Article March 23, 1912 Issue

FATHERHOOD

EMMA V. RIDDLEBERGER

When the writer was searching in the old theology for a clearer and nearer sense of God, and the ability to realize more of the practical truth of Jesus' words as recorded in the gospels, she was greatly impressed one day by the behavior of a dear little girl of her acquaintance, the daughter of a minister of the town, who was known to many as cherishing a very strong affection for her father, almost to the exclusion of the other members of the family.

At one time the child's mother was obliged to go away for an indefinite length of time in order to care for a relative who needed her. On meeting this little girl during her mother's absence, the writer offered her sympathy, when the child lifted her eyes in wonder and quickly said, "But I have father!" The thought then came, How satisfying it would be if one could always know God as indeed our Father, and as the years passed, to grow more and more into the fulness of it.

This was realized in Christian Science, and in addition the thought that God is our Mother as well as our Father, waiting in tenderness and patience upon our slow steps toward Him. The fatherhood of God, as revealed by Christ Jesus, remained too long in the background of human consciousness, and we wonder how it could have been thus when humanity was all the while longing for the Father's house, the only safe shelter from the worries and woes of mortal sense. As we realize what it means to be the offspring of God, we should strive more and more to manifest this relationship in joyous obedience and in love for others.

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THE HARVEST OF LIGHT
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