“Enough is a lot!”

Some time ago I read a charming story that makes me smile every time I think of it.

It’s about a little boy who went shopping with his mother. She was being very careful with her money, buying only what was absolutely necessary. As they strolled through the store, the little boy saw many interesting items. He asked his mom again and again if they could buy something. Invariably, she told him, “We can’t afford it.” The boy persisted. Finally, he came upon something that looked reasonably inexpensive and tried one more time. His mom checked the price tag and said, “Well, I think we have enough.” He looked at her and said, “Mom, enough is a lot!”

What that little boy expressed was more than just a cute sentiment. It was actually pretty wise. Enough is a lot. It gives us a lot to be grateful for. But how does one celebrate “enough” when the global economy is in serious trouble? When it seems that people have basic needs that are not being met. Homeowners continue to face foreclosure, and many people have lost their savings. Businesses are struggling to avoid bankruptcy and are laying off thousands of employees.

In a recent Town Hall meeting where the President of the United States was taking questions, a woman asked if he could help her. She revealed that she was living in her car. Can there really be a way out when things seem this dire?

Whenever I’m in trouble, financial or otherwise, I think about God. I pray. Might that sound impractical? Some might think so, but long ago I learned the practicality of leaning on God’s power. He brought me out of more than one financial difficulty. Over the years, anxious ruminating over financial choices has been replaced by a more confident leaning on God for answers.

I’ve learned that God is more than loving by nature. He is Love. God deeply loves His offspring. He provides for us and shows us the way out of problems, no matter how complicated they may seem. God, Love, is not standing at a distance, watching us struggle. He is here. And anyone can turn to Him for help and guidance. God is not static or inactive. The living, loving God communicates to us in unique ways.

God reaches our thoughts through the Christ. Christ is the very action of God, the power of His presence. In her life-changing book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy explained: “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.” Christ is the force of God revealing healing ideas to individuals. It’s a continuous spiritual influence apparent in thought as spiritual intuition, insight, understanding.

What does one have to do to become aware of God “voicing good”? I’ve found that this awareness requires listening, sincerity, and humility. Christ activates my thought to put off worry and fear, preparing me for hearing just what is needed. Christ infuses my thought with meekness and receptivity. Christ operates continuously. It reaches consciousness in just the way it can be understood. Sometimes with thunderous impact. At other times, as a persistent whisper. No matter where one is, what one is doing, the Christ is the irresistible, unopposable, unstoppable, force of divine Love. It compels attention. It is God’s presence made known.

Many years ago, I was comforted and encouraged by this kind of message.

My husband and I were ready to move into a new, but not quite finished, home. We were building it ourselves on a “pay as you go” system. It was imperative that we sell our old house so that remaining bills could be paid. Everything needed to dovetail so that our finances would stay on track. After we’d put our old house up for sale, we were told there was a lull in the market and it might take some time to sell. I began to worry.

One day, as I pushed a vacuum cleaner back and forth over the living room rug, I reached out to God for help. I don’t recall any specific thoughts I prayed with, but I felt a strong, heartfelt yearning. In the midst of the drone of the vacuum, I became aware of this idea from Science and Health: “. . . our lives must be governed by reality in order to be in harmony with God . . . .”

I stopped. I was startled. I had not been thinking of this idea at all. In fact, I’m not sure I was particularly familiar with it. I shut off the vacuum and stood still in the middle of the living room, thinking deeply about this message. It certainly was God “voicing good”—the Christ speaking to me. Suddenly, it became clear. To be in harmony with God, governed by true reality, I needed to accept that there could be no obstacle to the activity my husband and I were involved in. This move had been motivated by a right desire to follow God’s direction. And I knew the reality of God is harmony. It is His law.

The impact of these few quiet moments impelled me to get ready to pack. I called my husband at work and asked him to bring home some boxes. The next day, as I was busy filling some of them, a woman stopped by and asked to look at the house. She was very interested and ended up buying it within the week. The offer she made was enough to take care of the remaining expenses for our new home.

My housing problem was not, of course, as dire as what the woman living in her car had to face—or what many others might be facing in our current economy. But what happened to me that momentous day illustrated a fundamental spiritual fact. No matter the circumstances one finds oneself in, every person has access to God’s messages, moment by moment. Because we are inseparable from the “divine Principle of all being,” just as sunlight is to the sun, we are never left without help.

At this challenging time, many good men and women are working very hard to help solve this economic crisis. We can assist through earnest prayer.

A passage Mary Baker Eddy wrote fills these prayers with expectancy: “May our Father-Mother God, who in times past hath spread for us a table in the wilderness and ‘in the midst of our enemies,’ establish us in the most holy faith, plant our feet firmly on Truth, the rock of Christ, the ‘substance of things hoped for’ — and fill us with the life and understanding of God, and good will towards men” (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 15).

“The rock of Christ” is here. And that is enough.

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