I had gotten married for the second time, and while I embraced this step with enthusiasm and loved my husband very much, adjusting to all the details of my new situation proved to be very challenging. I felt completely overwhelmed at times and was forced to address issues associated with family, identity, personal “history,” friends, home, purpose, etc. I felt I did this with a fair amount of success.
One particular challenge, however, proved to be difficult. It was a persistent and very uncomfortable strain in my relationship with my husband’s son. It seemed that he had no interest in getting to know me. He and my husband were very close and had shared many experiences and fond memories. This was of course very natural and appropriate, but it had the unfortunate effect of making me feel like an outsider. I felt dismissed, marginalized, disrespected, and hurt. Not only did I begin harboring resentment toward him, but I also unfairly resented my husband, for “putting” me in this position. It was quite a quandary. I realized that this was something that needed to be healed.
I prayed for inspiration and guidance, and the humility to listen to God. I examined my thought and mentally wrestled with the meaning of unselfed love, unconditional love, true brotherhood, forgiveness, and charitableness. I looked up words in the Bible, Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, and the Christian Science Hymnal related to universal love, family, personal sense, motives, pride, ego, and studied many wonderful articles archived on JSH-Online.com on these topics, which provided helpful ideas.
