I Don't Want to be Alone

Last month my Mom, who is very ill, moved to live with us on the lower level of our home. This morning about 4:30, my phone rang in my bedroom, signaling she needed me.  When I showed up at her bedside, she was grateful and said, "I don't want to be alone."  When I had been near her for a few minutes her heart rate settled and she become more calm.

A little boy at our Vacation Bible School wailed- "I don't know where my Mom is."  We located Nancy and when she took him by the hand and put him back with his group, he was right with the world once again.

Young or old, none of us likes feeling isolated. Even a rich and powerful king wrote of the power of connectedness. "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. ... A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, NLT)  

Those who are riding the tide of success sometimes make the mistake of discarding friends, even family. Those same people often find themselves alone wondering who they can trust.  Some, finding themselves in pain, lash out at those who try to care and they, too, end up alone, blaming the very ones they pushed away for abandoning them. And, some discover their true wealth in the love of others! They make the proverb a principle for life: "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." (Proverbs 17:17, NLT)  I love Paul's phrase about disciples who build their lives around shared love of Christ Jesus, "their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love." (Colossians 2:2, ASV) Are the threads of your daily choices made meaningful and beautiful as they are inextricably woven with friends and fellow Christians?

Let's never forget that we have a Friend for time and eternity in Jesus! Yes, He is Lord and God, Savior and Redeemer, but the amazing fact is that He is our Friend. In desperate times, we can simply breathe His Name - "Jesus, Jesus" - and know He is near. But, we only know this privilege if we walk with Him in obedience and faithfulness each day. Intimacy is not created in a moment of crisis. It is like a brick wall, laid up strong, one choice at a time.

"Stay in touch" is a phrase we use often as we go our separate ways. Let's make it a choice often to reach out, to celebrate with one another, to encourage one another, to worship together - so we'll never walk alone.

Here's the word from the Word. "For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other. We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time. The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together. This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves." (1 John 3:11-16, The Message)

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What a Friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry,

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

Scriven, Joseph M. / Converse, Charles C.

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