The Camas Hot Springs Exchange

"Never lonely of heart"

RECENTLY heard over the radio as an advertising slogan were the words, "Even in wartime, those who know they are loved are never lonely of heart." These words brought to a listener a significance deeper than doubtless had originally been intended by the company whose slogan they were.

"Even in wartime," the announcer had begun.

Certainly, loneliness may seem acute to those stationed at remote outposts, assigned to uncongenial tasks, separated from the warmth of human companionship and the comforts of civilization. But, as the advertisers correctly pointed out, if even such as these "know they are loved," they are conscious of a certain heart-warming comfort, which in a measure antidotes their loneliness.

Unnumbered are those who, not only in wartime but at all times, have loneliness as their daily fare. They may be hemmed in by civilization, but they are living in the midst of many perpetually unsympathetic and uninterested individuals. Truly unfortunate are those who do not "know they are loved."

Recalling the Apostle John's assertion that God is Love, and contemplating love's universality, we realize that none can be separated from the presence of Love - their Father, Mother, Minister, Physician, and only real relative - in all its tender ministerings. Love is truly present with earth's "lonely of heart."

To avail ourselves of this abiding presence necessitates the whole-hearted admission on our part that God is All to us. This does not mean a detached and cold turning away in our thinking from individuals. It only means the happy acknowledgment that God is All-in-all, and the according to Him of first place in our affections. The very admission is an effectual guard against loneliness of heart, for it indicates that we are beginning to free ourselves from dependence upon material circumstances.

In speaking of the angels of His presence, Mary Baker Eddy says in Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 307, "It is not the clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more than this: it is a spiritual idea that lights your path!" And she adds, "What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love!"

If men insist upon believing that there is a power opposed to God, and that they are separated from Him by adverse human circumstances, they cannot feel the comfort and reassurance that radiate from the lighted path. Indeed, there will be only a dark and joyless path for those who are not looking to the divine source of all light for love and companionship. Christ Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

The natural, happy result of enjoying the light of the knowledge of God's presence is that others share this enlightened joy. Then those who have not yet claimed God's love for themselves and glimpsed their "glorious inheritance" of spiritual companionship will learn of His love.

That intrepid Christian, Paul, who for love of the Master's teachings exposed himself to all the opposition of the carnal mind, stated the result of his experiences decisively in a letter to the Romans. He wrote (Romans 8:38, 39), "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

This Christian warrior, who journeyed into strange lands and dwelt in unfriendly cities, knew and proved, as we may today, that nothing can separate man from God's love.

So, whether we are alone in a big city or a vast country, surrounded or solitary, we can know that we are indeed loved, and therefore need never be "lonely of heart."

Since infinite divine Love is our constant and satisfying companion, we can rest assured that from His healing presence and ministering love we can never be separated. -The Christian Science Monitor.