Family gatherings can be difficult times for many. How do you feel a sense of God’s presence and love during the holidays? God is the Source of each one’s individuality, so we can all know — spiritually discern — that we are each loved equally despite what may have gone on before.

Pure humanity, friendship, home, the interchange of love, bring to earth a foretaste of heaven.¹

Our identity, feeling worthy and loved doesn’t actually come from other people, although sometimes friends and family can beautifully reflect how worthy, lovely and lovable we all are. These expressions of joy and appreciation are natural and normal and are signs of God, divine Love’s, kingdom on earth.

Your kingdom come.
    Your will be done,
        on earth as it is in heaven.²

Relationships are a good opportunity to dissolve what Mary Baker Eddy calls the “adamant of error”: self-will, self-justification and self-love³ ; the old adage “my way or the highway” mentality; self-righteousness, which wreaks havoc on all of us; then of course there’s just plain old judgement.

Christ Jesus was the perfect example of living and expressing spiritual love.

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you…Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.⁴

God will bless you for doing them! God will bless you for putting off old resentments. God will bless you for being humble enough to be made new — in the likeness of God!

You deserve to express divine Love — not hold on to the past or limited views of others (that God is not knowing about them). Self-hatred is what makes us feel we are not worthy or loved enough to let go of hatred towards others! We are worth it! Let it go.

Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love. ⁵

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^{1 Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 100
2 Matthew 6:10 The Holy Bible New Revised Standard Version
3 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 242
4 John 13 The Holy Bible New Living Translation
5 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 264}