When my mother passed away I felt barren except for the tears that filled my heart. Not my mother—she was so good! Raw emotion took over at first. I knew I had to get beyond my emotions, and as I began to understand better what Jesus called "life eternal" (see John 17:3), the tears dried up. Death was only apparent to those of us looking on. Because I believe that life is spiritual and eternal, I knew that someone who has passed on continues, even if we can't see the individual. As I prayed to see my life and my mother's from God's perspective, I began to feel more peaceful.
But this reasoning was comforting only up to a point. I soon realized that to truly heal grief was more than just an intellectual process. It involved a deep and lasting change of thought to remove the fear that the grief would return. I yearned for the complete removal of the sadness that persisted in my heart whenever something reminded me of my mom.
While I was reading the Bible and Science and Health one morning, the word omnipresent stood out to me as if it were in bright red letters. As I accepted God's omnipresence as a fact, I suddenly knew my mom's dear qualities were immediately present because they were spiritual. Even though she wasn't personally with me anymore, I felt embraced by her unconditional love, her tireless warmth, and her tender nurturing, because I was loved by God unconditionally, tirelessly, tenderly. That big hug could never leave me. From that moment on, the grief was completely gone.
