When we feel alone we look for relationships.
When we build relationships we look for connection.
When we recognize connection we hope for intimacy.
When we embrace intimacy…

… sometimes our hopes are dashed.

Our girlfriend is too manic.
Our boyfriend is too needy.
Our wife is too wounded.
Our husband is too self-centered.

And, it all comes crumbling down.

You can’t make her happy!
You can’t make him happy!
You feel so alone.

Left unchecked angry and loneliness are the ingredients for rage.

I hate this! Nothing makes sense.
I know I’m not good enough! And…
I know I will never be!

Do you know that there are unwritten public bathroom rules?  Of course you do.  I live in the Midwest United States and I’m guessing that the unwritten public bathroom rules vary from place to place, but some things are common in most public bathrooms.

I was in Budapest Hungary alone suffering through an unplanned layover awaiting my next flight.  I was tired, lonely and uncomfortable.  I hadn’t slept in more than twenty four hours and all the strange people speaking strange languages had gotten to me.

I had already walked everywhere I could through the airport.  I had already “shopped” the one small Duty-Free shop that was open.

Today is the National Day of Prayer, so, I’m thinking about praying.

Prayer Is A Mystery

God tells us to do it though…
God knows what we’ll say.
God isn’t visible.
God doesn’t guarantee we’ll get what we want.
God says it will benefit us, but the benefits aren’t always evident.

Prayer is a mystery.

Life Is A Mystery

I wondered yesterday:

Why are some of the strongest men I know also the laziest?
Why are some of the most caring women I know also the most emotionally unstable?
Why are some of the smartest guys I know also the most foolishly impulsive?
Why are some of the most street-smart girls I know still duped by smooth talkers?

Ask most any child, teen, adult or senior citizen, “What is love?” and their answers will vary. They might not vary so much in the quaity of their experience, but the quantity of their experiences.

Sure, love involves feelings — romanticized by music, literature, and other media, but it’s also so much more.

We all yearn to create and — when we feel like we’re losing it — recreate the “love” what we feel we have lost.

Why do marriage fall apart?
Why do dating relationships between people who “love” one another fail?

They feel like the “love” is lost.

This picture creates many mixed feelings for me; the most evident feeling is loneliness.

The picture reminds me of who I might have become if I never learned to be a friend.

My best friends growing up were our dogs.  My dog was a friendly, patient, German Shepherd named Shawn.

Shawn was the best friend I had, but I needed people-friends too.

Alone

Sitting in my basement bedroom was my high school haven.  Posters on the wall, a dog on my bed, clothes on the floor and music in my head.  It was my room.  All mine.

Each week at TreeHouse we remind the teens about three needs which are common among people:
- We all need to be reminded that we’re lovable, capable & worthwhile.
- We need to know that we’re loved unconditionally — “without strings.”
- We need to know that we’re not alone.

Far too often we feel alone; alone in our struggles, alone in our pain, alone with our sorrow, alone without hope.

We Do Not Have To Feel Alone

Have you ever been handcuffed? Even for fun? It’s limiting, restrictive and a bit intimidating.

That’s how I feel about fear. Fear limits, restricts and intimidates me. And it limits, restricts and intimidates you. Doesn’t it?

What causes your fears may be different than what causes mine, but we feel the same way. God wants to free us from the handcuffs that bind us. God wants to free us to be who we were created to be:

“Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” [Isaiah 41:10]

While H1N1 dominates the media’s attention and ours, there is a far more devastating pandemic that never makes the nightly news: loneliness.

Every day I read texts, Facebook updates and listen while people express the pain of their loneliness.

Loneliness takes many forms. Longing to dress up for a party Jeanette sits alone on Halloween. Wishing and hoping that her phone would ring Debbie keeps her cell phone volume on “Outdoor” fearing that she might miss the one call that she might receive. While his lunch table mates laugh about the fun they had the night before David suffers in silence wishing that they would finally invite him to join them.