Article January 28, 1933 Issue

Healing of Loneliness

CORINNE M. MC CONNICO

A comparatively young student of Christian Science found it necessary to leave the shelter and association of her home and take up her residence in a far-distant state, where she had no friends, and where new business connections must be formed. The adjustment required consecrated thought and courageous endeavor. Strange faces, changed surroundings, new work! Living in a small hotel room which became her temporary home, and which had no outlook, requiring artificial light at all times, seemingly added to her problems.

One evening when the situation seemed more than usually oppressive, she approached her room deeply dispirited. As the door closed behind her, there seemed to envelop her a still heavier atmosphere, and she sank into a chair with the thought, How like a tomb this room is! Instantly realizing that she must reverse this morbid suggestion, she reached for the Concordance to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and eagerly chose a reference from page 44 reading as follows: "The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge from his foes, a place in which to solve the great problem of being." Jesus, our Way-shower, transformed a place of gloom and deathliness to one of joyous activity and accomplishment! He had solved "the great problem of being," and had come forth from the tomb, as we read on the next page, "crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting victory." Throughout his earthly experience his thought turned from self to God and love for humanity.

Studying this passage more carefully the student pondered the words "a refuge from his foes"! A foe is an enemy; but what is our enemy? The student next searched the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's other writings and was led to this passage from "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 8): "Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect." In this same article, "Love Your Enemies," Mrs. Eddy makes plain that those whom we count our enemies oftentimes prove our best friends; for experiences in which individuals fail to fulfill our hopes, keep faithfully our trusts, and satisfactorily supply our yearnings for pleasant companionship, urge us to closer fellowship with God, to searching for a better understanding of Him, which leads us to the attaining of spiritual consciousness, wherein we find true contentment. This does not mean the loss or destruction of healthful human relationships and friendships, but rather supplies them; for through lifting up the Christ in consciousness we are enabled to help others, and in this service, the outgrowth of mutually ennobling aims and helpfulness, find sacred and lasting bonds of friendship.

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