To most young people it is a significant event to leave the parental home to make their way in the world. This first leaving of home should be a joyful, peaceful experience involving a natural shifting of scenes and associations. Sometimes, however, the uprooting of years of close family ties brings loneliness, fear, unexpected adjustments. It may seem to those who are on their own for the first time that the security and protection of home are far behind, and a longing to return to the comfort and security of home may seem overpowering.

Many young people facing this experience have found comfort and healing in the teachings of Christian Science. Through these teachings they learn that the real man, the reflection of God, never leaves home, because true home is where God is, and God is everywhere.

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," its author, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (p. 254), "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God." And on page 587 of this textbook, "heaven" is defined as, "Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul."

Home, therefore, is wherever there are Christlike thoughts and actions expressing harmony, love, comfort, abundance, joy, peace. Since these qualities proceed from God, good, they must be everywhere. Home is not a place which we may seem to have left, but is our consciousness of harmony, with us wherever we are.

Christian Science teaches that security, safety, and protection are as ever present as God, divine Love. God, good, is All-in-all; therefore in Him there is no harm, evil, or danger to threaten us. If we confidently trust in the presence and power of good, evil influences and suggestions which would confuse us and fears of imagined or imminent dangers which would disturb us will be proved nonexistent and powerless.

We do not need to depend upon another to know the truth for us or to give us advice or direction. We do, however, need to know unfalteringly that divine Love, omnipotent good, is present with us and rest in the truth that in God "we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28), His arms are ever encircling us. We can never go in any direction away from His ever-present power and guidance.

Christian Science also teaches that spiritual ideas are substance and that their source is infinite Spirit, God, who cannot be impoverished or depleted. These spiritual ideas supply our daily needs tangibly and in the way most beneficial. This supply, being entirely spiritual, cannot be curtailed through the interruption of human channels, such as an allowance, income from a position, or money from home.

The writer remembers with gratitude her first experience on her own away from home, because it proved to her that the teachings she had learned in the Christian Science Sunday School were true and practical. After working for a short while upon graduating from high school, she took her savings and went to a distant city to seek employment in a desired career.

As she strove, without success, to find the desired employment, her savings dwindled almost to nothing. Weekly allotments, which she had expected, did not come. She was far from the comfort and help of family and friends. She realized, however, that human help and advice would not permanently solve the problem.

She spent many hours in a Christian Science Reading Room, gaining a clearer concept of man as the perfect idea of God, always reflecting all good. Statements of truth which she had learned in Sunday School and which up until then had seemed mere platitudes became meaningful and practical.

As a result of her prayerful work, daily needs were met in almost unbelievable ways. Food was sent from friends who knew nothing of her plight. Her small room seemed no longer lonely, but beautiful and expansive as she realized there was no limit to the angel thoughts from God present with her. Overwhelming fear was conquered by her realization of the ever-presence of divine Love.

One day, through humble self-searching, she saw that the motive which had brought her to that city had not been prayerful seeking to do God's will but self-will and mere human ambition. The right way now, she realized, would be to go back home and await divine direction. To material sense, however, the situation seemed hopeless. The few dollars remaining were not sufficient to pay another week's rent, let alone the long journey back across the continent.

As she turned to God for direction, the thought came, "Get ready to go." The writer felt she was perfectly ready and willing. But another thought came: "No, you are not completely ready. Your bags are not packed."

Humbly desiring to be obedient and to follow God all the way, she packed her bags, even though there was in sight no provision for the journey. Then she realized that she had enough money to buy a bus ticket to a city which was on the direct route home and in which her grandparents lived. She took the bus, and after visiting them a short while, she received a small amount of money, enabling her to journey a little farther to more relatives and friends.

So each step of the journey back was completed in a similar manner, and none of the relatives or friends she visited were aware of her financial situation. The day she arrived home, the long-delayed allotment checks also arrived. The next day she obtained employment in a position which marked the beginning of a continuous chain of blessings in worthwhile employment, education, personal associations, and spiritual growth.

No matter what circumstances may be included in our first experience away from home, we have the absolute assurance of God's guidance, comfort, and care. Mrs. Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 152), "Into His haven of Soul there enters no element of earth to cast out angels, to silence the right intuition which guides you safely home."