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ATTACKING the AGONY of LONELINESS
Updated: Jan 17
Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places)
And are dedicated to providing Spiritual FOOD FOR THOUGHT
To HELP Men and Women Find HOPE
THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE!
(Ron Bainbridge, Editor)
(November 17th, 2020)
ATTACKING the AGONY of LONELINESS
Friends, Paul Tournier opened his book, “Escape from Loneliness,” by referring to a secretary who turned on her radio each evening just before the station closed down in order to hear these closing words: “…and so, we bid you a very pleasant good night!”
This lady was employed by an international welfare organization. Her life was busy; her work was appreciated; she received every courtesy, and yet, each evening before falling asleep she reached for the radio and the sound of a human voice speaking to her: “…we bid you a very pleasant good night!”
Sociologist Suzanne Gordon has called loneliness “The New Human tradition.” In large cities and small, at every economic and educational level, crossing all racial and ethnic boundaries, we are lonely people, alienated and detached.
Friend, human relationships are not merely pleasant or desirable, they constitute one of our greatest needs. Jesus made this our new obligation when he said, “I give you a new commandment: Love one another; Love one another as I have loved you. By your love for one another everyone will know that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35).
Dr. James J. Lynch has shown in his book, “The Broken Heart” that lonely people live significantly shorter lives than the general population.
Well, how does one go about cultivating relationships? How can you learn to be giving, understanding, caring? How can I be a friend?
Psychologist Alan Loy McGinnis has offered five basic rules for strengthening relationships, which I’d like to share with you. They are:
(1) Establish friendship as your top priority.
(2) Try hard to cultivate a certain transparency.
(3) Talk about your affections.
All too often, we are so afraid of being sentimental that friendship is lost because it goes undeclared. Many years ago the author George Eliot wrote this letter to a friend: “I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are the same kind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of literature and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.”
(4) Learn the gestures of love.
Edna St. Vincent Millay put it this way: “Tis not love’s going hurts my days, but that it went in little ways.” Friendship often slips away from us “in little ways.” On the other hand, small acts of kindness and courtesy can strengthen relationships.
(5) Friendship must have space.
Give your friends room. Too many people are possessive and manipulative with their friends. Fearing they might lose them, they dominate them. This is a sure road to loneliness. Kahlil Gibran advised concerning marriage: “It is important that you give your friends room to grow.”
However, more than anything else, when you are lonely, you need an understanding friend. Jesus is the one---perhaps the only one---who can really understand! And the reason I say this, is because utter loneliness is what He felt when, while hanging on the Cross of Calvary He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 24:46).
Friend, in a very real sense, you and I have an ally in Jesus! Because in the strangling grip of the Cross He experienced the maximum impact of loneliness!
If you would like to know more about how you can attack the agony of loneliness and have more and better friends, I encourage you to write for our FREE booklets titled: “Attacking the agony of loneliness” and “HOW YOU CAN HAVE MORE AND BETTER FRIENDS.”
To receive your Complimentary copies, send your request to
Discovering A BETTER LIFE, Unit 49/2 Plantation Street, Menora, Western Australia 6050 Or you may Email us at: abl-alb@omninet.net.au
“The thread of our life would be dark,
Heaven knows!
If it were not with friendship and love
Intertwined.”
Friend, if you would like to read more human-interest stories, we invite you to visit our Website Blog at:
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