O Solo Mio – Loneliness

 

Photo Credit: Andi Jetaime

It wasn’t so long ago that I craved solitude – just give me an hour alone so that I could hear myself think. My place on the introvert-extrovert scale rests at about dead center, but as a stay at home mom, the constant verbal chatter of my children often pushed me into a desperate need for silence.

God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6

When I was homeschooling my kids, activities like hiking with my binoculars at the ready to watch birds, swimming distance laps in the local pool, or reading engrossing fiction– all gave me that social break.

But now, it’s lonely time.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Psalm 25:16.

Our second child is leaving home for college. The first one has been gone for almost 3 years. The youngest is busy with her senior year in high school and, as is proper, needs me less and less.

It’s time to transition to working outside the home, but I don’t belong to a workplace community yet. And so, the time I spend in the house is often too quiet.

This lonely feeling is an alert to pay attention to my interpersonal connections – to connect more deeply to the Lord who promises to be my truest friend.

A man of many companions may come to ruin but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

And it’s time to reach out in friendship to my husband.

I will adjust.

It’s going to be all right.

 

 

Am I All Alone? Friends as Gifts

Photo Credit: Rodrigo Suarez

“Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.  He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” (Daniel 2:17 NIV)

Daniel of Lion’s Den fame stood head and shoulders above the average person with his strong principles, trust in God, and bravery, but he wasn’t alone.  When faced with a calamity such as threatened execution, he went to his friends.

I was given a best friend as a gift from my loving Heavenly Father when I was a lonely teen.  Doris rode on the same bus to school and lived a five-minute walk from my house which allowed us to spend a lot of spend time together.  We basically lived at each other’s houses during middle school and high school years.

But the true test of our friendship occurred when we began different life trajectories: Doris to nursing school, marrying young and raising three boys; I to college far away, mission trips, and a later marriage and children.  But we stayed friends.  Doris put up with my foibles, my immaturity, my self-centeredness – By her example and wise words, I was pointed to God as my source and I learned that lifelong friendship is precious.

Her friendship stands as a monument to the truth that God’s design is for us to go through life with others. God provides those faithful ones who say, like Jonathan’s armor-bearer, “Do all that you have in mind. I am with you heart and soul.”  (I Samuel 14:7 NIV).  We are not alone!

Worthy Words:  “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18: 24 NIV