JANUARY 27
And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss of one
weak creature makes a void in any heart, so wide and deep
that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it
up!
—CHARLES DICKENSHow could it be? We have many friends, many associations.
A good deal of our time we didn’t spend exclusively with
this loved person who is now gone.
But now! The whole of creation seems to shout out the
absence of that one. Even places where we used to be glad
to get away to, to be alone—a solitary shopping trip, for in-
stance, or a walk in the park—now speak of absence and
loneliness. We see people walking jovially together and
think, Why not me?
There is no way we can leave our grief at home when we
embark on such ventures. But we can at least avoid com-
pounding the grief by missing something that never was!
I used to be contented often to be alone—sometimes to prefer it.
Let me not fall so under the spell of grief that my imagination has
no room for being alone and contented now.