Loneliness!?

WED., MAR. 5, 1997, 8:40 PM
DINING TABLE, FARM

My servant Billy preached tonight about a condition said to be prevalent in your culture – loneliness. The brief letter from Dorothy told of her experience of this malady, and you shall consider how you can help with this. Yet this is not a condition that you feel. Why?

Billy’s answer, of course, is to come to Christ, to the Lord Jesus… and the loneliness shall be no more. You are coming to Christ in a different way… the way of the Holy Spirit – Me. You have plenty of human contacts, with the classes you have and with the individual students with whom you interact. Throughout the test this afternoon you made eye contact with many in the room, and you sent most of them off with a smile and a Thank You. Then came a time of familiar friendliness with Lenore, your life companion, at your favorite pizza place. There was no feeling of loneliness, even as you talked about some whose lives are lonely, for different reasons.

You hear Me in this somewhat unusual place, but the interaction is a friendly, familiar one. There is no doubt in your mind and spirit that I shall communicate with you until these three pages have been filled. There is no way you can be lonely when you hear Me as you do. I am the Spirit of God and Christ and Myself. I would not allow you to miss this day, as one of hearing Me. You accomplished your professional task quite well, instead of the Teaching you most often have on this mid-week morning. I allowed the “substitution”, but then led you to this time and place. Consider how lonely you might be, spiritually, if We were not fairly regularly seeking each other.

There are lonely people on this planet earth, and, as Billy indicated, some of these are in your crowded cities. And, also, some are here at this University, in the midst of a sizeable student body. You know that one of your “missions” is to be as a friend to some of these, who come to you, boldly and timidly. In some ways this is easy… and enjoyable… for you. In other ways, it requires some effort, it being easier, so it seems, to not extend yourself. Just be aware of the balance… of pushing yourself a bit and just doing what is comfortable.

Loneliness is not one of your expectations as you look ahead to retirement. You have your life companion, other friends, and the church congregation as your base, but you know there will be some loss as you lose the regular contacts with students. There may be some ways to maintain at least some of this, but then…

Real, genuine loneliness, to which Billy was referring, is spiritual more than it is social. Real loneliness comes when there are few comfortable and satisfying spiritual relations. You can both seek these… and be open to My bringing these to your attention. Some of these will be flesh and blood people, of various “sorts”. Some will come in words that you read, written to entice the spirit in a variety of ways.

You look forward to having time to read and contemplate some variety of books, with words and ideas that touch your spirit in ways that are the antidote to and preventer of loneliness. You also will find opportunities to share spiritual insights, directly face-to-face and through letters. You may decide to go to a convention now and then, to maintain and revitalize spiritual friendships. Just expect that you will realize many ways to avoid loneliness.

Your animals are another hedge against loneliness. You’ll certainly try for another dog companion sometime soon. And there is now an inherent friendliness in this old house and in the various “special places” on this Farm that nourish the spirit in a way other than through human contacts.