THAT individual effort is helpless in the face of a collective problem is an utter falsity, no matter how imposing the problem appears. Such a belief presented itself to the disciples when they were called on to feed the five thousand. Misled by the physical senses, Andrew demurred, saying to the Master (John 6:9), "There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" Christ Jesus thereupon proved that individual understanding of divine power is more than adequate to meet a collective need. Giving thanks, he directed the disciples to distribute the loaves and fishes to the seated multitude. After everyone was filled, twelve baskets of fragments were gathered up.
The Scriptures contain many other accounts of individual demonstrations of divine power, even when the odds to human sense seemed insurmountable. Mary Baker Eddy relates an instance of such individual spiritual power in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she says (p. 200), "Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind." When Christian Science is applied, whether by one individual or many, the power of God is evidenced in human experience.
Sometimes a financial problem has to be taken to a business meeting of church members. Each individual member is free to start at once to solve it. He need not wait upon a meeting of the church or its board, but can, wherever he may be, realize and affirm the truth which meets the problem. It is evident, as a rule, that the immediate need is not so much one of supply as of unity of thought and understanding. How many times have we heard, or even voiced, a lament because of the difficulty in reconciling differing viewpoints. One group of members thinks the financial need should be met in one way; another group advocates quite a different plan.
