He and Paul have won through to such a fertile and fertilizing relationship I almost envy it … and then I think of my solitude and realize again that I am truly married to it and without it would be even more nerve-racked and impossible than I am.
The House by the Sea: A Journal
May Sarton
Category: LONELINESS & SOLITUDE
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And my search for love and acceptance outside of God’s presence then leads to dangerous places. The world’s plan always leads us to places of pain, loneliness, and a deep ache for belonging that seems just out of reach. Because the need to be loved and accepted runs so deep, we find ourselves doing things we never thought possible just to try to satisfy those desires. What starts off as a seemingly small compromise can easily become a complete contradiction to the people we long to be.
Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely
Lysa TerKeurst -
If we feel lonely we must pray. But the object of our prayer must be God and not our loneliness. The loneliness is a sign that our relationship with God needs fixing.
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He possessed nothing of his own and would have nothing to do with invitations and banquets. He always ate alone, just enough to sustain his sick, emaciated body, and he did not accept invitations because they would involve him in worldly conversations.
The Life of Saint John Chrysostom
On the Vanity of Riches -
Be not often present at feasts, nor at all in dissolute company, when it may be avoided; for variety of pleasing objects steals away the heart of man; and company is either violent or enticing; and we are weak or complying, or perhaps desirous enough to be abused. But if you be unavoidably or indiscreetly engaged, let not mistaken civility or good nature engage thee either to the temptation of staying (if thou understandest thy weakness) or the sin of drinking inordinately.
—Rev. Jeremy Taylor, On Christian Sobriety -Rules for obtaining temperance., The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Volume 3. THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY LIVING AND DYING….: The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying -
If you’ve been taught that it is okay to be in this self-sacrificed type of environment and stay away from relationships, you will never, ever grow. That is not spirituality.
That spirituality that says, I’m going to be on my own—read, pray, do whatever, and I don’t care about anybody else—you are not part of the body of Christ. You are dismembering yourself from the body of Christ.
—Fr. Paul Girguis, Redeeming the Time: Setting Boundaries
