Christian Living
All Alone…Unnaturally
© 2005
by
Stephen A. Peterson
Carolyn Walters, 17 years old, following a counseling session, wrote me a brief note that expressed the feelings and problems a dying teen faces. “I am dying but I am not dead,” she wrote. “I am so very lonely because people who once called me friend are scared to call me, write me or visit me. I think they’re scared to be friends with me because, I guess, they think I’m going to die in front of them or give them the disease I have by seeing me or touching me. I might die in front of them but I don’t think so. The doctor tells me that the disease I have they can’t get if they hugged me. I know that really I’m not alone because God is everywhere and He is here. But I long to see other friendly faces, hear their voice and get an occasional hug. Is that too much to ask for?”
Carolyn’s expression of loneliness has been said to be the most pervasive emotionally pressured word in the English language. Her loneliness is made more painful because she is dying. Research has demonstrated that one of the greatest concerns of dying persons is loneliness and the feeling of being abandoned by loved ones and friends at a period in their life when they need and want to hear the human voice and the comfort of the touch of their hand or person.
Christians of every denomination are taught that God made humankind with a need for intimacy and companionship with other people. God declared: “It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him (Genesis 2:18—NIV). Likewise, it is the responsibility of the Body of Christ to be a comforter to dying sisters and brothers (John 14:18—NIV). Failing to be there for the living and dying is why so many are found to feel so empty and emotionally spent to the point many choose suicide and euthanasia to escape life.
Before His Passion and death on the cross, Jesus experienced loneliness when His followers and disciples betrayed and abandoned Him to His enemies and evil persons. Therefore, Jesus knows and understands the power loneliness can have on people. Christ’s followers must make themselves available to assist and be supportive of the lonely and dying by reaching out to them. We should also help the lonely reaching out to the Lord. Jesus has promised that He would always be with the suffering and dying. That mentioned, Jesus calls Christians of every persuasion to be His eyes, ears and voice to be with others and to offer them the human touch without fear and apprehension.
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This article so touched my heart! Brother, you are so blessed that the Lord would grant you the compassion necessary to do what you do. He surely has wonderous rewards set up for you. Be exceedingly blessed.
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