Article November 25, 2019 Issue

Building harmonious relationships

Elizabeth Mata

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column, June 12, 2019.

It’s heartening to see how important community is to people in the midst of so much division and polarity around the world. One example that the May 20 Christian Science Monitor Daily pointed out was the very effective community support of an immigrant Honduran student “as he moved from starting school unable to speak English to graduating with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a great job.” And an article in the June 12 Monitor Daily points to the growing trend of group living as a way to find community.

Several different times in my life, I lived at the place where I worked. This was my local community, so to speak. Frankly, relationships were really hard sometimes. But I also found that harmony—which is so necessary in a healthy community—is possible, and that the unifying power of divine Spirit, God, is a powerful basis for building and maintaining harmonious relationships.

For a period of time in one living/working community, I was working directly with someone I found difficult to be around. I felt a little intimidated by this person and never felt as though I did things the “right way” around her. In this particular situation, our being from different countries and cultures seemed to aggravate the situation. I began to dread our time together.

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