As a child I had a deep love for Christian Science. My mother was a wonderful example of a loving and dedicated Christian Scientist, and we were very close. She was not only my mother, but my best friend and often my practitioner. Several months after her passing, I found myself still in a state of shock and in deep mourning. I felt lonely and lost.
I prayed constantly, waiting to get some sign that all was well. I was waiting for a comforting message to convince me that she was safe. This went on for months, until I realized I had put my mother into God’s role. I was praying to her for answers that could come only from God. I also realized that instead of supporting her journey forward, I was holding her to the issues she was working through at the time of her passing.
Turning to the Bible, I noticed how many times Jesus claimed his identity as God’s son, and how many times he recognized his relationship with God as his only identity. He constantly claimed that relationship as the source of who he was and what he was able to do, and gave credit to no one else. In fact, when one of his disciples told him his mother and brethren were waiting to speak to him, he said, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (see Matthew 12:46–50).
