One day at work, during lunch break, some friends and I were discussing what our relationships with our mothers had been as we were growing up. Two of the women related unhappy experiences and were concerned that they now manifested some of the same negative traits they'd seen in both their mothers and their grandmothers. They also remarked that the chain of learning behaviors seemed hard to break.

It then dawned on me what a complete healing my mother had had in this regard. Her mother committed suicide when she was three years old, and her father gave her up for adoption at the age of twelve—a decision she fought greatly. Her life with this new family presented many severe challenges, due to the fact that she was sexually abused by her stepfather. About this time, she was enrolled in a Christian Science Sunday School. My mother once commented that the loving support of her Sunday School teachers was extremely important during this period.

According to the false law of "learned behaviors," the possibility that my mother could become a loving, good parent was slim. Yet in her actions toward me (and others) there was never any indication of an unloving past. In fact, just the opposite was true. My mother and I enjoyed a close and most loving relationship.

My mother had learned that mother love comes from God, the source of all true love. The Bible tells us (Isa. 66:13), "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." The human scene had offered my mother little, but the love of God offered her all. She turned to God and, in so doing, demonstrated that truly she had never been anywhere except at God's "right hand" (see Ps. 16:11).

When I was sixteen, my mother passed on. Afterward there were times when I wondered how I would survive emotionally without her. But more were the times when God's love poured in, showing me that I could never really lose a mother's love because God is the universal Father-Mother. My human mother had helped me recognize the ever-presence and ever-caring of divine Love, and I had learned to trust this presence continually. The result was an abundance of mother love in my human experience, a growing and deepening appreciation for my father, and a wonderful relationship with my stepmother. More important, though, I grew in my understanding of God as Mother. Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 151), "God is our Father and our Mother, our Minister and the great Physician: He is man's only real relative on earth and in heaven." Christ Jesus demonstrated this understanding of our universal family by living a life of love.

I realize now that any situation or thought which says that man is lacking in love has its basis in a false concept of ourselves, and the effects of this mistaken view only serve to turn us more wholeheartedly to God.

I am continuing the adventure of learning more of God as Mother, for I have a child of my own. What a blessing this has been! And how thankful I am for membership in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and in a branch church, and for the priceless yearly Christian Science Students Association meetings. Participation in each of these helps regularly to enlarge my sense of family. The life example of Christ Jesus, which Mrs. Eddy's writings explain so clearly, daily sustains my faith in and understanding of God.

CAMERON SHORT WICKHAM
Boulder, Colorado