We’d known for months that our elder son and his wife, who was pregnant with our first grandchild, were moving to Australia. I thought I was prepared for this, but two days before they left, I was in deep mourning because it felt like another loss in a series of losses after my parents and several dear friends had passed on in recent years.
I needed to pray, so I went for a walk. I cried out to God: “Help me!” Then I heard someone call my name. My first instinct was to look up, but instead I looked behind me to see my neighbor walking towards me. She gave me a big hug, told me she’d been thinking of me, and asked how I was. I told her my struggle, and she understood since she had children hundreds of miles away in multiple directions. We talked for a while about turning to God for help, and I knew she was exactly the right person to be with at that moment.
That afternoon I read a passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy that reminded me that God, Love, had created my sons: “Keep distinctly in thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man; that man is spiritual, not material; . . .” (p. 396). I knew that both my sons needed to have their own life experiences and that I could trust God, their Father-Mother, to take care of them.
When I awoke the next morning, I felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from me. I realized that our Father-Mother God has wonderful good, not only for my family, but for me, too.
On the day of departure, the feeling of loss came briefly as we exchanged final hugs. But on the drive back home, I felt free. It became clear that there’s no separation in God—we all live in God, infinite Love, and are always connected to each other. Later, I realized that one of my son’s most important roles is to be a father to our grandchild. Honoring my son’s expression of the fatherhood of God is one of the most important and loving ways I can support him.
