Editorial November 26, 1984 Issue

Divine Love and family affection

BARBARA-JEAN STINSON

Christian Science offers a unique but practical way of bringing more peace, freedom, and love to family members. It shows us where our actual "relatedness" really lies by helping us understand our true origin. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin." ^{Science and Health, p. 262.} When we discover the true origin of man, we're led to see ourselves and our family members with a healing perspective that blesses these relationships and heals discord.

Through the revelation of Christian Science, we learn that God, divine Spirit, divine Love, is the actual and only creator of man. Each one of us is in truth the spiritual idea, or expression, of God. God is the one Father-Mother of us all. The spiritual understanding of our true and unchangeable relationship to God gives us a basis from which we can pray and work to establish happier family relationships.

For instance, we read in Mrs. Eddy's book Miscellaneous Writings, "God is our Father and our Mother, our Minister and the great Physician: He is man's only real relative on earth and in heaven." ^{Mis., p. 151.} In God's kingdom (the only reality) our actual relatedness has nothing to do with mortal background. Rather it is the spiritual fact that as man, God's idea, we each have the same immortal "background" or origin in Spirit. Mrs. Eddy explains, "Man is the family name for all ideas,—the sons and daughters of God." ^{Science and Health, p. 515.}