Supply

AMELIA E. THEIS

In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 307) Mrs. Eddy says: "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. 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." These words came to the writer one morning while looking out on a fall of snow, the result of a storm the night before. Snow everywhere—the sight was wonderful! Trees and bushes looked like bouquets, each limb and twig carrying its load of fleecy whiteness. A bird flew out from a secluded spot and perched upon a branch, apparently looking for food. Only a few moments he stayed there; then flew away.

The thought came: What if that bird accepted sense-testimony and decided that the ground would never show again, and that his food supply was in jeopardy, just as some of us sometimes let the icy coat of doubt hide from us the glowing warmth of divine Love, or our Leader's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 494) that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need"! But the sun will melt the snow; the hand of kindness will be revealed and the crumbs will appear.

We also must know that if to mortal sense there seems to be lack, this seeming condition can be reversed just as it was when the widow of Zarephath was given proof of Elijah's clear spiritual sense of supply, when the barrel of meal did not waste, neither did "the cruse of oil fail." Whether our sense of lack be lack of love, unselfishness, mercy, justice, wisdom, shelter, food, or clothing, it is certainly true that what is really needed is a clearer understanding of God's tender care for His creation, including man. Christ Jesus had this spiritual understanding; for he could instantly supply human needs, as was proved when he turned the water into wine at the wedding feast, fed the multitude with a few loaves of bread and a few fishes, and found the tribute money in the fish's mouth. Why? Because his Christly thought could realize spiritual abundance and bring forth the type of whatever supply was needed.

It is recorded in Mark that when Jesus sent out his twelve disciples, giving them power to heal, the only provision he requested them to take on the journey was a staff and sandals. They were to take "no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse." The healing thought was to predominate. "Lacked ye any thing?" he afterwards said to them, according to Luke. Did they lack the wine of inspiration, or the oil of consecration, or the love which heals? More inspiration, more consecration, more love, more of the Christly spirit was what was needed; then the seeming human needs would be met in the direct ration in which these Godlike thoughts were put into practice.

Let us, then, stop accepting sense-testimony, and with clearer spiritual vision look out from our place of security, "the secret place of the most High," and the sunlight of Truth will reveal the "crumbs of comfort from Christ's table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty" (Science and Health, p. 234). The spiritual ideas will unfold, just as the petals of a rose unfold in the genial warmth of the sun's rays; and then no storm of error will chill or rob us of our spiritual supply, which in turn will meet our human needs.

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