The problem of demand and supply sometimes presents a dismal picture on this material stage of existence, and many view it with fear and foreboding. But just as a motion picture operator can change the picture on the screen by replacing an unsatisfactory film with a more excellent one, so an unfavorable economic outlook can be changed by the replacing of thoughts of fear with spiritual thoughts which reflect divine Mind. Today, many grateful individuals are bearing witness to the fact that the understanding of Christian Science has enabled them to replace scarcity with plenty, limitation with abundance of opportunity, and unemployment with useful occupation.
God knows naught of lack, for He is self-sustained. He is the only cause and creator, and His inexhaustible being is unceasingly providing for the sustenance, perpetuity, and continuity of the universe, including man. An acknowledgment of this fact reassures hope and increases our faith in God's ability and power to supply all good. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 307) Mary Baker Eddy has written, "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." The basic need, then, is not for material things, but for the understanding of Truth which enables us to apprehend God's spiritual ideas.
To apprehend means "to lay hold of with the understanding." Only inspired thought really understands; the so-called material senses merely believe, and limit all things by their own finite concepts. Hence, as we abandon belief in material sense, and exercise spiritual sense, we come to know God and perceive His ideas. This spiritualization of thought, which is prayer, brings us into harmony with reality, wherein good is the only presence.
