Precept and Practice – DECEMBER 25 – Loneliness

Then there are the lonely and the sorrowful who say that they cannot bear or share in the happiness of this time (Christmas).   The contrast is too great for the lonely, and the associations too bitter for the sorrowful;  and indeed I am grieved for them.

The image of happy homes where many meet together brings natural sadness to those who sit alone in their rooms and hear no pleasant voices…..    Yet, there are efforts which the soul should make;  and to lift ourselves above loneliness and sorrow into sympathy with the happiness of others is one of those efforts in fulfilling which the solitary and the sorrowful find peace and consolation.   To dwell on

loneliness, to cherish sorrow like a child, is to dwell upon one’s self, and is sure to double loneliness and to double sorrow.

Loneliness is often our own fault.   We have not brought others enough into our own life, or we have repelled others by making too many claims upon them, or by seeking too much sympathy for ourselves and giving too little to others.   No one need be lonely in life, if he try hard enough to get out of self, and to get into the lives of those around him.   If you are lonely, comfort the lonely, and you will forget your loneliness in love.   That will hallow the day and fill it with its own sacred joy.

(Reverend Stopford A. Brooke)

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW