Love Is Everywhere
The French for those words, "L'amour est partout," was spoken to me by the mother of a friend of mine, a Frenchwoman. She and her husband had been in the diplomatic service, stationed in several strife-torn countries. When I asked her if those had been difficult times, she shrugged in her charming way and said, "But Love is everywhere." It was a message of courage and faith that has stayed with me over the years. I've never forgotten these words in the Bible either, from a follower of Christ Jesus: "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:16).
Another follower of Christ Jesus in a later age, Mary Baker Eddy, elaborated on those words. In a chapter called "Prayer," her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures says: " 'God is Love.' More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go" (p. 6).
So Love is another name for God. God is always present with us. Therefore Love is always present with us. Has there ever been a greater need to see and feel God's love with us than there is right now? I don't think so. The simple fact that God is Love means that goodness and healing are available to all.
Recently I had to prove this for myself. During a winter of heavy snowfall, I was having to make my way on icy, hazardous streets. I was suffering recurring attacks of pain in one foot, my spine, and a hip joint. Ordinary activities such as getting to work and doing errands had become endurance tests. I grew fearful and felt hopeless. The pain of tragic events in the news only made my cloud of depression darker, until even the coming of spring held no promise.
I had asked a Christian Scientist friend to pray for me. And at one point something she'd told me came as a strong reminder-that none of this was coming to me from God; that He would not allow such a thing to torment one of His children. Grateful for this reminder, I resolved to take a stand. This meant expecting prayer to heal me. I prayed that nothing would shake my faith in God's power to govern the universe harmoniously. With all my might I held on to a Bible passage from Second Timothy: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (1:7).
As I prayed, an understanding came of the dimension of Love. It became clearer as I reasoned that perfect Love, not fear, must be there, then, filling all space-even the space where I was. Even the space where pain and tragic events seemed to be going on.
Nobody was outside the vastness of Love, nor could God's children be imperfect or unsafe, for God was everywhere. This was the truth I was now contemplating, and I knew it!
The pain that had been sweeping over me like a raging sea began to subside. I could walk again without pain. I went back to work and was able to take care of things I needed to do. I thanked God for this healing that had come by my understanding He was always with me. Not only was He in remote places, as my friend's mother proved; here in my own world, my community, I had seen His hand at work.
Mrs. Eddy's discovery of Christian Science in 1866 was the result of a remarkable physical healing. She'd been studying a Bible account of a person healed by Jesus, and suddenly felt that same healing power and its effects. Knowing how humanity was seeking a love that only God could provide, she felt she must share her discovery with others. In another book she wrote, "We live in an age of Love's divine adventure to be All-in-all" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 158).
So I'm striving to reflect the love of God toward everyone-not just those I am with physically, but those I think of. I live in a big apartment complex, a real microcosm of the world, with various ethnic, religious, and age groups represented from different continents. We help each other, even learning little bits of each other's languages. This is what makes our community a happy one. It is apparent that we all know the same spiritual language-the language of love.
