If anyone knows that loneliness is a cross to bear, I am doubtless one of such people. For 25 years, I have endured loneliness. I have no wife, no friends, and no real close associations with anyone. Yet even in the midst of such loneliness as I have suffered, I carry the cross of loneliness with a sort of grace. After all, they usually say that it's better to laugh than to cry. And though I have been tempted to cry many times in my life, I tend to laugh instead, though to be honest, under the facade of laughter, I am truly weeping with impunity.
I find comfort in my relationship with God, but even that is small consolation for me, and it doesn't fill the empty space next to me where a wife ought to be. It doesn't replace the spot where friends should be. And it doesn't dampen the lonely spot in my life. But at least it does provide some relative comfort and a sense of hope and peace for me. I have had to lean heavily on God for any comfort in these troubled years of my life, especially in these harsh, prejudicial times in which I live.
In truth, if I had a right to start my life over again and if I had a choice between extreme joy and extreme sorrow, I would always choose extreme sorrow. Indeed, when you are in extreme joy, you forget about God, and you forget about your soul and its direction. But when you are in extreme sorrow, you remember God, for He is all you have left to cling to in sorrow and in strife. At least when you are in strife and sorrow, you can be assured that God is always with you, even when everyone else is not.
So, in essence, for me, loneliness is quite a cross to bear, yet I bear it with a sort of grace, knowing that I do not bear it alone, for God is always there to help me along the way. And by trusting in Him and His divine grace, I stand on solid ground in doing so.
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