'To Bless All Mankind' June 22, 2015 ISSUE

Having a heart that embraces all

Jan K. Keeler

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, December 30, 2014.

“When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, page 262. It’s natural for all of us to “have hearts” and to sincerely want to reach out and care for each other—across cultural, racial, religious, and national lines. Sometimes, however, even if we want to love others, it’s hard to know how to begin. It’s as though we can’t make ourselves love, and frankly, at times, we may even feel afraid of someone.

This is one of the reasons I find Mrs. Eddy’s discovery of divine Science to be so important. Her teachings help us move our hearts from just trying to love emotionally or through human goodness to actually having a spiritually based understanding of why it is our God-given nature to love. She also explains why it is counter to our nature to feel hatred.

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