Green Beans and Pie
THE distribution of good in the world seems to be such an unbalanced thing. With alarming statistics of mass starvation, famine, and drought, we may wonder if there will ever be equitable distribution for all. Will there ever be a time when all mankind can give thanks together?
One Thanksgiving, I had been praying about people who were suffering from mass starvation. Tons of food and supplies were being sent to these people, yet they were not receiving them. Improved methods of distribution were clearly needed.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us in her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ``Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." For me, God, divine Love, was certainly the key source of ideas for improving distribution.
A hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal begins by urging us, ``Make channels for the streams of Love," and includes the promise that God will fill them to overflowing. I remembered that as children we would dig a ``lake" in the sand and fill it full of water. As I would pull my hand through the sand to make a channel for a new little river, I would notice that the water didn't wait back in the lake for some specified period of time. It followed immediately along with my hand, sometimes even hurrying in front of my digging!
Isn't this the nature of the streams of God's love! Unhesitating, instant, constant supply from an exhaustless source, filling to overflowing our every effort to move Godward, Spiritward.
When we are making channels for the streams of Love, and our sole purpose is to deepen our understanding and awareness of God's presence, there is no holding back of God's provision. In his Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew's Gospel, Christ Jesus tells us about the kind of thinking we should be doing. Because man is the very expression of God, and because God is all good, as we conform our lives to His likeness, we begin to see tangible results. Opening the channels of my own thought to God's abundan ce for all mankind brought ample proof of His love into my family's experience that particular year. When we returned home from the Thanksgiving Day service at our church, we found that the turkey had burned up in the oven! We called our friends and they decided we should all be together for the day anyway, even though we'd only have green beans and pie for Thanksgiving dinner! We kept open the corridors of gratitude, joy, and expectancy of good.
For the next hour I prayed to understand more clearly than ever before, that God's law of supply includes a right distribution of good for all people, everywhere. At that moment, a neighbor's child knocked on our door and asked to borrow some butter. When she saw the smoke-filled house, she asked what had happened, so we told her. She also asked what we were going to give our guests for dinner, and we told her: green beans and pie.
Just a few minutes before our guests were due, I looked out the kitchen window. There were four little girls, marching like a small parade through our backyard. One carried a turkey on a platter, and the other three followed with side dishes. Our entire Thanksgiving dinner was supplied by these kind neighbors!
God loves us dearly! When we are praying for others and striving to help the world, we find we are blessed, too! After all, the book of Job tells us ``The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends." This Thanksgiving, let's pray for our friends all around the world--those we know, and those we don't. And let's make an effort to understand more clearly how God finds each one worthy of His love and tenderly supplies every need. The world will be blessed, and so will we!
