Who is Going to Love Judith Bucknell?

I couldn't help but share this story that I found in one of Max Lucado's No Wonder They Call Him Savior. It reminds us that loneliness is something that everyone experiences at one time or another. It doesn't matter how spiritual you are, how educated you are, if you are single, married, divorced, if you have lots of money or not. You will experience loneliness at one time or another.  Loneliness is a reminder that only Jesus can fill those parts of us that seem to cry out and grasp for anything around us to fill that need.  Too many people are embarrassed to admit that they are lonely. We are taught that if we feel lonely, there is something wrong with us, when in reality, God created within us that void that can only be satisfied by knowing Him daily.  It is something that makes us long for Him with such intensity that the only way to make it go away is to be in His presence.  My encouragement to you is know that you are not alone. There are others who have experienced it, but more than anything else, Jesus knows how you feel and he cares about you in your current state.   His love can fill any dark place of your life if you will allow Him. 

 

Who Is Going To Love Judith Bucknell?

In the summer 1980, a Miami Herald reporter captured a story that left the entire Gold Coast breathless. It was the story of Judith Bucknell. Attractive, young, successful, and dead. Judith Bucknell was homicide number one hundred and six that year. She was killed on a steamy June 9th evening. Age: 38. Weight: 109 pounds. Stabbed seven times. Strangled. Were it not for her diary, Judith would have been just another number among many homicide victims for that year. The correspondent made this comment about her writings. 

In her diaries, Judy created a character and a voice. The character is herself, wistful, struggling, weary; the voice is yearning. Judith Bucknell has failed to connect; age 38, many lovers, much love offered, none returned.

 Her struggles weren't unusual. She worried about getting old, getting fat, getting married, getting pregnant, and getting by......... Her diary was replete with entries such as the following. 

Where are the men with the flowers and champagne and music? Where are the men who call and ask for a genuine, actual date? Where are the men who would like to share more than my bed, my booze, my food.... I would like to have in my life, once before I pass through my life, the kind of sexual relationship which is part of a loving relationship. 

She never did. Judy was not a prostitute. She was not on drugs or on welfare. She never went to jail. She was not a social outcast. She was respectable. She jogged. She hosted parties. She wore designer clothes and had an apartment that overlooked the bay. And she was very lonely.

I see people together and I'm so jealous I want to throw up. What about me! What about me!

Though surrounded by people, she was on an island. Though she had many acquaintances, she had few friends. Though she had many lovers (fifty-nine in fifty-six months), she had little love. 

Who is going to love Judy Bucknell? 

The diary continues. 

I feel so old. Unloved. Unwanted. Abandoned. Used up. I want to cry and sleep forever. 

A clear message came from her aching words. Though her body died on June 9th from the wounds of a knife, her heart had died long before...from loneliness.

I'm alone and I want to share something with somebody.

[NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM THE SAVIOR]
by Max Lucado
©1986 by Multnomah Press