The Shunammite woman must have had a strong spiritual sense to recognize the substance of Spirit (God) in Elisha. She was careful to provide him with all he needed as he passed through in his journeys. Yet, she had a weak sense of the Allness of God. When Elisha told her that she would have a son, she didn’t believe him. Here was a man of God, but her concept of God was personal. She didn’t grasp the complete perfection of God at work. Even after she had her son, she didn’t see his complete perfection as the image and likeness of God. As a result of her personal sense of her son, and of Elisha, she lost her son. Elisha had a much stronger sense of the perfection and completeness of God’s work and was able to raise her son.

To me, this lesson is profound. Everything we are and have is of God, and its substance is spiritual; therefore permanent. If we give our children to God, have no personal sense of creation or ownership, we are seeing and doing for them correctly. The same is true of our homes, our businesses, our friendships, and everything else in our experience. When we recognize the permanence of Spirit as the source of everything we have, we can never lose it. Why? Because we are then seeing the true substance of it, and acknowledging God as its source. It is only when we have a personal sense of ownership, and a human or material sense of its substance, that we live in fear of losing what we treasure. What God gives can never be lost. My prayer is to never forget it!