RELATIONSHIPS January 2, 2006 Issue

KEEP ON LOVING, NO MATTER WHAT

LAURA BLATZ

THE MUSIC POURING OUT of my car radio made me want to dance. The violins were singing joyfully. The triangles were tinkling merrily. Even the tuba was oompahing with gusto. And I was toe-tapping and finger-thrumming as I drove across vast stretches of South Dakota. The musicians' obvious love of their job flowed out along with the notes, and it lifted my spirits on that long trip.

Reveling in that exhilarating expression of life and love, I was reminded of a spiritual journey I had taken at an earlier time in my life when joy seemed to have been ripped from me. My two daughters were respectively just ten months and barely three years old when my husband announced he didn't want to be married any longer, and moved out. I was devastated, and felt my entire world had come to an end.

I had, however, been learning through my study of Christian Science that consciously acknowledging God's presence and trying conscientiously to see and express His qualities have a healing effect. It is natural for every man, woman, and child to abundantly express spiritual qualities such as peace, happiness, and wholeness. Yet these were the very qualities I felt I was losing when my marriage fell apart.