Things in our house kept going missing. It was stressful. One day, when there was yet another item that couldn’t be located, my six-year-old daughter turned to me and, almost too quietly to hear, said, “Mom, have you asked . . . God?” And then she ran off. 

It stopped me in my tracks. Had I turned to God? Or was I running myself ragged trying to keep it all together? As I got quiet, considering this, I suddenly knew where the needed item was. 

It was such a tiny moment, but it has reminded me again and again of how different the awesome responsibility of parenting can feel depending on whether we’re trying to do it through our own frenetic efforts or through a moment-by-moment trust in infinite Love, God. To turn toward Love is to see that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This kingdom is felt in “unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love” reigning within us, within our consciousness, as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, explains (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 248). From that perspective, being a mom or dad is more about having the privilege of seeing our Father-Mother God express Her care for our children through us than about feeling pressure from that too-common belief that our kids’ success depends entirely on how we perform as parents. That can feel crushing.