Facebook is constantly trying to fix my loneliness: they try to appeal to me with both the secular (Match.com) and Christian (Christian Mingle) dating scenes. Every time I open up my computer, I have the opportunity to join for free and find God's match for me today!
When I reconnect with friends, the conversation quickly floats to dating and whether there is someone special in any of our lives at the moment. We want to make sure that none of us is alone. That each of us has something going on in our lives.
The pressure to be surrounded isn't limited to the dating world. Especially in college, we are always expected to be doing something - to always have plans. To make an appearance here or there. Make sure that our Friday and Saturday nights are full of activity and socializing. Our worth is assessed by our peers by how active we are.
Community is a wonderful thing, and Jesus calls us to embrace that. I had a conversation with a camper last summer. We were discussing some of the typical girl stuff that can be frustrating during the high school years. Things like boys, and friends that can come and go. I thought back to my high school years, and God's faithfulness in providing me with good friends to surround me and support me. I told her that God would provide the community that she needed - I had learned that from experience.
It is true - God will provide the community that we need. He will put friends in our lives to share with us in our joys and in our tough times. He does not want us to be alone. But He also wants us to know that He is the only thing that can truly meet our needs and our desires. He is the only one that can fulfill us.
There are times in the last few years that I have felt very alone. I have felt very far from my family, very disconnected from my friends and my community. I often tried eagerly to surround myself, and bring friends into my life, but it was like being a kid who was trying to put a puzzle piece into the wrong place. There is a space in each of us that we often try to fill with the wrong things. We think that by stuffing anything in there, we will cure any and all loneliness. But you have to put the correct puzzle piece in place to complete the picture. Growing up I have learned that there is a place in me that only God can fill. I have learned to trust in Him that He will provide community, relationships and anything else that He knows that I need.
There is no shame in being alone or feeling alone. We have to separate the world's idea of loneliness and God's idea of loneliness. God wants us to be alone with Him. Just Him. He wants us to know the He is enough for us, and He want's us to rejoice in that. There will be a season where He brings a special person into our lives; he'll put it on our heart to fire up that profile on E-Harmony. He will surround us with the friends and community that we need.
In Christ we are never alone. Once we fill the empty places within us with His love, we can end the futile search for the worldly things that cannot fill us. Even if you feel alone in the world's terms, your value to God is constant.
~SP
No comments:
Post a Comment