Article December 19, 1988 Issue

Who is responsible?

If God is our creator—our true Father and Mother—can't we trust Him to care for our loved ones?

Virginia T. Guffin

Sometimes people with hearts full of love feel so responsible for a spouse or a child or a parent or a friend that the burden becomes almost more than they can bear. It is certainly right to care and to help in ways that we should. But it takes wisdom to know whether we're really helping or interfering, as well intentioned as we may be.

Good intentions don't guarantee that we'll do the right thing. Praying daily for wisdom, for God's will to be done (which is not always what seems right to us), will help to free us from misguided motives. Mrs. Eddy writes, "A lack of wisdom betrays Truth into the hands of evil as effectually as does a subtle conspirator; the motive is not as wicked, but the result is as injurious."^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 128.}

Most of us would agree that it's better to teach a child to tie his shoes than it is to continue to do it for him after he's old enough to assume that responsibility. But we might still feel duty-bound to point out to older youngsters or even adult friends and relatives what we think they should be doing. And then we may fret if they don't do it, or we may even try to do it for them. Yet worrying about whether another will be able to handle the next step along the road is not a help. It's a hindrance.

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