In re-reading We Knew Mary Baker Eddy (Book 2, Expanded Edition) - I see that I purchased and read it first in June 2013 - I am noticing again that Mrs. Eddy was an alert peacemaker and a diligent and prompt communicator. Her correspondence was voluminous. Her communications, as recorded in this book, are alive with tender love alongside practical common sense. While they are frankly divinely rather than humanly impelled, they meet the human need perfectly. In this, it seems she followed the example of the Master, Christ Jesus, whose every divine utterance resulted in big blessings on the human level.
Joseph Mann shares an instance in which an apparent misunderstanding (perhaps a rebuke) had taken place. We can all think of instances in which such an occurrence sours a relationship, perhaps irretrievably.
But the dauntless Mann was intelligent, obedient, and meek. And his teacher was quick to leave no stone unturned in setting the record straight. Mann writes that: "The following letter written to me during my first year of serving at Pleasant View, hints [at] the [l]ove that healed after it had wounded" (p. 156).
Here is a portion of Eddy's letter:
"I remember only your kind care for me and my place. I remember never a word or act of yours that was not kind. I remember that God is Love and that He loves us all and knows best what we most need.." (ibid).
This reminds me of a passage about "tender solicitude" in the chapter Marriage in Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:
"There should be the most tender solicitude for each other's happiness, and mutual attention and approbation should wait on all the years of married life" (p. 59:3).
But Mann also shares another observation. He writes that "I never knew her to introduce [Christian Science] to visitors or guests who were not Christian Scientists" (p. 157).
What grace.
Julie Swannell
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