Divine Mind—unbounded, intelligent, omnipresent—tenderly cares for us. Armed with this divine fact, we’re equipped to face and outface the impact of financial limitations.
As a result of the global economic situation, many people are reconfiguring their expectations about careers, homes, families. Smaller incomes may result in smaller thinking. This gets expressed through smaller goals and ambitions, leading to a smaller capacity for giving to others. One way to turn this around is to challenge that “smaller thinking.”
Central to this prayer is keeping our thought spiritually based and expanding our spiritual understanding of affluence. As the expression, or idea, of divine Mind, each of us includes remarkable creativity, insightful intelligence, deep wisdom, and practicality.
All these qualities can help us find deeply satisfying purpose and sufficient income, whatever our circumstances or background.
We are never locked in to dead-end pathways. The liberty that is characterized by intelligence and creativity is the affluence of Mind expressed. Such affluence is maintained through endless good ideas, which come to all from Mind. They do not belong to some and not to others. They are not more powerful in some countries or cultures than in others. They are not subject to family status or educational opportunities. They exist because Mind is the eternal source of all ideas.
Ideas from divine Mind bring hope and promise. Being more hopeful, we are more likely to launch out into new territories of thought and experience. We turn away from limited backwaters to freer travel along untried highways.
On the other hand, shrinking economies or fluctuating income—or even no apparent income—may stem from narrow thinking. If these conditions seem like permanent fixtures in our lives, we can rebuff this seeming permanency with trenchant spiritual facts. We can persistently acknowledge that Mind is affluent with big ideas that do meet our needs.
Take the idea of “divine purpose” for example. Each of us has a divinely bestowed purpose that transcends human circumstances. As we understand this, we do more than simply contemplate divine purpose as a distant concept. Instead, we treasure it as a spiritual fact that characterizes our being right now. This conscious claiming of our spiritual inheritance opens the door to progress.
The more we let thought be enriched by fresh spiritual concepts, the more prosperous we feel. This is because Mind-inspired thoughts, such as divine purpose, are infinite. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis” (p. 258).
How much better to attend to this infinite idea developing itself in consciousness than to focus on limitations—our own or the economy’s—that leave us feeling stifled and unprogressive. With nourishing imagery we read in Isaiah, “Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?” (29:17). The ideas imparted by Mind go on developing unendingly.
We don’t have to dig around in small mortal concepts, trying to make them into bigger, more fruitful ideas. Mortal concepts can never become fruitful because they don’t come from God. So our desire for better human circumstances is not blessed through focus on material circumstances. Instead, we need to turn away from them to the allness of Mind.
Divine law, Principle, ensures that each of us, as God’s offspring, is right now fully and purposefully employed. We are able to express the abundance and intelligence of His nature. Eddy writes, “Absolute certainty in the practice of divine metaphysics constitutes its utility, since it has a divine and demonstrable Principle and rule …” (Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 2). Knowing this, we can resist micromanaging the human situation and safely leave the field to God.
The more we let thought be enriched by fresh spiritual concepts, the more prosperous we feel. This is because Mind-inspired thoughts, such as divine purpose, are infinite.
An example of God’s care for us is given in the Bible’s account of how the prophet Elisha helped a woman who had to pay a large debt (see II Kings 4:1–7). He asked her what resources she already had, and she answered “a pot of oil.” Following Elisha’s instructions, her two sons went about the neighborhood borrowing vessels, which we might assume were all different shapes and sizes. The woman stayed at home, focusing on pouring oil into each vessel. Her pot of oil was sufficient to fill all of them. She then sold the oil to get the money she needed.
To me, it’s significant that the oil filled each vessel no matter what its shape or size. If we take this as an indication of how Mind’s ideas can fill every cavity of lack in our lives—whether it’s lack of supply or purposeful employment, or of intelligent application—we can see that the exact shape or size of the problem is no challenge to the allness of Mind. By its own infinite nature, Mind is well able to meet every need. Talking about Christ, or the divine qualities in Mind, Eddy wrote in a poem, “Fill us today / With all thou art” (Poems, p. 29). What a beautiful prayer—to be so openhearted that we welcome into consciousness all the Christly ideas in Mind and let them fill us to the brim!
Step by step these ideas expand in consciousness, and our confidence in God’s uninterruptible goodness grows. We find the utility of turning to Mind as the source of all ideas, including resources and intelligence. If we feel even some evidence of Mind’s presence, we can acknowledge that this is evidence of the totality of divine Mind with us right at that moment.
Through a work experience, I learned the importance of letting go of small, apprehensive, and unimaginative thinking, and allowing Mind’s idea to expand itself. It started with some humble steps to help a young student I was teaching.
I had a class of 11-year-olds, where one student, let’s call him Stephen, struggled with reading and writing. Turning to divine Mind for inspiration so I’d have some fresh teaching ideas, I responded to his need with creative and professional strategies. But more significant, I prayed. I often thought about Stephen’s innate ability to express infinite intelligence. This ability was given by God to each of His offspring. Instead of a paucity of intelligence, nothing could impede
Stephen’s ability to respond, because infinite Mind is the source of all ideas.
Another relevant divine fact I considered was that this Mind constituted his true consciousness. Day by day I enjoyed watching Stephen increasingly achieve his learning goals. Both he and I were delighted to see him happier and more successful.
This experience made me think of the variously shaped vessels brought to the woman with her pot of oil. The need for academic achievement and for enjoyment at school were like two differently shaped vessels, and both needs were met by the one Mind. Divine Mind is ever expanding to fill apparent voids just as oil assumes the shape of the vessel it’s poured into.
During this time I had the opportunity to apply for a senior position in the central office of the education system in which I was employed. The work included advising schools and individual teachers on ways to improve students’ literacy and mathematical progress. It also involved meeting with officers across the country to forward national policy development in this area.
The work was very appealing, but it was also demanding. I was uncertain whether I had the ability to succeed in this area. “Small thinking” about just staying in my current job tempted me.
As I remembered the story of the woman pouring the oil, it occurred to me that this new job opportunity was just like her being presented with yet another differently shaped vessel, maybe one larger than some she had already filled with oil. I recalled that Mind was not aware of
Stephen’s need for intelligent ideas as separate from my need—just as the oil was not aware of the different vessels it was filling. I stopped thinking that “my problem” was somehow different or more difficult than his. The same spiritual truths I had been affirming for Stephen applied to me, too.
Furthermore, Mind was not even aware of the challenges facing Stephen or me. Mind was just being All, and is always supremely affluent. Inspired by these divine facts, I applied for the position. In due course I was appointed to the job. Meeting the challenges that followed was a highlight of my career in education.
Small thinking, which claims limited intelligence or career opportunities, restrictive national economies, or some other limitation, needs to be removed from thought. Bigger thinking is the demand, and this comes as we understand ourselves as the infinite idea of God, Mind.
We can do more than acknowledge this truth—we can cherish it! As we find that this Mind constitutes our true consciousness, we see and know that today magnifies everyone’s spiritual affluence, whoever and wherever we are.
