"Love him more"!

MAY NORTON WILSON

A Young mother once came to a point where she did not know how to go on in her relation with her eight-year-old son. He was a loving little chap, but she felt that she did not understand him, and that they were growing apart. She turned to God for guidance; and to her astonishment, into her consciousness there came these words: "Love him more! Love him more!" And she had thought that no mother could love her child more than she loved hers!

Years have passed since this troubled mother turned for help to our Father-Mother God; and the study of Christian Science has taught her a deeper meaning of those words, "Love him more!" She has found they do not mean that the mother should love the child more in a human way, for this kind of love leads to bondage for both mother and child. It leads to a false sense of responsibility which persuades a mother that she is responsible for every act of her child. It leads to anxiety lest he do something wrong; so that gradually she comes to watch for wrong instead of right in her child.

To this student, "Love him more!" obeyed, leads to the perception of "the glorious liberty of the children of God." It means that we must understand our fellow man better by understanding the man that God made in His image and likeness, "the full representation of Mind" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 591). Since God's man is "the full representation of Mind," he is complete and perfect, not lacking in anything at any time; and no self-will, no fear, no hate, no jealousy or resentment, no misunderstanding, can harass or confuse him.

As a mother understands that into the realm of real love no thought of discord can ever enter, no fear ever be known, she realizes that unless mother-love is an understanding love, a reflection of the one divine Love, it is clouded with concern and anxiety, fearfulness and confusion, and the budding thought which comes under her care will not get its rightful spiritual nourishment. Many mothers are grateful for Mrs. Eddy's teaching, which is leading them to claim for themselves the rich heritage of God's ever present help, the "unselfed love" included, as Mrs. Eddy shows us on page 1 of Science and Health, in "the prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick."

"Love him more!" May we all strive for that understanding of the true man which will enable us to love all mankind better, and to carry into world of fear, hate, and suffering that light which shines forth to the troubled thought, reaching out as did that mother's thought so many years ago, and bringing it peace. There is a message for each one, as full of meaning as was that message, "Love him more!"

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