I’m so thankful for my friends and family. It has taken a long time, but I truly feel connected to others. But I meet so many people that are so isolated, so insulated from healthy relationships and am reminded how broken our souls really are. It makes sense to me. When Adam and Eve made a poor food choice, their consequence was a loss of relationship. It was their death. Jesus came to give life…abundantly. He said that real life, the eternal kind, was in KNOWING God (John 17:3). This word is not about information but intimate connection. It’s the same word that 1st Century Jews used for the way a man KNOWS his wife. We need God to heal us from our isolation. We need Him to gently relieve us from the numbness that comes from lack of connection. There is power in numbers and we get picked off when we’re alone.
So if we are isolated, how do we get back? How do we come out of hiding (even if we are around people all day) and let ourselves be known? It’s hard sometimes. But maybe a starting place is to allow God to speak gentle words to us. Maybe instead of embracing a harsh, stern, “you’re getting what you deserve” inner voice, we need to listen for the tender words of a Savior: “I have come that you may have life, and that abundantly!” (John 10:10).
