God’s love and care – never lost
So many today are dealing with a sense of loss – perhaps the loss of companionship, health, financial stability, or purpose.
The teachings of Christ Jesus offer deep insights into everyone’s innate wholeness and value, found in God – who is described in the Bible as divine Love itself. For instance, he relates a parable about a shepherd who sets out to find one lost sheep out of his flock of 100. This speaks to God’s tender protection for all of us as His children – even if it seems we’ve ignorantly wandered away from His care and safety.
God, being ever present, tenderly lifts us up and gently places us on His own “shoulders,” safely bringing us home to the knowledge of Love’s infinite care. Divine Love’s purpose is to make itself known to all, and this omnipresent Love can never be lost or lose sight of us.
Really appreciating this parable in a spiritual light has grown my understanding of everyone’s inseparability from God. Our heavenly Father has provided for us our true, spiritual identity as His own reflection – entirely spiritual, cared for, and whole. Through spiritual sense we can tangibly feel this oneness with God. And we can never lose our innate spiritual sense because it flows from the great giving heart of Love itself.
The only thing we can and must lose is a false sense of ourselves as material, mortal. This is the truth that Jesus proved through his healing ministry, and which we can put into practice, too.
Several years ago I was going through a time of change in my life that brought with it a sense of sadness and loss. I also began experiencing unnatural hair loss.
I’ve found Christian Science to be the most effective way for true and permanent healing, so I made a conscious decision to turn wholeheartedly to God. I also humbly asked a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me in support of my desire to lean on God to heal this discordant situation. Even though the disappointment and dread I was feeling seemed overwhelming, I knew I could depend more fully on God.
As I conscientiously prayed with the weekly Bible Lesson found in the “Christian Science Quarterly” – digging into the Bible and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy – I regained a sense of hope. The fear started to dissipate. Within a few days, my joy had returned, and I was completely free from the physical problem.
This healing brought about a deeper lesson about the might of having the humility to more fully depend on God – the source of our being – and on Christ, Truth. Such humility isn’t about being a doormat, so to speak. On the contrary, an important aspect of true humility is actively, wholeheartedly turning to God for a deepening conviction of what can never be lost: our identity as God’s children, His spiritual expression – precious and deeply valued – and our purpose to bear witness to God’s goodness and glory, reflected in ourselves and everyone.
In this way we can humbly trust our Shepherd, yield to divine Love, and feel our oneness with God. We can let Love lead us “home” to a recognition of our God-given joy and wholeness – and rejoice in this homecoming! When the action of divine Love transforms our thoughts and uplifts our heart, we can feel more fully our “spotless purity and original perfection” (Mary Baker Eddy, “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” p. 262).
Each of us is wholly spiritual. Nothing spiritual can ever be lost, because what God, infinite Spirit, creates is eternal. As God’s reflection, we are held complete and perfect in God, sustained by the unchangeable law of divine Love. And this realization brings true healing, regeneration, and progress.
