Keep your prayer vessel full for the Gulf

There’s a story in the Bible of a widow who has prepared herself to die. Her situation is dire, but at the last moment, the prophet Elisha turns up at her door. He gives her what at first seems like odd advice—to gather vessels and pour the little bit of oil she has into these vessels so that she can sell the supply. She follows his counsel and finds that her supply of oil then becomes bottomless (see II Kings 4:1-7 ).

A current bottomless source of oil is the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. But unlike in the case of the widow, this reserve is clearly not serving as a blessing!

The world is watching, horrified, as the rig continues to gush oil from its source, 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, spreading upwards of 2,500 miles in diameter. The scale of the spill could well exceed the damage wrought by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s waters.

When we look at the material universe, patterns emerge. Generally, there’s too much or too little of something. But the actual fact—the spiritual fact—shows that imbalance is spiritually impossible. God is Father and Mother, which I see as the primal and ultimate evidence of balance. Altering our perspective accurately changes the set of data we examine.

So what do the widow and the leaking Gulf oil well have in common?

Vessels.

We all know that vessels are containers of some sort. In her definitive work on Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy referenced vessels twice. Each time she wrote virtually the same thing: Don’t try to fill a vessel already full. The metaphor is spiritually packed, and one can learn a lot by pondering it.

Some time ago, in praying about a separate issue, I examined the thoughts lining my own “vessel” of consciousness and saw I needed to clean out some traits such as anxiety, fear of accidents, low-level prejudice, or even simmering disdain for some people. I saw that it can take more than ordinary human attentiveness to arrest negative, habitual thoughts. It became clear that purifying the vessel of my thoughts had to do with pouring in relief—realizing just how big, how powerful, how present God is.

Many spiritual thinkers will relish Science and Health’s suite of references to energy sources. The glossary of this book includes definitions of Sun, Wind, River, and even Oil—which, spiritually defined, is sustainable: “Consecration; charity; gentleness;…” (p. 592 ). My favorite? The definition of Earth as “a sphere; a type of eternity and immortality, which are likewise without beginning or end” (p. 585 ). I can’t imagine a better definition of what makes something truly sustainable! And along this beautiful line, Mrs. Eddy underscores our eternal nature: “Let us feel the Divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy” (p. 249 ).

Many are dreading that the cleanup process for this spill may take years, or even decades. In praying about this issue, I’ve found it helpful to consider the idea of process. While process can create order, it’s also easy to get stuck “in process.” But liberation in thought can come in a flash: epiphany! This freedom is divine Mind’s purpose. The seamless operation of God’s ideas requires no healing process, no cleanup process, no administrative process. The Christ—God’s healing influence in our lives —never operates within the framework of a material process.

A spiritual vantage also melts bureaucratic processes. “Vantage” means view, perspective, or insight. A spiritual view never coincides with automatic, thought-less systems. These would cheapen the great verities of spiritual identity! So in our prayers, we can expect that every person – from government negotiators to chairmen of oil and shipping companies – has the ability to raise their sights above mortal mind’s confusion or lack of solutions to a spiritual vantage point.

I can’t send a physical vessel to the Gulf to help catch and clean up the oil leaking across the delicate estuaries and waterways, but I can send my best-built prayer. Ocean cleanup is a kind of hygiene. Spiritually, it’s a cleansing regimen from human hypothesis and theories. A vessel of thought, inspired by God’s power, is one that can’t be faulty. This clean, capable, prayerful vessel is one we can dispatch to real effect to the waters surrounding Deepwater Horizon. Spiritual purity—pouring Spirit’s healing balm into our hearts—is the highest form of cleansing for a body or an ocean. And as our consciousness is full of pure thoughts about ourselves, the spill, and those working to contain it, then we are participating in spiritual solutions everywhere.

So let us all send prayerful vessels not only to the oil leak, but also to the concept of oil spills in general. We can ask angels in and let them remind us of how very trustworthy Divine Love is, and how timely and practical its solutions are.