In the words of a hymn, “Prayer is the simplest form of speech / That infant lips can try” (James Montgomery, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 284).
One evening several years ago, after saying our prayers and talking about God with our then two-year-old daughter, she declared with profound assurance and authority, “God loves Alma!” In that moment I realized that she knew, as she always has and always will know in her sweet child heart, that God is her Father-Mother—that she is “cared for, watched over, beloved and protected” (P. M., Christian Science Hymnal, No. 278), held in the everlasting arms of our divine Parent, Love. I thought to myself how true and far-reaching that simple prayer is and how important it is to acknowledge and cherish this tender and sustaining truth each moment of each day.
A few weeks later, we had an opportunity to witness together the truth that “God loves Alma”—that she can never fall out of the arms of Love, that God is always at her side to comfort, guard, and guide no matter where she is or what she is doing. And that what is true for Alma is true for each of God’s precious ones, including her parents who are entrusted with her care.
