II Kings 4: 1-7: Elisha and the widow with pots of oil to pay her debt (Lesson citation #2)

OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration. (S & H, p. 592)

VESSELS – persons who are to receive the effects of God’s mercy, or future happiness and glory; ministers of the gospel as appointed to bear the glad news of salvation to others. POT – a vessel. (1828 Webster’s Dictionary)

“Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.” (S & H, p. 3)

As heavenly inspiration is received through study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings, the angel messages that flood in, inevitably including the realization of, and gratitude for many blessings already received, fill one’s pot/vessel [consciousness] full with the oil of charity that can never be depleted. In fact, we are always surrounded by legions of angels, and more blessings than we accept (S & H, p. 2: 26). All we have to do is realize this truth and claim the blessing, which is to be ready to share our oil with our “neighbors” who may be in need. “Right at our very door there may be not a few vessels of sadness, sickness, and sin waiting to be filled, – burdened hearts with a heavier load than our own to carry; and these must be made ready for what we have to offer. Into them we can then pour from our unbounded supply of ‘consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration;’ thus bringing to some one the sunlight of a new hope, and enabling the weary to touch the hem of Christ’s garment.” (CSJ, “A Pot of Oil” by Charles Wing Bennett, July 1914).

In an inspiring testimony of a Christian Science couple who were on a plane that slid into Boston Harbor due to an icy runway, the testifier points out our need “to be filled up full with inspiration from God” at all times. Because she had studied the Bible Lesson all week, and again on the plane prior to the crash into the water, her consciousness was “filled up full,” and she was thus able to witness, and experience herself, a “lack of fear, and the love and care passengers had for their fellow travelers.” During the interviews with FAA authorities after everyone was safe, the man in charge noted that “he had never before talked to a group of people, every one of whom told the same story of calm and ‘no trauma.’” (CSJ, June 1983)

“Only as we endeavor to live, and strive to practice what it teaches, can we begin to pay our debt to God, and to her whom He sent to make plain to human understanding the life and teaching of Christ Jesus. – W.H.P., Boston Mass.” (S & H, p. 677)