No isolation under Love's care
One of the paradoxes of today’s interconnected living is that it seems that individual lives are becoming more solitary. As wealth increases, it appears people are finding it easier to live alone than to accommodate themselves to someone else’s behavior. Others are left alone because a spouse or family member has passed away. Another paradox is that even individuals living within a group can feel isolated and lonely despite the fact they may be surrounded by others 24/7.
It’s a rude awakening for anyone to realize that he or she is, in fact, suffering from loneliness despite being surrounded by family and material wealth. Even though one’s material well-being has been catered to, the inner self may feel as if it’s been hung out to dry. We may not feel loved and appreciated, and may actually feel cut off from any potential sources of love.
Odd as it may seem, the answer isn’t actually in surrounding oneself with more people. Through prayer we can bring about permanent relief from feelings of isolation and loneliness. Prayer opens us up to Christ, the sense of God as Love’s ministering presence. Christ was the power behind Jesus’ ministry, and we can feel it opening up our hearts and lives today when we pray to understand better our relationship with God. This opening up reveals that we can never be separated from divine Love.
Human conditions may continue to make us feel lonely and separated from others, but as we accept divine Love’s presence in our lives, our perspective changes. Love naturally shifts our outlook, opens us up to new ways of thinking, gives us opportunities to express love toward others, and in turn to feel their affection.
This feeling of our true oneness with God as His spiritual children is wonderfully expressed by Jesus’ statement, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). He perceived infinite Love as the source of his being, and recognized that this was the only presence in his life. Christian Science, which is based on his teaching, shows that we each have this unbroken link with our Creator because it gives us the scientific certainty that God never created a power capable of separating us from Him.
When feelings of separation are replaced with the unerring sense of Love’s presence, then healing starts to occur not only for ourselves but for all those whom we touch in thought. And we never need to worry that our love will run out or that someone will take from us the good that actually has its source in God. We can trust that each day will bring its own unique blessings and satisfactions.
Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Monitor, saw this very clearly. She wrote: “Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the ‘Peace, be still’ to all human fears, to suffering of every sort” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896,” p. 307).
As Christ becomes a reality to us, we will know and feel united with God always, and our love for humanity will begin to wipe out separation and loneliness.
