The pain of loneliness

Have you ever been lonely? So lonely it hurt? So lonely you questioned your worth as an individual? So lonely you felt ashamed even to admit that you were lonely? It’s awful to be lonely. Yet millions of men, women and children are lonely right now. Hundreds of thousands are lonely all day, every hour, every day of the year. And everyone is lonely sometimes. Again and again, we ask God, ourselves and each other a question asked by a little boy who had no one to play with:”Can you help me become unlonely?” 

These are all feelings that can make you lonely: * alone in a crowd, *abandoned, * rejected, * misunderstood, * isolated, *uncertain, * afraid, *ignored, *sometimes brushed aside, * given the cold shoulder, *unconnected, *neglected, *shunned, *misjudged, *intimidated, *anxious, *fearful and *apprehensive. Claim yourself the right to feel the pain, the emptiness, and frustration of loneliness.
It’s awful to be lonely, Lord. Sometimes when I’m in a crowded room surrounded by people who love me, I still feel lonely. The world is full of lonely people, sitting on park benches and bar stools, in movie theatres and at cocktail parties. A next-door neighbor most probably never knocked on your door. Help your lonely Lord. It’s awful to feel lonely.
A psychologist had this to say about the pain of loneliness: “I guess we all have to find our own ways of being wanted and needed. I don’t think this is something, or some easy tip, that you can get from another person. I think we all have to figure this out for ourselves, from our own experiences. Sometimes it is not easy; sometimes it is not pleasant. But it must be done....the most important point to me is that you have to reach out.”
Now imagine the loneliness Jesus must have felt from the moment Judas kissed him, until his death on the cross!