| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 10 |
Page 5 |
But not the old people only are left lonely by life’s change; sorrow touches all ages, and if we have not Christ when other friends are taken, desolate indeed shall we be. Blessed is that life, any life, which, human friends are taken away, finds the friendship of Christ all-filling, all-satisfying, and can say, “Yet I am not alone, for Christ is with me.”
The loneliest of all human experiences I that of dying. We cannot die in clusters, not even two and two; we must die alone. Human hands must unclasp ours as we enter the valley of shadows. Human faces must fade from our vision as we pass into the mists. “I cannot see you,” said one dying, as the loved ones stood about his bed. So it will be with each one of us in turn. Human love cannot go beyond the edge of the valley. But we need not be alone even in the deepest of all loneliness, for if we are Christ’s we can say, “Yet I am not alone, for my Savior is with me.” When human hands unclasp, his will clasp ours the more firmly. When human loved faces fade out, his will shine above us in all its glorious brightness. When we must creep out of the bosom of Christ. Death’s loneliness will thus be filled with divine companionship. The inference from all this is our absolute need of the friendship and companionship of Christ, without which we can only sink away into life’s loneliness and perish. One reason, no doubt, why our lives are so full of experiences of need, is that we may learn to walk with Christ. If earth’s human companionships satisfied us, and if we never lost them, we might not care for Christ’s. If earth’s homes were perfect, and if they never crumbled, we might not grow homesick for heaven.
“There is a mystery in human hearts;
And though we may be encircled by a host
Of those who love us well and are beloved,
To every one of us from time to time
There comes a sense of utter loneliness.
Our dearest friend is ‘stranger’ to our joy,
And cannot realize our bitterness.
‘There is not one, who really understands,–
Not one to enter into all we feel;’
Such is the cry of each of us in turn.
We wander in a ‘solitary way,’
No matter what or where our lot may be;
Each heart, mysterious even to itself,
Must live its inner life in solitude.
And would you know the reason why this is?
It is because the Lord desires our love.
In every heart he wishes to be first;
He therefore keeps the secret key himself,
To open all its chambers, and to bless
With perfect sympathy and holy peace
Each solitary soul that comes to him.
So, when we feel this loneliness, it is
The voice of Jesus, saying, ‘Come to me;’
And every time we are ‘not understood,’
It is a call for us to come again,
For Christ alone can satisfy the soul;
And those who walk with him from day to day
Can never have a ‘solitary way.’
And when beneath some heavy cross you faint
And say, ‘I cannot bear this load alone,’
You say the truth. Christ made it purposely
So heavy that you must return to him.
The bitter grief which ‘no one understands,’
Conveys a secret message from the King,
Entreating you to come to him again.
The Man of Sorrows understands it well;
In all points tempted, he can feel with you.
You cannot come too often or too near.
The Son of God is infinite in grace;
His presence satisfies the longing soul;
And those who walk with him from day to day
Can never have a ‘solitary way.’”
Page 5
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