Who does not long to be loved? The understanding loyalty of a friend who loves you bathes your world in a warm and tender beauty and lightens every burden. Often we find ourselves capable of our undreamed-of best when someone filled with love is watching.

It is a mistake to think that human affection is something to be avoided. Christian Science places high value on it. Mrs. Eddy says of Christ Jesus that "out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 54;} And in her Miscellaneous Writings she says, "To suppose that human love, guided by the divine Principle, which is Love, is partial, unmerciful, or unjust, indicates misapprehension of the divine Principle and its workings in the human heart." ^{Mis., p. 290;}

There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel loved. It is as legitimate to expect a human manifestation of love to follow our increased understanding of God, who is Love, as it is to expect a human manifestation of health to result from scientific prayer. Christian Science comes to mankind where it finds them and blesses them in a way that they understand.

Everyone can find affection and love, that special touch which fills his world with wonder. With Christian Science we can learn how.

It is a matter of looking to God rather than people—seeing love reflected in them but not originating in them. We must look into the very heart of Christian Science to find the Love that loves us. People alone will not do.

The author of the universe loves us always, and His love is the origin and essence of every loving thing. He loves us perfectly, so He makes His love real to us. We see His love in physical healing, in the devotion of a friend, and even in the beauty that clothes the world.

Love is the creative Principle of the whole universe, and to say that one is unloved is a mistake. Love is the basis of all existence. We are, so we must be loved. This understanding unfolds whatever is needed as human evidence of our divine state of being loved. Since Love is universally present, being unloved is impossible. Feeling unloved is an ephemeral belief of a passing moment, a belief in God's absence, and Christian Science casts it out.

The way to feel divine Love and more of its human counterpart, pure affection, is an individual path leading through gratitude, unselfishness, honesty, and faith. Being ourselves what we seek in others enables us to be guided in the realization of companionship and human affection. Divine Love reflected will guide us in whatever is necessary to us humanly. Ages ago Jesus expressed it simply when he said, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." ^{Matt. 6:8 .}

We have only to look up some clear night at the billions upon billions of sparkling stars to realize how ludicrous it is to think that our present sense of the universe could include this almost infinitude of beauty and yet be deficient in a little touch of love that meets our human need!

But it cannot be stressed too much that happy companionship is worked out from within—by knowing tangible relationship with God, who does all the loving. Most people need a companion in life, but none of us ever finds lasting, perfect happiness in another person. Only in God, who is the perfectly loving and lovable One, will we be ultimately pleased.

It is sure disaster to consider a mortal the source of the love that makes us so happy. If our feelings of being loved don't penetrate beyond the fluctuating appearance that is called mortal existence, we are headed for trouble. Our love, both incoming and outgoing, is only permanent as it is welded to God. That which is tied to a person is sure someday to disappear.

This is not sad news for people in love. The wonder and happiness they feel is just as real as it is good. It will grow and deepen to the degree that God is known as its source. Competition, jealousy, and uncertainty will be lost when we turn completely to God. Then, not only will our heart's ideal of human affection be fulfilled, but we will be "in love"—conscious of being divinely loved —forever.