If your favorite federal program just got the ax

. . . there is still time to act. funds or services you've been counting on may be about to dry up. But there are steps you can take that will assure you of all you need.

We're not talking about writing your Congressman. We're not taking a political position against (or for) budget cuts.

The action we are talking about is prayerful. Prayer, rooted in spiritual understanding, can have a marked effect in an individual's private life as well as on the social and political scene.

One thing to get clear is, God is governing. He is supreme Principle -- the Principle of man, of government, of the universe itself. This Principle orchestrates all good. As we understand and practice it in our lives, divine Principle, in effect, places the supply where the need is.

This same Principle, the governing force to which we are subject, is also the generating source by which we are supplied. That is, God has laws that are spiritual, and God meets needs that are human. It might be hard to find a statement that better explains the application of spiritual truths to everyday living than this one: "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever- present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment." n1 It's by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science. This Science shows how divine Principle, Love, meets the human need.

n1 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 307.

But our aim here isn't to sidestep the need for intelligent decisions by the Congress, Cabinet, and President. It's to see how you and I can help underpin that decision-making with wisdom derived from God Himself. We can do it as we prayerfully affirm the supremacy of divine Principle that is God, that is Love, that is caring for everyone and in reality providing for every need. We can do it as we grasp that God is the one and only source of wisdom, of good, of all sustaining and nourishing ideas. We can do it as we realize that man is actually not physical but spiritual -- the spiritual idea of Love, Principle, Mind. We can do it as we understand that according to divine law, supply always meets demand. With that kind of spiritual underpinning from concerned citizens, those decisions are more likely to bless and benefit everyone they touch.

Getting tax money from the mouth of a fish and feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread are just two examples from Christ Jesus' life. Examples that give us big clues about the unlimited nature of God's supply. And the tangiblem way He meets our needs. Jesus didn't merely get an assuring angel message that all would be well. He got money to pay taxes. He got bread to feed people. It wasn't that Spirit, God, produced its opposite, matter -- a coin in one instance, more loaves in another. Spiritual truths were understood. Truths like "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." When we really understand and prove that, the result is a thorough solution in anybody's terms.

If your favorite federal program just got the ax, the need it met can still be taken care of in some way. I found this out myself a few years back. I was working at a theater in California that relied on state funding. The Proposition 13 passed, and our budget was slashed.For me, it was a time to choose: I could get cranky and complain, or I could turn to God as the source of all good and seek guidance. I could get a better grip on the supremacy of divine Principle. I chose the latter. Before long I was working elsewhere in a situation that was better for me in every way. The experience turned out to be a step forward instead of the setback it might have been.

There's really no limit to the good that God bestows on us. The Psalmist asked the question, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" n2 Mrs. Eddy answers it, fittingly, with her own rhetorical question, "What cannot God do?" n 3

n2 Psalms 78:19;

n3 Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 135.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful . . . . Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Isa iah 9:6, 7