On Sunday, I was in the check out line at Kroger picking up some necessities and I began watching the woman in front of me unload her cart. (I have a slight fascination with what other people buy--I think yhou can know a lot about a person by the contents of their cart) Anyway, in her cart were: a 12 pack of pepsi, a large thing of non dairy creamer, a HUGE thing of coffee, 4 cartons of cigarettes, and approx. 15 stauffer's frozen dinners. I casually mentioned I loved the Stauffer's lasagna to which the woman replied that she never bought that because she didn't have anybody but herself to eat it. As fate would have it, when I left the parking lot I was behind her car and I watched her drive (by herself) to this apartment complex down the road. I couldn't help but think about how lonely this woman must be.
And then that got me thinking....one of the worst feelings mankind can experience, I think, is loneliness. At all costs we avoid being alone. Because when we are truly alone, we have no supporters and no connection to anybody or anything. I think when we are feeling alone we are more apt to make destructive decisions.
When I feel alone, my first impulse is usually to go out--to make a connection, healthy or unhealthy. I'm so desperate to not feel lonely, I will do anything. And I see this in others--in friends who are in relationships out of a desperate fear of being alone, in people who stay in the same location because it's safe, etc, etc. We want that tangible connection because it's hard sometimes to feel connected to an intangible God.
But, God designed us to be with other people. We should surround ourselves with friends and people who encourage us to not act out of desperation, but to live with purpose. Friends who call us out when we're straying from the life that is intended for us. Friends who help us develop a level of discernment in our decision making. Friends who tell us when we're dating an idiot.
Without a community of friends who encourage your relationship with God, I think you miss out on a line of defense that keeps you from making decisions based on a fear of being alone, rather than on God's will for you.
I'm starting to develop a group of good friends that do just that...and I think that's super cool.
And then that got me thinking....one of the worst feelings mankind can experience, I think, is loneliness. At all costs we avoid being alone. Because when we are truly alone, we have no supporters and no connection to anybody or anything. I think when we are feeling alone we are more apt to make destructive decisions.
When I feel alone, my first impulse is usually to go out--to make a connection, healthy or unhealthy. I'm so desperate to not feel lonely, I will do anything. And I see this in others--in friends who are in relationships out of a desperate fear of being alone, in people who stay in the same location because it's safe, etc, etc. We want that tangible connection because it's hard sometimes to feel connected to an intangible God.
But, God designed us to be with other people. We should surround ourselves with friends and people who encourage us to not act out of desperation, but to live with purpose. Friends who call us out when we're straying from the life that is intended for us. Friends who help us develop a level of discernment in our decision making. Friends who tell us when we're dating an idiot.
Without a community of friends who encourage your relationship with God, I think you miss out on a line of defense that keeps you from making decisions based on a fear of being alone, rather than on God's will for you.
I'm starting to develop a group of good friends that do just that...and I think that's super cool.
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