"Loss is gain"

EDITH L. PERKINS

In his essay on "Compensation" Emerson has written: "We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let our angels go. We do not see that they only go out that archangels may come in." To one struggling with a sense of inconsolable and almost overwhelming personal loss these words once came with a measure of comfort, as it was felt in a vague way that they must be true, and that at some future time God would reveal the blessing at present unseen, though the sense of loss still seemed beyond the hope of reparation.

Later there came physical healing in Christian Science, and with a gleam of spiritual understanding accompanying it, the above quoted sentences were illumined by the words of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, who assures us that "God is good, and loss is gain" (Poems, p. 4). Then was it seen that blessings are not in a dim, uncertain future, but are a present reality, and the sense of loss is due to a false sense of separation from God, good; for in the light of Christian Science His love and tenderness stand out as qualities never failing, but always present to bless and cheer and comfort,—Christian Science revealing the motherhood as well as the fatherhood of God.

In the Christian Science textbook Mrs. Eddy writes: "My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. ... By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain 'angels unawares'" (Science and Health, p. 299). So in the entertaining of thoughts from God, thoughts of Truth and Love, we behold the "angel of his presence," bringing us the sweet assurance that because we are never separated from God, we are never separated from His ideas.

As we realize more fully, through happy obedience to the loving demands of our Father-Mother God, the ever presence of divine Love, our thought goes out in gratitude to the one who, through her hunger to know God aright and her consecration in seeking Him, brought the truth to a world bowed down by sin, sickness, and sorrow, shedding its light upon the darkness of materiality, wherein darkness vanishes and spiritual reality appears.

May our consecration to God ever deepen, and our obedience to Him be made manifest in the bringing forth of the fruits of the Spirit. So shall we become better fitted to declare the truth to those waiting for the word of our Father-Mother God, and ready to receive His tender messages. Then shall we rejoice in a clearer and sweeter understanding of our Leader's words on page 19 of her Message to The Mother Church for 1902: "Are earth's pleasures, its ties and its treasures, taken away from you? It is divine Love that doeth it, and sayeth, 'Ye have need of all these things.'" Surely does this understanding reveal that such loss is gain!

The promise of the Master is fulfilled: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." Through the illumination of spiritual understanding gained from the sacred revelations of Christian Science we see that our angels "only go out that archangels may come in," and know indeed that as we part with a finite sense of happiness there comes to us the ineffable joy of a conscious knowledge of God, our Father-Mother, in whom there is no sorrow, no separation,—in whom "we live, and move, and have our being."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit