The good stuff
Recognizing that nothing is more powerful than God, good, frees us from resentment and opens the door to reformation and reconciliation.
I recently received a phone call from someone I had worked for over 20 years ago. At one point in the conversation she expressed regret for how she had handled some difficult situations between us. She wanted to make amends for what she saw as her bad behavior.
To be honest, I had been left with hurt feelings, and long after she moved away I’d held on to what I considered a justified resentment. But in the time since, my practice of Christian Science – which relies on the teachings of Christ Jesus and the textbook of Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy – had helped me find freedom from that resentment. It had lifted my thought to the spiritual reality of being for myself, my friend, and everyone: namely, that as God’s children, or spiritual image, we reflect divine grace and love. We can express and experience only good.
That’s not to say that we should ignore unacceptable behavior, but that we don’t need to let resentment consume us. Rather, it’s natural for us to follow this directive in the Bible: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31, 32). And this helps everyone involved move forward in healing, productive ways.
I don’t know exactly when the forgiveness came. But at some point I realized that I was able to truly appreciate all the good qualities inherent in my friend as God’s loved, spiritual child. Beauty, respect, and love were the most real memories I held of her.
Now, on the phone with her, I found myself smiling and saying, “I only remember the good stuff.” We then continued a wonderful conversation and promised to keep in touch.
Science and Health assures us, “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you” (p. 571). At every moment, it is our divine right to know real peace about the past, and to remember and prove that what’s most powerful is the good stuff.
Adapted from the July 13, 2022, Christian Science Daily Lift podcast.