Will I see you again?

That question, “Will I see you again?” frequently came to thought for several months after my husband passed on. The question was both tantalizing and unsettling.

I was deeply comforted by the weekly Bible Lessons found in the Christian Science Quarterly, which constantly fed me with ideas that encouraged me to feel God’s ever-present care. Still, I felt a sometimes-not-so-subtle curiosity about whether my path and my husband’s would cross again after my own passing.

Christ Jesus’ resurrection proved his message of eternal life, and his followers continued to share that message after Jesus’ ascension. The Apostle Paul declared, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

A question and answer from “Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, begins, “After the change called death takes place, do we meet those gone before? – or does life continue in thought only as in a dream?” The answer states, in part, “When we shall have passed the ordeal called death, or destroyed this last enemy, and shall have come upon the same plane of conscious existence with those gone before, then we shall be able to communicate with and to recognize them” (p. 42).

I realized I was wondering whether my husband and I could perhaps continue where we’d left off. And I yearned to see my husband healthy and happy again. Interestingly, I also discovered that I secretly hoped he would have outgrown some annoying habits as well. Then our future life together would be perfect!

Considering these wistful imaginings, I recognized the subtle suggestion that some part of good had died at the same time my husband passed, or maybe had even been missing while he was still alive. But Christian Science teaches that good never ends, never diminishes, and is never fragmented, because good is God, and God is eternal. There is no separation of man – which includes all of us as God’s, Spirit’s, beloved children, made in His image – from God, or man from man, since all of creation is spiritual and included in one seamless whole.

So the good in our life is never filtered through a mortal or taken away through mortality’s inevitable ending. Deity’s unchanging nature and provision are consistent and fully present at all times.

Not long after I gained these insights, the curiosity ceased, along with any last vestiges of grief. I understood more thoroughly that we have, here and now and in infinite ways and means, all that we could ever need – God’s care for us is always providing the spiritual ideas and inspiration needed. We don’t for one moment have to guess whether we will find completeness at some future time. We could never be less than complete as God’s spiritual likeness.

I also realized that I was content with all the wonderful husbanding that my dear heavenly Father was providing me every moment. Since that time, I’ve seen innumerable instances of divine Love’s tender care in the exact moment it was needed. I am confident in Love’s same tender care for my husband. It’s been five years since my husband’s passing, and I can honestly say that any wistfulness or grief is long gone.

Spiritual growth is an essential aspect of God’s loving purpose for us, and it is experienced most naturally when we are obedient to the divine Principle of good, which is God. It may be tempting to feel that good needs to come at some future time. But divine goodness is actually available now in multifarious and ongoing ways. We are never separated from good. And the same is true of those who have passed. We don’t reunite as mortals in some future life. We are all united spiritually, for all time, in the Life that is eternal.

Every moment of our existence is governed by God, cared for by divine Love; every need is met by Spirit. It always has been, and never will be otherwise.

Adapted from an article published in the May 6, 2019, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.