The word "definition" becomes pregnant with far-reaching significance to those who study Christian Science with the consecrated desire to know the truth which shall make them free. With this end in view, it is an important factor toward progress to define what giving really means. What a multitude of channels present themselves to all who delight in sharing with the poor and needy the banquet which is the reward of an earnest, selfless effort to find the truth declared and demonstrated by Christ Jesus!
To those who are ignorant of the true sense of giving, there eventually come many disturbing experiences until each lesson is learned, some time, some way, before the grand ultimate of participation in the beatitudes can be attained. Many kindly folk are said to be "born in giving weather;" yet in Christian Science we soon learn that though "it is more blessed to give than to receive," one's generosity needs to be tempered with judgment if the greatest good is the desired end, because improvident giving may be more harmful than withholding. True giving is really a mental bestowal, a spiritual benediction.
In working from the standpoint of Principle, we learn when and how to give and when to withhold. In the true sense of charity, which is love, withholding is not infrequently more truly generous than giving, because of an intuitive perception of our brother's deepest need. Mendicancy is largely encouraged by indiscriminate giving on the part of many to whom it is the simpler solution of a difficulty, and who, as they do not miss what they give, may not give in the metaphysical sense of helping to lift another's burden. A weak and mainly selfish parental affection often indulges a child to its hurt, and this through the parent's desire to give evanescent pleasure for his own gratification. It is rarely that much indulged children become factors for good in the national life, because self-denial and self-restraint are much needed and much neglected lessons during the adolescent stages of a young person's career. To withhold in some instances is to give richly in the higher sense—to bestow a blessing; for to withhold is often to check a desire which, if indulged, might lead to disaster; and to restrain a foolish impulse—however generous it may appear—is to thwart the seeming power of evil.
