Article February 17, 1997 Issue

Spiritual affection removes burdens

Clifford Kapps Eriksen

Picking up hitchhikers isn't something I generally do. Recently, however, I felt compelled to turn my car around on a bitterly cold afternoon and go back for an elderly gentleman who was looking rather frantic as he stood by the side of the road. My decision proved to be a blessing for both of us. He had missed his bus and was desperately trying to find a ride before nightfall to his residence miles away. I was on a tight schedule, going to help a new friend but feeling a bit frustrated searching for a building in an unfamiliar area. Both of us were delighted to find that our destinations were one and the same.

Later, pondering what had occurred, I glimpsed an important element of Christlike living: not to allow the busyness of daily activity to keep us from helping others. Neither should we ever think of such help as burdensome. Why? Because divine Love—not human sympathy—is the source of all good, and man reflects the infinite capacities of Love. Lines from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 360) remind us that burdens are lifted through Christian service:

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