The power of love

A recent TV program was inspiring in its account of how one caring person was instrumental in lifting the lives of a number of young people above the limitations imposed by their earlier experience.

In our community I observed splendid results taking place in the kindly atmosphere of a nonsectarian rescue mission house I visited recently. The same was true at a newly integrated public school, where warm cooperation among the teaching staff, the school principal, and the student body was apparent.

Why does genuinely felt regard for people produce such gratifying results? Isn't it because God, who is all-powerful, ever-present good, is behind every loving effort? The Bible teaches that God is Love. n1 In Christian Science, ''Love'' with a capital L is used as a synonym for God, because He is infinite, divine Love itself as well as the source of all pure affection. The Bible also points out the unlimited wisdom of God. And so, when we see the happy combination of love and intelligence at work in the human scene, we can be sure that the source of it is God, who expresses His spiritual qualities in man.

n1 See I John 4:16.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy n2 states, ''Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power.'' n3

n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

n3 Science and Health, p. 192.

If we long to accomplish more good for humanity, we can pray to divine Love for help. We can acknowledge in prayer that God is perfect, all-knowing Mind, infinite, all-embracing Truth, Life, and Love. We can thank Him for creating us individually in His likeness. We can humbly ask Him to show us how to bring out more consistently the elements of our true, spiritual selfhood so that we may perform our part in bringing to human attention what God's ever-present, spiritual creation is all about - the harmony of it, the peace and joy of it.

Christian Science, in accord with the Bible's teachings, shows the sacred privilege we all have of working earnestly to keep spiritual love uppermost in our thoughts of others and in all our contacts. The proofs that this Christian activity is a benefit to the world are abundant. Why not, since such living reflects the Love that is God!

Even in minor incidents, the power of love is evident. In a busy metropolitan area recently, a tearoom waitress said to me, ''What a blessing, your saying to me, 'Don't hurry.' It makes me feel like a new person.'' Then in an adjoining shop when a salesperson said, ''Be with you in a minute,'' and I answered, ''No need to rush,'' she responded: ''I can't believe you said that. You've made my day.''

In the midst of city crowds and busy traffic I've seen continuous signs of courtesy and friendliness, which it seems to me can be attributed to a prayer, before starting out, that I may hold in thought the real identity of each person as the individual image of God, obedient to His unerring direction and control. True desire along this line isn't just a wish to have everything going smoothly around us. Instead, it's a sincere longing for all whom we meet to feel something of their God-fashioned being, imbued with peace, strength, and a sense of self-worth as God's representative. This desire and the prayer that embodies it are evidences in us of the Christ, the divine nature that Jesus so fully illustrated in his great healing mission.

We need not cave in to the often-voiced lament that frictions have inflicted irreparable wear and tear on society. The power of love is as strong as always, for God, divine Love, is as all-powerful as ever. Paul writes, ''As touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.'' n4

n4 I Thessalonians 4:9.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30, 31