“ ‘God is Love.’ More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.” The truth in these short statements from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 6) has power to transform lives. We may not fathom the full depth of God’s love, but feeling even a fraction of it, even for a second, can change us forever. 

An outpouring of Love’s love came to me unexpectedly in a moment of despair. I was feeling compelled to end a friendship because that person had disappointed me deeply. This was a pattern in my life. I had lost many friends because of my unbending, uncompromising attitude that allowed me to love people only when they lived up to my standards. Very often my friends severed ties with me for this reason, since my attitude also prevented me from receiving and responding to criticism in positive, productive ways. It seemed as though that pattern would never end. 

In that moment of despair, I asked God, “Why did You make me this way?” Never in my life have I received a response so quickly or so definitively as I did in that moment: I did not make you this way. I made you perfect. A surge of God’s love enveloped my whole being. In that moment, I felt fully loved and fully accepted, and I understood that God was asking me to love others in the same way. The result was that instead of ending that friendship, I made amends with my friend. And since then, all my relationships have become more harmonious and mutually supportive.