Article November 1, 2010 Issue

When I missed my friend

BY LOUISE THORNTON

ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO I lost a very dear friend. Her passing sent me into a deep bout of grief for almost a year. I had never felt such a sense of loss before, and I did not know if I would ever come out of it.

Although I sought the support of several Christian Science practitioners at different times following my friend's passing, and prayed as best I could on my own, I was barely functional. I went to work every day but would dissolve into a puddle of tears when I got home. The bills were not getting paid on time—not because I did not want to pay them, but because I could not remember where I had put them, and when I did find them, they were usually already late.

The turning point came when I heard a talk given at the annual meeting of an area Christian Science visiting nurse service. The speaker related the story in the Bible in which Mary and Joseph had to return to Jerusalem when they realized that Jesus was not with them, after they had traveled a day's journey (see Luke 2:41-52). When they returned and found Jesus, Mary told him, "Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." Jesus' response was, "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

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