Editorials

Happy relationships—ones that bring out the best in people, and that endure through thick and thin—don't necessarily just happen. They are usually built with what each individual brings to them day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year.

The neighborhood Episcopal church of my youth gave me a feeling of deep reverence for God. I felt it in the liturgy, music, and prayers of its services.

• "Abstaining from extramarital sex is one of the most unpopular things a person can do, much less talk about.

Here's the question, as posed by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures : "Are we really grateful for the good already received?" Science and Health , p. 3 That question always gives me pause and makes me take stock of my thinking.

Sure, people can lock you up and take away all your possessions. They can isolate you from friends and family.

Healing is needed in the world. In every home, neighborhood, school, business.

People were being healed. There was no question about it.

Not long ago I spent a week high in the mountains in the western United States. One afternoon I sat on a rock in an alpine meadow—just below the forest's timberline—and quietly asked God questions.

So often, when we're far from home, feeling disconnected or troubled, we yearn to find our way back. This home is the place where security and affection and trust are found; where our relations with others are as close as ever; where we are each a loved one and so is everyone around us; where there is support for our advancement, recognition of our abilities, and an abiding respect for who we are as individuals.

Throughout the centuries, people have struggled with the question of evil—with what it is and how to deal with it. Christ Jesus saw evil as a deceiver, a liar that is powerless before the omnipotence of God, divine Truth.