I have been very lonely this month and it has reminded me of our Lord's loneliness in the wilderness. There is a carving of it on one of the columns in the old church although I have never liked that carving or that church and it is no longer Holy ground since it was deconsecrated.

But nonetheless he must have been lonely and I expect it was much worse than me. Even the little devil on the carving is crying and I assume that may mean he is lonely too. I know lots of people suffer loneliness and I think our psychologist has written about it.

But I think she got it a bit wrong in that there is more to it than just our mind being unhealthy. True loneliness must be living without people but also living without God. So maybe, Jesus was not actually lonely in the wilderness as he would, naturally, have been with God because he was God, of course. The devil on the other hand had rejected God so he must have been very lonely - which may be why he is crying but Jesus is not.

And I have read that there are lots of older people looking for love in the village so I think we are surrounded by loneliness. I think it is very particularly lonely when you didn't used to be lonely but then your friend dies or goes off to spend time with an artist instead of you.

So I shall go round this month and meet all the lonely people in the village and then perhaps by being lonely together we can all of us not be lonely any more. Maybe that will include the artist and my old friend just to check they are not lonely any more because they have each other.