This Christmas we had a lot of quiet reflections about Christ and his coming with the message to love one-another. I as I drifted off to sleep I thought of all the forces in the world working against such a philosophy, and I rested in Jesus' words, "wherever two or more are gathered, there I am. To see that it it good."  With my wife, my lover, my partner Christine beside me I slept. 

This day after Christmas I think of how few people I am connected to closely in Christ, with whom I can be one of the two gathered together. My earthly father said if a person had five people he could count as friends, he was lucky and doing well. That is about the case. 

It occurs to me how fragile a situation of near alone-ness I am, and could be pushed into. And what consequences on strength of faith and sanity being forced into a life where being one with no other 'two' to gather with would be.  IMHO, we all hear the voices of the world all around us, as Jesus said, "let those with an ear hear."  And it is the conversations in our heads with these 'good and bad angels' which make our moral compass. Being 'one of two, gathered together in Jesus name makes a mirror or sounding board to bounce the conversations in our heads off of. "If our partner in Christ thinks like I do, I am on good ground." Even if that conversation is just going on in one's own head, having the 'two' person to relate to gives grounding to our creation of moral ideas. 

However: if a person is by physical restraint, or psychological abuse cornered into a life where they have no trusted number two person to relate to... they are "left to the wolves" so to speak. And perhaps literally. With only internal voices to answer the conversation over moral dilemma, the mind wanders farther and farther afield with no guard-rails to pull it back from the abyss.  The mechanisms we are born with to alert us to danger, 'the eyes in the back of our heads', which are the trusted number two people we keep in our thoughts whom we believe hold our best interest in their hearts, these mechanisms break down, as in the growing pool of 'alone-ness' with no trust surrounding us, the very real dangers of the world come ever closer with our response to flee numbed. Allowing dangers and bad intentions to truly intrude, as well as the perception that ill will is being intended. All because our "two" companions in Christ are not present to re-enforce "that which is good".  There-for when Christ said, "I am the Life" it is a literal meaning. Live with people who are believers who will hold and keep your trust, or fall into the abyss of railing against a world seething with evil intent, with only sword made of straw in your hands.