One never needs to feel alone! Everyone has a constant companion who is always present to love, protect, and talk with him. This companion is God. Men have companioned with God through the ages.

When Jacob thought that he was left alone at Peniel, he found God's thoughts so near to him that he declared, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." ^{Gen. 32:30;} Moses appeared to be alone with his sheep when he heard God assuring him, "Certainly I will be with thee." ^{Ex. 312;}

This idea of Immanuel, or "God with us," is developed throughout the Bible and was fulfilled in the life of Christ Jesus, who proved the presence and comfort of God wherever he was. Jesus acknowledged the sufficiency of God to meet every human need, including that of right companionship. There were times in his life when Jesus seemed to be alone: when he was forty days in the wilderness, when his disciples slept at Gethsemane, and when he was on the cross. Yet the Master turned each of these experiences into opportunities to demonstrate his closeness to God. He declared, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." ^{John 16:32:} He progressively discerned the unity, or oneness, of God and man.

When, after the resurrection, Jesus' disciples grieved because he would soon leave them, he comforted them with these words: "Lo, I [the Christ] am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." ^{Matt. 28:20;}

The Christ Science, or Christian Science, has conclusively proved itself to be the Comforter promised by Jesus. It teaches that God, Life, Truth, and Love, is forever present to meet men's needs. To understand that man companions with Life is to understand that one can never be separated from strength, support, and protection. Life is man's guardian. To understand that man companions with Truth is to understand that one's security and supply can never be cut off or depleted. Truth is man's benefactor. And to understand that man companions with Love is to understand that one can never feel fear, emptiness, or lack of love in his experience. Love is man's dear friend.

Often one is forced to recognize that he must not depend on persons for enduring companionships. To claim that another person is the source of our joy or sense of life is also to support the belief that the absence of that person can deprive us of our completeness. The endearing qualities others express have their source in God, not person, and are therefore eternal and infinite.

When those we love are no longer with us, we need not feel any void in our experience. Mrs. Eddy writes, "There are no vacuums."  ^{Science and Health, p. 346;} Again she says that there may be times when one feels solitary, "but," she assures us, "this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love." ^{p. 266 ;} Mrs. Eddy proved this in her own experience.

After discovering the Science of Christ which healed her of invalidism, Mrs. Eddy tried to share this truth with others. Understanding neither the discovery nor the Discoverer, however, society shunned her, and there were times of open opposition. Gradually Mrs. Eddy was forced to turn away from person to God for her true sense of companionship. In her book "Mary Baker Eddy: Her Mission and Triumph" Julia Michael Johnston states, "She who once was wholly dependent upon others was rising to independence of all but God." ^{Mary Baker Eddy: Her Mission and Triumph, p. 53 .} Through the increased understanding of the nature of Truth and of man's relationship to it, gained through devoted years of Bible study and quiet prayer, Mrs. Eddy discovered a richer sense of companionship than ever before. Warm friendships, a happy, spiritually secure marriage, loyal students, and the world's growing receptivity to Christian Science were the fruits of her prayer.

The truths of Christian Science regarding companionship are not vague or abstract statements, but completely demonstrable. In the writer's experience, one instance of this particularly stands out. The night before leaving on a four months' student tour of Europe, she felt very much alone as she contemplated the long period of separation from parents, home, and familiar surroundings. Then came the reassuring angel message, "You are not an only child—a child alone!" Thought was immediately uplifted to recognize that God, man's real Parent, has infinite ideas expressing Him and that she herself was one of these ideas, surrounded by unlimited expressions of Love.

This was clearly proved in the months that followed. As she forgot self in reaching out for new friendships and helping those around her, the feeling of companionship increased. It was progressively clear to her that in reality everyone is God's child, embraced by the warmth and satisfaction of Love, in whom there is no loneliness or separation. During the trip, she made many friends, witnessed healings of sickness and instances of protection from accident during a hurricane at sea, and gained an increased understanding of God's ever-presence.

Regardless of the human picture, one can joyously identify himself with the truth that man is never alone. Claiming God for our forever friend and companion, we shall express His love to one another.