No Greater Miracle

JAMAE WOLFRAM RICHARDSON

Because of his close and constant walk with God and unwavering fidelity to Him, Abraham was called in Scripture "the Friend of God."^{James 2:23;} Most of us fall far short of an example like that. But God still cares for us. "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me,"^{Isa. 45:5;} we read in Isaiah. And as we grow in the understanding and security of His love, we become better friends to ourselves and to others. We learn to love more nearly as God loves, and to be unhurt by lack of response or unjust rebuke.

Friendships may seem to bring pain as well as joy. Christ Jesus addressed his disciples as friends. Clearly, he loved them, yearned over them, forgave them. Yet that friendship did not protect him from treachery and betrayal, nor did it offer him much support in his darkest hour. His turning, in Gethsemane, from the material to the spiritual was the prelude to his victory on Calvary. He had to relinquish human yearnings, which can be crucified. We must do this, too. Mrs. Eddy asks in Science and Health, "Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank?" And she continues: "Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth. Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for 'man's extremity is God's opportunity.'"^{Science and Health, p. 266;}

It's clear from her writings that Mrs. Eddy valued friendship, yet she saw a false sense of it as an obstacle to spiritual progress. She endeavored to put Principle ahead of person, and this brought her years of apparent loneliness, frequent betrayal, and condemnation.

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