LOOKING for someone? Need help in carrying out household tasks? Could you use more affection? Do you want support in meeting financial obligations? In a marriage, these are the kinds of demands—small and large—that people often make on their spouses. But married or not, each of us needs to ask himself or herself, Is a human being my real support?

The Bible declares, "Thy Maker is thine husband" (Isa. 54:5). If we think of God as far away, as an unreachable power, removed from our daily lives, it would be rather ridiculous to expect God to be able to husband us. But the Bible leads us to see the relation of God and man as very close. The Psalmist calls God "our refuge and strength, a very present help" (Ps. 46:1). And St. John describes God as Love (see I John 4:16). Love, God, is husbanding us; we are loved and cared for by Him. As we grow in confidence in our unbreakable relation to God, we experience greater fulfillment in our human experience, including greater appreciation for our spouse.

In the spring, we can enjoy the refreshing water coming from a creek or riverbed. But as the heat of summer comes, we may find that the area where we went before to enjoy the plentiful water supply has dried up. We may need to go farther upstream, closer to the source, the spring or lake. So in human circumstances, we may find that we are cut off from a person whom we are accustomed to depend upon for our needs. Seen in the light of the previous illustration, this can be an opportunity to "go up higher." As we go to God, we see He has actually always cared for our needs. God, the source of uninterrupted good, can be relied upon without fear. "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need," Science and Health declares (p. 494).

The author of these words did not write them glibly. She had experienced tremendous trials during her life. Within her first year of marriage, Mary Baker Eddy's first husband became ill and died. Her son, born shortly thereafter, was taken from her while he was still young, because she was too ill to care for him. A second husband's unfaithfulness left her penniless; she was still in poor health and at the mercy of others' charity. In spite of hardships, she continued to love God and searched for spiritual answers to her own and humanity's needs through study of the Bible. After experiencing God's healing power in her own life and helping others, she was impelled to share with humanity what she was learning of Christian healing in the Bible.

She wrote and taught what she was discovering—the Science of Christianity. And Christ Jesus' life is the example in the practice of this Science. Speaking of John the Revelator's view of Jesus, Science and Health says, "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration,—reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God" (p.561).

Recognizing God's embrace, we naturally turn away from a disappointing personal or self-centered view of life to spiritual love. As we stop outlining how our needs will be met, we become more trusting of God, and our lives become more God-centered. The qualities that constitute true husbanding—care, safety, harmony, completeness, joy—are always present. Appreciating these qualities in those around us, we see many more examples of God's husbanding of women, men, and children.

As a young mother, with a three-year-old and new baby, I found I often felt overwhelmed having to shoulder many responsibilities by myself. My husband was in an industry that required that he be at the job site in another state, sometimes for a few months at a time. I can see now, however, that this was an opportunity for both me and my husband to learn more about true husbanding, and to trust man's relation to God.

As a result of learning to open thought to God's ever-available provision, I found all our needs met. For instance, a neighbor spontaneously offered to fix a broken sprinkler. Family members pitched in to help prepare my home for a party. Friends extended invitations to dinner. Even my little three-year-old seemed to know just when I needed a hug. I also found I was able to expand the ways I expressed spiritual love to others. I included a friend and her daughters in our family while her husband was living in another state. Instead of seeing myself as deprived of support, I found that I was more aware than ever before of the many ways that Love, God, was meeting our family's needs. What assurance the understanding of God's husbanding gives us! It enables us to express a more expansive love that includes not only me and mine but all.

Another young couple found that God's husbanding is practical and tangible. While they were expecting their second child, he was deployed to the South China Sea as a naval officer. She told me that their sadness at being separated at the time their daughter was born was overshadowed by the fact that at the exact time of the birth, her husband had been involved in picking up some Vietnamese boat people. That night he had held and cared for an infant whose mother was very ill. The opportunity for him to express the mothering and fathering qualities at just that time reinforced for them the universal love of God for each of His children.