UPFRONT July 3, 2006 Issue

The Love that heals loneliness

MAIKE BYRD, CHILDREN'S EDITOR

The 18th-century Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith, a keen observer of people's sentiments, once remarked that "the chief part of human happiness arises from the consciousness of being beloved." As this week's Sentinel shows, love is a powerful presence. God is Love—all-encompassing, infinite, divine Love. And becoming conscious of God's great love for each one of us has brought freedom to many from feelings of unhappiness and loneliness.

Take Dora Henry. As a nanogenarian, living in a sheltered care facility, she's actively embracing the consciousness of being loved, which she finds in communion with God. For her, to be alone is not to be lonesome, but "to have the time to talk with God." This has not only blessed her with peace and joy, but has also given her the ability to bless others. It was Dora's love and her desire to help people in their struggle with loneliness that impelled her to share her life-lessons with the Sentinel.

That's just what Love does. It activates us to move our thought out of being alone with ourselves to being at one with God—with a Love that we in turn express through caring for our neighbors.

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