“Channels come and channels go. Blessed be the name of the channel!”
~ Rev. Dr. Mary A. Tumpkin
From where does your supply come? Confusion between source and channel, cause and effect, is a common occurrence. Let’s begin by examining some possible answers to what supplies our good to see what makes sense.
- Employers – This is an almost automatic and natural response, since they sign our paychecks. For the self-employed, they would read “client” or “customer” rather than “employer.” In either case, it can certainly seem that employers supply our good. In reality, they do not generate supply. They obtain it from other sources and exchange it with us for the services we provide. It’s risky to view our jobs as our source since they are so fleeting. We’ll do better to recognize employment as just one channel through which our supply flows.
- Parents – For most of us, this was the first answer we might ever have given. Parents typically make sure their children have their needs met. Like employers, however, they do not create supply. They usually obtain it from employment and share it with their children. Eventually most will stop working, and the roles may be reversed, with the parents looking to their children for supply.
- Spouse/Partner – Our life partner may be the one who pays the bills or makes the majority of the household payments. Like our parents, in reality this money comes from other sources. Our spouse is not an original source of our supply, but one more channel.
- The Government – Those receiving disability, SSI, Social Security, or other government assistance may believe the government is their source. The money they receive comes through the government, not from it, having been collected from other sources such as tax revenues. They’re essentially getting their own money back again.
- Investments – Some people have enough investments in their name that they live on the earnings they received from a financial institution or other investors. As with those listed above, neither institutions nor investors generate supply. They channel it.
- Other Income – This could come in a variety of forms, such as royalties, tithes, interest, commission, winnings, or gifts. All of these make their way to us by passing through another channel.
- Children – Some seniors are blessed to have adult children who assist them by providing monetary support, housing, or other material goods. Parents of children with careers may live off of their children’s earnings. As we’ve already seen, this is another channel through which their supply comes.
- Money – In the end, it may seem as if money itself, regardless of how it makes its way to us, is our source. It can feel as if all we need is simply more money and our supply would be ours. Here we are confusing cause with effect. We cannot (legally) make money; we obtain it from one of the channels listed above.
All of these (and other similar streams you can think of) are really channels, and as Rev. Tumpkin reminds us, “channels come and channels go.” It’s critical to remember this, because the coming and going isn’t always in this order: sometimes channels go before new ones come. Have you noticed that? In times like those, we must remember not to give any power to the channel, which is the effect. When we look to any person, situation, entity, or channel as our supply, we limit ourselves and give away our power.
We need instead to turn and hold our attention to the cause or true creator of all supply, the Creator of all. To carry you forward, I offer these words from John Randolph Price’s The Abundance Book: “Money is not my supply. No person, place, or condition is my supply. My awareness, understanding and knowledge of the all-providing activity of the Divine Mind within me is my supply. My consciousness of this Truth is unlimited, therefore, my supply is unlimited.”