Article February 7, 1976 Issue

You've Got a Friend

STEPHEN J. VINCENT

At some time in our lives, we may have felt the pain of loneliness. Sometimes loneliness is the result of a breaking off of relationships. At other times it may be the result of a change in one's outlook, which draws him away from those with whom he has been most closely associated.

At such times one may feel his situation is futile, that it can only be corrected by the passage of time, or that it may never be corrected. With some, loneliness becomes a way of life. But it doesn't have to be. It is simply a state of mind, and even at times when we don't have any companions, we needn't succumb to that state of mind.

The alternative is to rise in the understanding that God is ever present and is meeting our every need in a real and tangible way. Christian Science teaches us to control our thought, and therefore our experience, by letting divine intelligence shine in our consciousness. We don't have to will ourselves to think God's thoughts—they are always coming to us and are actually the basis for all constructive human thinking. When we put pride and self-pity out of the way, awareness of God's thoughts, thoughts that break the barriers of loneliness, is inevitable.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

THE VOCABULARY OF SPIRIT