Man’s Only Real Relative

Sometimes, after spending time with family members, especially during the holiday season, you may feel the need to cleanse yourself from “family” activity. By this, I mean, to cleanse yourself from the unpleasant feelings of comparison or irritation or false responsibility about our human family (and friends) that may have swept over you undetected while being in their presence.

After coming to Plainfield, I was reminded the Bible teaches us that Christ acknowledged no ties of the flesh — only those who did the will of his Father were considered his “family.” I love to think about the fact that Jesus almost always referred to God as his “Father.” It was such a tender and close relationship!

We can all have a close relationship with the Father and with Christ Jesus. Mrs. Eddy wrote, “God is our Father and our Mother, our only real relative on earth and in heaven. David sang, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee.’” (Miscellaneous Writings) Reading and pondering those lines has given me a great sense of joy, and also a deep settled calm. It cleanses and purifies one from all human strife and discontentment.

And I so love this passage from the book The Destiny of the Mother Church by Bliss Knapp (page 45) because it shows Mrs. Eddy’s deep love for Christ Jesus. “After Mrs. Eddy’s return to Concord, N.H., Mr. Knapp was asked to search again for the home Mrs. Eddy knew God had prepared for her. Early in December, 1891, she herself was led to a beautiful tract of land on the outskirts of Concord, which she had purchased. She named the home ‘Pleasant View;’ and in writing to Mr. Knapp about it, she said she had longed for a home by the seaside, but instead God had prepared it on a hillside. She wrote, ‘My house stands upon a very sight hill, and the sides remind me of the Galilean slopes where my brother walked, and wept, and prayed.’” Isn’t that so touching and beautiful? Her “brother.”

And so, dear friend, open your heart for you too can have a deep connection and love for your Father-Mother God and for his son Christ Jesus. You will find such joy in this relationship, and you will find it will bless all other relationships as well. There will be such a freedom and tenderness for all of God’s creation and the personal human sense of things will drop quietly away.