Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your families are well.

This week I’d like once again to focus on Britain’s lonely. There seem to be so many people out there who suffer from loneliness and it’s such a sad feature of our country.

Loneliness can affect anyone. Experiences of loneliness can vary, but its effects can be profound and wide-ranging. It is considered by many to be one of the largest public health challenges we face.

• In 2022, 49.63% of adults (25.99 million people) in the UK reported feeling lonely occasionally, sometimes, often or always.
• Approximately 7.1% of people in Great Britain (3.83 million) experience chronic loneliness, meaning they feel lonely ‘often or always’.
• This has risen from 6% (3.24 million) in 2020, indicating that there has not been a return to pre-pandemic levels of loneliness.

For us as Christians, we need to renew our minds to think positively and not to be thinking about the worst outcomes, and believe in what the word tells us, to think about good things and that good things are going to happen to us, that all good things comes from our Father in heaven.

James 1:7 . Hope from the word of God, provides a confident expectation of good things, and to always be thankful.

From a practical viewpoint, We, most of us, have a spare place at our table. How hard is it to invite a lonely person to Sunday lunch?

God Bless You all. Have a peaceful Sunday and a great week to follow.

Lord, we pray for those who are isolated within their homes, especially the lonely and vulnerable. We pray that you would surround them with your love. Lord, in this time would you minister to each one, that they would know that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them and is with them. Amen