Alone

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

ALONE! is the title of Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd's autobiography in which this celebrated explorer tells about his experience in a little hut in the Antarctic near the South Pole. Byrd tells how the isolation began working on his mind and emotions as he spent the long winter alone, separated from friends and loved ones, even separated from friendly animals which might have offered some companionship or comfort. "Alone!" None would deny it, but a person does not have to spend a long arctic night in a little hut near the pole to know what it is to experience feelings of isolation and loneliness.

I am thinking of the young mother of four who wrote telling how they had moved from one city to another when her husband was promised a new job. She was eight months pregnant in a city without friends or relatives, when her husband disappeared, leaving a note behind that he no longer loved her and that she must make out the bst she could. Could any person ever feel more alone and dejected than did this woman?

Many women today know what it is to feel alone and to be alone. As well as infidelity, death leaves a lot of women shrouded in loneliness. Three out of four women outlive their husbands by an average of more than seven years. Although the average age of becoming a widow is 56, one of every six women over age 21 is widowed. The very word "widow" comes from the Sanskrit which means "empty". Loneliness is emptiness.

Logic would decree that single individuals will wrestle with loneliness, but what about those who are part of a group, are they immune? Today there is another group battling the isolation and depression of loneliness, a group which seemingly should not be there, nonetheless, is. It is the vast number of young men and women between the ages of 15 and 24 who feel separated and estranged from their families and society in general.

A few years ago, Gertrude Stein called them "a generation without a cause!" Today, they have become a vast army of students and potential suicides, who rub shoulders with many, many individuals, yet have empty lives without relationships that cement them to reality. Drugs, casual sex, and the quest for meaningful experiences drive them further and further into their loneliness. Pretty pessimistic! Yes, and no! Recognizing the malady of the 21st century is one thing; knowing how to remedy the situation is quite another matter. It is here that I am optimistic.

My optimism does not stem from an unbridled faith in wishful thinking, but the certainty that to be alone does not necessarily mean a person has to be lonely. Man's extremity is God's opportunity, and it is during periods of loneliness when your faith is challenged that you can discover the guiding hand of God and learn that Christ's presence is a reality, not simply a facet of theology. Is God real? Can you experience the actual presence of Jesus Christ in such a way that you can have active fellowship with Him? Can you learn that Christ is not just an historical reality, but a friend who stays closer than a brother? If the answer is positive, then, to be alone does not have to be synonymous with loneliness.

He who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5), honors his promises, giving you assurance of His companionship. Because He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," you can have confidence that God cares and that He will never allow you to be estranged from His presence. Discovering this great truth will mean you need never be totally alone again ever (Matthew 28:20).

Resource reading: Romans 8.