Article September 11, 1989 Issue

Increasing the ratio of good

with contributions from Megan, Josh, Wendy

In the following conversation, a father, Josh, and his college-age daughter, Wendy, discuss family and spiritual perspectives with a friend, Megan, who also has grown children.

Megan: I guess we all would like to have a lot of people to love—and to love us. But even when you have a family, it's not always easy to maintain love. People caring for each other almost unconditionally is ideal but seldom happens unless it's based on spirituality. Human love alone can't carry a family through challenges—things like arguing between parents, financial problems, illness, temptations. When something shouts, "Family can't survive," the need is for spiritual resources—something more stable than good human intentions. I've thought often of the fact that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, refers to God and His ideas alone as the real and harmonious.

Josh: Tension and fear are hard on children, especially, say, if parents are fighting. The kids don't know whether or not it will pass.

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