The most meaningful healing I’ve had in recent years is the restoration of my harmonious relationship with one of my brothers—a relationship that had been shattered for ten years. When my two siblings and I were to inherit half of a duplex and the surrounding garden, contact with one brother became so contentious that my other brother and I were legally prevented from contacting him directly. The strained relationship arose because he wanted to have his portion of the inheritance paid out immediately, even though no decisions had been made about how we were going to handle it or when a sale might be considered.

I found inspiring guidance in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and his return home (see Luke 15:11–32). Just as the father never gave up on the son who was believed to be lost, for all those years I, as a sister, would not give up on my divinely established connection to my brother, even if it wasn’t possible to connect with him in calls or letters. 

It was true, too, that he continued to be a child of God. The negative changes didn’t belong to God and His expression. I knew from my study of Christian Science that this divine expression of God includes each one of us.