Reflection
Loneliness is a poignant homing instinct, like that of migratory birds. It guides us back towards this assurance: We are not meant to live cut off from each other, from ourselves, or from the Universal Reality which gives us life. We are meant to dwell in love, which is a wholehearted “yes” to belonging…We may be tempted to feel that our bond of belonging has shredded or snapped after a painful rejection or a loved one’s death. Our heart breaks. Through that break, we feel ourselves falling into a vastness too frightening for our small selves to enter. Little do we know that we are falling into safe arms. After all, what breaks when our heart breaks? Only a narrow fear which deludes us into believing that love comes solely from a limited source. When we let go of this anxiety, we tumble into an expansive truth: We have always belonged to something infinitely greater than our small selves. Each sorrow and each joy gratefully accepted opens our heart further, until we come to know that we are fully loved at all times and in all places, and even beyond time and space. Gratitude then knows no bounds.
gratefulness.org
Prayer
Praise God! God’s love never fails.
Psalm 136
Action
Reflect on our interconnection and the various ways we experience acceptance and love. How are your own fears deluding you?
Suggested Reading
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because God first loved us.
1 John 4:18-19
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:14
We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.
St. Francis De Sales
Only God can fully satisfy the hungry heart of man.
Hugh Black
Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.
Dag Hammarskjold
We become truly personal by loving God and by loving other humans… In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of the Creator in us.
Kallistos Ware