applied in our day-to-day lives, Mary Baker Eddy writes of God as pure Spirit, pure Love, pure Soul. She offers a compelling argument in favor of spiritual reliance for meeting every human need and for discovering a life that is filled up full with God’s goodness. “Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind,” Mrs. Eddy writes, “and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul” (p. 60).
You and I each have an unbroken relationship with the source of all good—with God—for man is the very expression of God’s being. We are the genuine reflection of divine Spirit, Love, Soul—complete, whole, full of divine grace, beauty, intelligence, spiritual substance. Jesus surely understood this divine law when he was in the wilderness with all those people needing to be fed. And Jesus’ example, time and again, proved that the blessing of our relation to God is never self-centered. It is never intended for merely material gratification, nor is it confined within limited personal boundaries. The divine source of supply provides a wide blessing indeed. None of God’s dear children are left out or shortchanged.
As Science and Health confirms: “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). And the varied opportunities for expressing the bounty of spiritual good are unlimited.
Jesus reminded his followers that God would be glorified as we each “bear much fruit” (John 15:8). He confirmed that in following the commandments he left to us, we would find that the joy of the Christ would steadfastly remain in us and be full! So, whenever we might be tempted to look at life and believe that the glass is half empty—or even half full—we can instead take our prayers to the unfailing spiritual basis of supply. We can discover how much God truly loves us and has filled our lives full with blessings—joyful blessings that nourish us, meet our present needs, satisfy us, and give us a deeper sense of purpose and service to mankind.
