A prayer for solutions

When I was in college, my roommate and I found ourselves totally out of food with no money in either of our bank accounts. I was really praying for help, because I was afraid; I had no idea how this would get resolved. But the one thing that I did feel certain of was that God provides. Period.

And that’s exactly what happened. Unexpectedly, my roommate’s mother appeared at our door with two armfuls of groceries. We were dumbfounded and asked, “How did you know?”

“I didn’t know,” she said. “I was just in the grocery store when I suddenly thought, ‘I’m going to buy food for the girls.’” What she brought was more than enough to tide us over until the next check arrived.

And for me, as a relatively new student of Christian Science, this was evidence of a spiritual law of good I was learning about that is always in operation, a law that I have since seen bring solutions to light in a similar way in far tougher situations of need.

This law of good is something I’ve been thinking about in light of the uncertainty in the world today. My heart goes out to all who are looking for solutions. I yearn to feel that there are answers that will help everyone.

I’ve taken comfort from Jesus’ words, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), as well as a passage from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, which to me seems correlated: “As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible” (p. 264).

I can see in both of these statements a promise to help meet the present need. Possible solutions could emerge – “become visible” – even where answers have not been apparent. How? By gaining “more correct views of God and man.”

What exactly is a correct view of God and man? Well, for one thing, the Bible reveals God as all-powerful Love, which is ever present. And each of us is the very much cherished child of God. That means infinite Love is with all of us. Furthermore, this Love is expressed in all of us, at every moment. This spiritual reality assures us that we can expect to be cared for in situations of all kinds.

The basis for this understanding lies in the fact that God’s creation is already intact, including abundant provision. So it isn’t that God has to conjure something up to meet our need, but that as we understand more clearly this infinite nature of God, we see the impossibility of God’s spiritual offspring ever lacking anything. And solutions start to appear.

No one perceived this more clearly than Jesus Christ, whose exquisitely correct view of God, and of each of us as dearly loved by God, allowed him to see solutions where no one else could. In one instance, Jesus was teaching and preaching to a crowd of thousands out in a remote desolate area (see Luke 9:11-17). His disciples, realizing the people had been there for hours and were hungry, suggested that Jesus send the crowd to villages to buy food.

But Jesus, knowing God’s goodness is always present everywhere, took the food they had on hand – five loaves of bread and two fish – and blessed it, and then instructed his disciples to hand out food to all. And it turned out there was more than enough for everyone. Jesus’ understanding of God allowed what was invisible – supply for all – to become visible.

This example of seeing a solution emerge in a moment of need can be viewed as the operation of that spiritual law of good, evidencing God’s constant care for each of us as His children. As we prayerfully acknowledge and accept that this law is operating today just as it did in Jesus’ time, it becomes natural to expect to see evidence of the same law bringing to light solutions to wider issues we care about in the world.

God’s law is always in operation. Our job is to shift our focus from what might seem like a no-win situation to an expectation that the answers we need already exist. We’re all capable of seeing this God-created reality become more tangible. The divine Love that met the needs of thousands of hungry people in Jesus’ time is the same Love that’s present today. Its power to reveal blessings for each one of us has been proven and can be proven again, step by step.