I took some coins from my purse. As I chose one, I stopped to look at it. Here was this piece of metal, struck in some mint unknown to me, circulated for years, and held briefly in my hand. How many hands had it passed through? What effect had it exercised on the thoughts and lives of its multitude of owners? What made it circulate? Not the hand which held it, but the thought which moved the hand. It was a thing of value, even if small. A child could buy a candy bar with it. A woman could pay a bus fare with it. It had governmental authority behind its value. It had energy and motive behind its circulation.
In my handbag was a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel. On my table at home were The Christian Science Journal, some issues of The Herald of Christian Science in various languages, and The Christian Science Monitor. I was circulating the coin which I held in my hand because I knew very well what I meant to do with it and what it would do for me. It made me wonder whether I helped the circulation of the Christian Science periodicals with the same definite awareness of purpose.
Responsibility for publication of these periodicals lies with The Christian Science Publishing Society. But where does the responsibility for their circulation lie? Not only with church committees assigned to such work, but with the individual church member. We well know that we should increase the circulation of our periodicals, both through their purchase and through their distribution. If one were stranded in some bleak place and a copy of one of these magazines came to his hand, how eagerly he would seize upon it! Many in the world around us believe that they are stranded in bleak places. We have something to pass to them, if we feel sufficiently impelled to do so.
