I like to count my parrot blessings every single day. Because my adopted human family understand that I need to be at the heart of their family life. Otherwise, I could so easily feel lonely and forgotten. As it is, I know that I’m very much valued, loved and appreciated.
Not everyone is so fortunate. Many folk go through life feeling very lonely. And loneliness can be like a toothache of the soul, flaring up, and relentlessly gnawing away at us inside. And that’s why some folk turn to the “Lonely Hearts” column of various publications, in their quest to find friendship and love. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to meet up for the “right reasons”, which can make it all a bit of a minefield.
There’s one particular ad which appeared in the “Atlanta Journal” in America that I’d very much like to share with you. It went like this:
“A single black female seeks male companionship. Ethnicity not important, but would prefer a Christian male.
I’m a very good girl who LOVES to play. I’d enjoy long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, camping and fishing trips, plus cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelit dinners will have me eating out of your hand; afterwards I’d love snuggling up with you.
I’ll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me….”
A bit further down the page, at the end of the advertisement, this lady included a photograph of herself. And she turned out to be a black Labrador!
The fact is, a great many humans, animals and birds need love and companionship. Without it, they are incomplete. And just like humans, a great many birds and animals form life-long bonds with one another.
God never intended us to prowl around like the lonely old bears of the northern forests. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus compares humanity to a flock of sheep, emphasising the need for togetherness. While working on the streets of Calcutta, Mother Teresa came to see this first-hand:
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” (Mother Teresa: 1910-1997: Posthumously made a Saint by the Catholic Church for her missionary work in Calcutta, India).
It’s a situation that so many of us want to avoid, and which troubles us greatly:
“The trouble is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely.” (Charlotte Bronte: 1816-1855: British novelist and poet and eldest of the three Bronte sisters)
Every local church can play a huge role to play in the battle against loneliness. By welcoming everyone that walks through the door, and by engaging with the local community to identify folk that are suffering loneliness in silence. You could describe it as “finding the lost sheep and bringing them into the flock”.
I feel very blessed with my daily life, and I want others to feel the same…
“The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.” (1 Timothy 5:5).
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