In George Bernard Shaw’s The Black Girl in Search of God, the central character says to an old man, ‘You don’t have to look for God as He is always at your side.’ When Shaw was writing, God was always referred to as masculine, whereas God is neither male or female nor a person. The closest that we can perhaps get is: ‘God is Love.’ It is a love that surrounds, embraces and upholds us. As the Psalmist wrote, ‘Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.’
We are never alone.
In the Gospels we read how Mary is told that her heart must be broken so that the secrets of many shall be revealed. To each of us will come a time when this happens – a rejection at work, the end of a love affair, sudden illness, or the death of someone close to us. We have to endure the pain and the loss, learning from the experience. This in turn will enable us, when the time comes, to be able to respond to the needs of others.
However much we may love another human being and however important their role in our lives, we must never seek to possess them. Even if we are linked in marriage or a civil partnership we have to learn to stand on our own feet, work out our own problems, rather than lean too heavily on our partner – who will be on their own unique journey. We also need to recognise that in a long-term relationship it can sometimes seem as though love has died. It is important to trudge on through the desert, knowing that if we persevere we shall in due course come to a new oasis where love flourishes afresh. We have but to persevere.
