Feeling overwhelmed with responsibility for someone else's welfare can drag us down. Maybe we think that if it weren't for us, a friend or family member would be hopelessly lost, friendless, and helpless. Or that we are the only one who would or could care for this individual. At one time when I felt this kind of burden, I asked myself, "Who do I think I am, taking on this heavy sense of responsibility? Can't trust God? Isn't our dear Father-Mother God the one who is really responsible? Isn't She capable of loving and caring for each one of Her children?"
God's care for all creation is always present, because God is infinite Love. As we learn more of God's nature, we're able to patiently support, comfort, and love others as well as ourselves—without burden. This ability is not a personal possession that can be lost. It is the result of the spiritual fact that each individual is actually the reflection of Love. From Love we derive the patience, gentleness, and perseverance that enable us to express Christliness in caring for others.
When I was doing this extra care-giving, I was a "senior citizen." But Christian Science helped me prove to a degree the ageless nature of Love's reflection. I made a conscious effort to shed years figuratively, if not literally. I often prayed in the words of the Bible's Psalmist, "O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come." Ps. 71:17, 18. And I loved this promise: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles' they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isa. 40:31. I actually became more carefree in knowing God's vigilant care for everyone.
