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The Love that mothers
As I walked through the entrance of a favorite fabric store my eyes fell on a large, colorful display of Mother’s Day cards. I just stood there motionless, glancing around for help, as a feeling of great sadness washed over me. My beloved mom and dear friend had passed on last year, and this would be my first Mother’s Day without her.
Yet I realized at that moment that I had a choice besides dissolving into tears: I could think about how grateful I was for the incredible ways that Mom expressed our Father-Mother God. I began to feel the “love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19 ) filling my heart, and was able to continue my errands with a lighter step.
A number of days later, I again found myself missing my mother. Immediately this angel idea spoke loud and clear: “How could I miss Mom, unless I close my eyes?” Mom’s wisdom, compassion, clarity, tender mercy, and intelligence were all expressions of God, our Mother, and She has not left me alone. I also thought of this statement by Mary Baker Eddy: “… if a friend be with us, why need we memorials of that friend?” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 34 ). On that page Mrs. Eddy writes about how Immanuel, or “God with us,” is always with us as Christian healing, in spite of the personal departure of Jesus. As I’d studied the life of the master Christian with the sincere desire to emulate his embodiment of God’s love and power, I’d begun to see that no expression of God can be lost. I could not be made to close my eyes or heart to Love’s immediate, tender embrace. Mom and I are forever held close, every moment, in the “arm [that] encircles me, and mine, and all” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Mother’s Evening Prayer,” Poems, p. 4 ).
I remembered a time late last year, while I was living overseas, when I would have dearly loved to call my mother for comfort, wisdom, and guidance. Stress and fear seemed to be constant companions, with tears not far behind, which created an acute need for mothering.
I could think about how grateful I was for the incredible ways that Mom expressed our Father-Mother God.
One morning, out of the blue, the telephone rang, and a sweet voice said, “Dear Melanie, I just wanted to tell you that God will never leave you alone. He has been telling me to call you for days, and I have just now found your number.” It was Sister Luz Maria, the director of a nearby home for abandoned, neglected, or abused girls. I had done some volunteering there, and had recently donated a quantity of food items. I assumed that Sister Maria was calling to thank me, but it turned out she was not even aware of the donation. She had simply felt led to call me with that sweet message.
Her words that morning will never be forgotten. Through tears, this time of gratitude and joy, I thanked God, and thanked this lovely messenger for listening so well to God’s direction. Darkness and doubt cleared, and the light of God’s tender presence dawned in my home.
“When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease,” writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, pp. 218–219 ). How grateful I am to be waking up a bit more every day to the ever-presence of our Mother, Love.
About the author
Melanie Ball is a Christian Science practitioner living in Thousand Oaks, California.