MY PARENTS DIVORCED when I was about nine years old. Even before the divorce, my younger sister and I didn't see our dad as often as we hoped because he was a career military officer who had duties all over the world. Although we saw him infrequently, we loved Dad. And we loved our mom, who raised us alone as a single parent. However, whenever our parents were in each other's presence they would argue loudly and angrily, and this fighting frightened and troubled my sister and me.
All along Mom had been taking my sister and me to a Christian Science Sunday School. When I was about sixteen years old, I began to think a little more deeply about what I had been learning there. In fact, I began to arise before dawn each morning to read the Bible Lesson and reflect on the spiritual insights I found in it. I stuck with reading that Lesson daily, and within a few weeks I began to glimpse myself as the perfect, complete expression of God, an exact reflection of the harmony and goodness of divine Love. Along with this spiritualized view of myself, I saw marked improvements in my life: better friendships, more poise, increased confidence, and even higher grades.
One day we learned that Dad was coming for another visit, and right away an anxious tension arose in the household. But a day or so before his arrival, I found myself humming the melody of one of my favorite hymns that we often sang in Sunday School. But this time, these words from the first verse struck me in a new way: "He comes to bless thee on his wings of healing; / To banish pain, and wipe all tears away" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 412).
