Loneliness

John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.   

A few years ago, I reconnected with an old friend from high school that I hadn’t seen or heard from in about a decade.  When I realized that he was still living in the area, I reached out through social media and invited him to come hang out for a guys night.  It was a very low effort attempt to reconnect and, quite honestly, I had no clue if he even had a shred of interest in meeting up again.  To my surprise, however, he took me up on the offer.  Not only did we hang out, eat fried food, shoot some pool, and reminisce on old times, he actually shared with me that life had been very difficult recently.  Separating from his wife, seeing his kids less, and struggling to find happiness despite the loneliness were at the top of his list of “what’s new”.  Through that unlikely night out, we started a new weekly routine where we would get together and not only share a meal, but share about how our lives were actually going, and do our best to avoid the “its fine” response.

Loneliness can be far more crippling than we give it credit, and for a generation that has never been more connected through technology, we seem to be further apart now than ever.  Sharing photos from your recent vacation with your 500 Facebook friends is cool, but it will never be as fulfilling or healing as finding that one person that you can trust, and share the hurt that you’ve been carrying around for months…or years.  This is why the bible is full of verses that refer to the importance of community.  This is the arena where we are able to lean on each other in our times of need and help each other grow and experience God’s truth.

My friend and I have, again, drifted apart and do not keep up with each other regularly, but as I grow in my faith, I look back on that time quite fondly. I appreciate how God nudged me to reach out even though the probability of rejection was high.  I appreciate how He showed me that helping a friend can simply mean sitting and listening even when I have no advice, whatsoever, on how to help.  Most of all, I appreciate how God can take these opportunities that seem random or insignificant and use them to demonstrate what His love looks like in the everyday situations of life.  

Heavenly Father, thank you for the everyday opportunities that you provide where you give us the subtle nudges to demonstrate your love.  We pray that you continue to help us lean into these situations and trust that you will guide us wherever it leads.  Amen.