Your right to companionship

This is an excerpt of an article by Mark Raffles. You can read the entire article here on JSH Online.

Are you lonely? Does it seem as if everyone has someone special but you? When faced with the challenge of loneliness, many believe that the solution lies in becoming more popular or attractive. They may seek a better body through diet, exercise, or even surgery. Still others seek the answer in a new wardrobe or hairstyle. But there’s a different path, one with the promise of a true, lasting solution. It’s an answer based on a better understanding of your relation to God. . .

God is Love, and each of us is the blessed child, or reflection, of Love. This means we can’t be cut off from divine Love’s provision for us of supply, right activity, and employment. It means we can’t be cut off from experiencing His protection from danger or sickness. And it most certainly means we can’t be cut off from proper companionship, camaraderie, loyal friendship, a sense of family. These good and natural aspects of our experience come into clearer focus in our lives when we mentally claim our eternal identity as God’s beloved offspring.

The divine Love that is rightfully ours does not come in measured doses, only at certain times, or to some but not to others. We can’t “miss our chance.” Love is abundantly and universally bestowed, embracing everyone. The Bible promises, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

God is perpetually shining His pure love in each one of us all the time, and that can never change.

Years ago I was on my own in a large city. While I had friends to play sports and hang out with, I felt a desire for a deeper relationship with a companion, perhaps leading to building a family.

As I prayed, it became clear that I needed to live those qualities that I wished to companion with. I needed to keep my thought open to every opportunity for good that God provides, and trust Him, rather than outline my human plan. Over the next few months I reconnected with a friend who was also ready for a spiritually-founded relationship, and that has resulted in a long harmonious marriage and family.

The human result of a clearer sense of God’s love for us may indeed result in a relationship that leads to marriage. It may find us with an enjoyable new group of friends or coworkers. Or it may result in new opportunities for us to share our talents through teaching, coaching, or some other rewarding activity. In whatever form in which God’s plan unfolds in our lives, we can be certain that it will be completely satisfying, that what we truly need will be supplied.

The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, had a clear sense that man can never be deprived of God’s love. She wrote, “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (Science and Health, p.494). What a great promise!