Holding a tiny infant in my arms, my heart was filled with tenderness. As foster parents to newborns, my husband and I were committed to caring for each one in the face of an uncertain future.
With birth parents unsettled or unavailable, our foster babies seemed like little orphans. So my tenderness was sometimes mixed with fear. How could even the most well-meaning decision-makers guarantee these little ones safety and happiness?
What helped reassure me was the truth that God is everyone’s Father-Mother. Father is a common name for God in the Bible. For instance, Psalms 68:5 promises, “A father of the fatherless … is God in his holy habitation.” And Isaiah 66:13 compares God to a mother: “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” Christian Science combines “Father” and “Mother” to describe God’s entire nature.
This week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on “Love” offers these words from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of The Christian Science Monitor: “Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man” (p. 256). This comprehensive statement refers to man generically – women and children as well as men. Later in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy’s primary work on Christian Science, she adds, “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (p. 332).
No child can be displaced, rejected, or orphaned from the care of our one divine Parent. Christ Jesus assured his closest friends, “I will not leave you comfortless” (John 14:18). The Greek term translated “comfortless” is “orphanos,” source of the word “orphan.” This is a universal promise! God sends His healing Christ – the all-encompassing message of His love for all – to each of us, confirming that no one is ever outside the embrace of His love.
Human viewpoints, ignorant of God’s infinite guidance and protection, often settle for the hopelessness and heartache of broken families. But every concern a human parent or guardian has can be met by turning to God. Prayer to our Father-Mother reveals His uninterrupted affection and care as real and tangible, available to everyone without exception.
What if trouble or sadness has already touched our children? And more broadly, what about mistreatment of innocents across the globe? How can we overcome despair or resignation and find longed-for solutions?
Prayer that answers these needs is more than “hope against hope.” Grounded in confidence in God as Love itself, prayer brings spiritual reality to light. Then, like darkness disappearing at the flick of a light switch, evil vanishes from our consciousness. We’re able to see every child just as God does, as His lovable and loved offspring. This transformation of thought has yielded healing after healing for youngsters and teens – and it’s possible for everyone right now.
Spiritually grounded prayer for the world’s children – and our own – may sound like a big assignment, but divine Love sweetens the work. “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way,” writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 454). May our prayers flow from God’s love for us all, and bring certain healing.
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