My mother's mother was special. In the "Dirty Thirties," widowed and with a grade-four education, she put food on the table for her four children in small-town Saskatchewan by running the post office and a lunch counter. (The Canadian province Saskatchewan has mostly a farming economy and because of a decade-long drought was very poor and dusty in the 1930s.)

How did my grandmother survive that time? I now understand: through prayer. I remember her not praying with me or even teaching me how to pray, but praying herself—quietly and on bended knee—at her own bed every night. Her prayer, and her highest expression of it, her Christian living, left an indelible impression on me.

Though my grandmother passed on some 20 years ago, I often think of her sense of humor, her diligence, and her service to others. Considering the good qualities she expressed helps me feel at one with her.

There is so much for which to be grateful in the lives of those who have gone before—their vision, sacrifice, and capacity to be happy even when they lacked many of the advantages that we may take for granted. But how can we honor their memory and at the same time move forward to serve others now?

Here's an analogy that has helped me. A counterfeit bill has many points in common with a real bill, but some points that aren't in common. When we experience problems or losses, this is like a counterfeit of divine Life since divine Life is pure good, made up of eternal qualities such as joy, freshness, peace, goodness, and so on. It's not a mix of good and bad, joy and sorrow, health and sickness.

As we grow spiritually through service to God and our neighbor, poverty, cruelty, conflict, sickness, death, gradually fade away. We see that they in no way echo the divine and have no law of God sustaining them. On the other hand, all of the good things (faithful friendships, a happy family, glorious scenery, uplifting music) become more beautiful still as we see that they indicate the Life that is God. Thus, though divine Life only is eternal, all of the good things to be cherished and appreciated lead us to understand that divine Life.

This way of thinking puts the lives of those who have passed on in proper perspective. It's easy then to cherish all of the good they expressed, as an indication of the divine Life that they actually are always reflecting as children of God. As we see the qualities they expressed as an indication of who they are eternally, and especially as we ourselves express those and other divine qualities, we feel at one with them and know that they are well.

Really the best way to honor those who are no longer with us is to express the qualities of Life today. I often ask myself, Is there is a deed of kindness I can do quietly for a family member? Can I take some practical step to help my friends, my community, or my country?

According to the Bible, Christ Jesus never allowed himself to be overwhelmed by gloom when thinking of those who had gone before. After his relative John the Baptist was killed, Jesus went to a secluded place. But the people who knew of Jesus and who were interested in his healing and teaching found him. How did he respond? He devoted himself even more fully to his ministry, healing and teaching still more, and feeding more than 5,000 with a few small fish and a few loaves of bread (see Matt 14:1–21). According to Luke's Gospel, the Master rejected a god of gloom and death in these words: "He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him" (Luke 20:38).

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this magazine, grieved deeply when she lost her husband and helpmate, Asa Gilbert Eddy. But within a few weeks she was able to return to her spiritual mission with a renewed sense of vision and confidence, continuing to serve others even more generously for several decades. In Science and Health she wrote, "The foam and fury of illegitimate living and of fearful and doleful dying should disappear on the shore of time; then the waves of sin, sorrow, and death beat in vain" (p. 203).

I've learned to honor "the God of the living" through joyous, active service to others. For me this is not only the best way to honor God but also to remember those who have gone before.

Reprinted from O Arauto da Christian Science