You don't have to be lonely

One of today's most pressing concerns is loneliness - that deep, heartfelt yearning to share our experience with another. In this fast-paced, mobile society, the need for tender, compassionate understanding, for being loved and cared for, is growing. But if you are feeling this need, it can be met right now.

As we accept the spiritual fact that we are all God's children - despite what may seem to be an isolated, lonely human existence - we begin actually to feel His presence, to glimpse the marvelous truth that we're not alone, and that our creator knows us better than any human friend ever can.

In Psalms we read: ''O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. . . . Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.'' n1

n1 Psalms 139:1, 7-10.

How encouraging it is to know that God leads us and holds us, never deserting us.

Through humble prayer we can learn what it means truly to know God, open our hearts to Him, listen to Him. With God we don't have to fear being rebuffed, because He is infinite Love itself. There is never a barrier between God and man , creator and creation. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ Jesus declared, ''Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.'' n2 His words point to man's inseparability from Deity and to God's constant provision for His creation.

n2 Matthew 6:8.

Ifwe're wrestling with loneliness, then, our primary need may be to better understand God and our own true selfhood, complete in Him. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ''As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.'' n3

n3 Science and Health, p. 264.

We never need to look outside our spiritual completeness for even the smallest particle of good. As we begin to discern this, loneliness loses its hold on us. We rejoice in the ever-presence of our loving Father, this glorious divine Being who cherishes us, and we turn our thoughts to giving instead of looking for something we lack.

For many years I ''looked'' for a husband. In this one area of my life I had not been willing to accept God as filling my every need. I was afraid that if I ''settled'' for Him, I would have to sacrifice the human companionship I so yearned for.

Then little by little, as I prayed humbly to discern what I needed to know, to learn whatever was necessary to achieve this much-needed healing of loneliness, I realized that I had been shutting God out. In other ways I had loved Him and listened to Him, but as a companion I had been considering Him second best. So I began putting Him first, making a conscious effort to live love - love for God and for my fellowman; to think of ways I could give to others with no thought of what they should give me in return. I finally stopped looking and began savoring my completeness, my God-given wholeness.

What a relief it was! Why hadn't I realized earlier what it would mean to accept God wholeheartedly, savor His tenderness, His unfailing compassion and understanding?

In this quiet consciousness of self-completeness, content and at peace, loving every opportunity to express my wholeness, I met the man who is now my husband.

I learned I didn't have to be lonely. I just had to look to my real being and accept the enriching, fulfilling presence of God.

You can too. DAILY BIBLE VERSE My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Philippians 4:19,20

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