The Cure for Loneliness

Loneliness is something that everyone at one time or another has felt. It can to lead to self-esteem issues, depression, psychological problems, and suicide. You would think that in today's culture it would be impossible to feel alone since we have so many communication devices to keep people in contact with us wherever we go. But all of us are still so alone.
"Other people keep our souls alive, just like food and water does with our body." - Don Miller. Many of our souls are starving because we are lonely and feel far from love.

What is the cure?

Our culture says it is romantic love.

Romantic love has been placed on such a high pedestal in our culture; that it has become the thing that makes a person whole. We need our "other half". Now I'm not saying that marriage is a bad thing. In fact, I see it as one of the most beautiful and difficult relationships humans can have. Marriage is fascinating to me - two people committed to each other and journeying together for the rest of their life. The thing I doubt about marriage is it being the 'be all and end all' of our existence. The happily ever after to our lives. 


I really resonate with the quote by Don Miller (a fantastic writer!):
"I no longer think being in love is the polar opposite of being alone, however. I say that because I used to want to be in love again as I assumed this was the opposite of loneliness. I think being in love is an opposite of loneliness, but not the opposite. There are other things I now crave when I am lonely, like community, like friendship, like family. I think our society puts too much pressure on romantic love, and that is why so many romances fail. Romance can't possibly carry all that we want it to.".

As a single person, I will wish I had a boyfriend or a husband, I am human after all. But is that really the cure to what my soul needs?

"Beneath what our culture calls psychological disorder is a soul crying out for what only community can provide. The problem beneath our struggles is a disconnected soul." - Larry Crabb

Community is what God calls us to - what the church is supposed to be. A community of Jesus-followers giving and sharing all they have (Acts 4:32). It is more urgent that we find a community that we can take an active role in, than finding a spouse. Unfortunately, the sight of our culture is so focused on finding that one person who can give us our happily ever after after that we lose sight of what Jesus said is most important: loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Mark 12:28-31) Nowhere in there is "finding myself a spouse as my own cure for loneliness".

Jesus calls us to a life above ourselves, a life within a community, a life that reaches out to the lost and broken, and a life that honors God as the hands and feet of Jesus. 
This is a full and whole life, one that is for the married and single; people of all genders, colors, ages, and backgrounds. It is the life of Jesus. :)