Article February 2, 1974 Issue

The Joy of Belonging

LUCIEN P. CAILLE

You yearn to be in, to belong to and be accepted by a certain group of people. You believe that if you were one of them you would feel more loved and secure. To your dismay, however, you find that your having joined them results in something far short of your expectations. Human associations based only on a material sense of life and man are sometimes unstable and discordant. Christian Science can bring you a surer feeling of belonging, in which you will find the lasting love and protection you are seeking.

We gain this higher sense as we discern the spiritual fact that God is infinite Mind and man is God's idea dwelling in Mind. We read in Acts: "In him [God] we live, and move, and have our being."^{Acts 17:28;} Our yearning to be in is satisfied in proportion as we enlarge our understanding of God and clearly see our relationship to Him.

Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Man is the family name for all ideas,—the sons and daughters of God."^{Science and Health, p. 515;} A wonderful feeling of belonging unfolds to us when we realize that now we are the children of God.