Loneliness

There are so many things that can isolate us and create loneliness.  Being lonely and being alone are far from the same thing.  

Alone time is good and necessary for some people.  Being alone can be a good opportunity for self-reflection, for prayer, for reading, or thinking.  Being alone can be restorative.  It can allow healthy selfishness.

Being lonely is hard.  Being lonely when surrounded by others is harder still.  

There are many conditions that create and sustain loneliness.  The presence of disease or illness for yourself or a loved one is isolating, and can create loneliness.  A lack of resources, so that you can't participate in activities to the same measure as your peer group creates loneliness.  Discord and disharmony create loneliness.

None of us have the power to remove disease, illness or lack of resources from all of the people we care about.  But we can do our best to remove or reduce discord or disharmony.  

We all have opinions.  Most of us have strong feelings about certain subjects.  When the things we care about don't matter to the people we care about, it can be very hurtful and isolating.  Sometimes, there are things that are so important, we have to accept discord and disharmony, but how many things are that important?

There are those among us who love to sow discord.  I see people expressing strong opinions on subjects that have no bearing on their everyday lives.  Complaining and being angry are habits that become harder and harder to break.

Before you take a strong position on something that has little personal impact, before you potentially hurt someone in your world, why not ask yourself why?  Why do I care enough about this to hurt someone who is vulnerable?  Because face it, we are all vulnerable, just more or less at any given moment.

Do you want to drop the straw that breaks someone's back?  Because as long as there is someone in the world who cares about you, you can be the person that drops that straw.

"Love one another as I have loved you." Jesus' words are simple and incredibly hard to live up to.  Love tries to do no harm.  Love doesn't shun, love embraces.  Words are powerful tools of inclusion, but also of exclusion.

Are those words you long to share loving?  Can they add to the pain of someone who is already hurting?  We all have the power to act in love and promote accord and harmony.  What are you going to choose?  And are you willing to take responsibility for the consequences of your choices?

Life is hard.  We don't have to make it harder.  But every day, every word, every action we all make a choice.  I want to look at my choices and see that I have tried to live up to Jesus' expectation.  I want to choose love.