Lonely

A common thread through all of life and all different people's lives is loneliness. It's such a weird thing. I can see it and explain it in my own life and in other people's lives, but its hard to fix.

Some people are lonely because they...
-don't have many friends
-have lots of friends but they are too busy/their friends are too busy
-are single
-are in a relationship / married but there's distance between them
-are stay at home moms who stay at home too much
-have lots of kids and not enough adult times
-are new at church and haven't been able to make connections yet
-work too much
-aren't included when their friends hang out that often
-hear lots of silence or "no"s when they invite people to get together
-are too busy
-can't commit to things or over commit to things... or their friends are one of those
-battle sickness that springs up quickly and randomly
-have different hobbies than their friends so they don't really want to join in
-have depression, it's that time of the month / PMS, or something of that nature
-are believing the lies of the enemy that strike at any time
-are living long term in another country for mission work and can't find strong Christians
-experience a lot of quantity time with people but not enough quality time
-aren't being loved in a way that fuels their love language

You would think that if you could just get enough people in your life on a regular basis, that you wouldn't feel lonely anymore. There's so many factors - from personalities, to love languages, to stages of life - that it's hard to "cure."

I know that God is the only one who can fill you up and make you not lonely. However, for some reason He allows us to be anyways. Part of it can stem from, "It's not good for man to be alone," (Genesis 2:18) and He has good plans for marriages, friendships where iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17), building up the body of Christ together allows everyone's different gifts and talents to work together... There's the part where we are to be alone with the Lord, and there's a part where we "shouldn't give up meeting together regularly" (Hebrews 10:25). There's part of us that is aware that earth is not our homes, and we long for restoration.

Sometimes feeling lonely can last for years, sometimes it comes and goes, and then everything in between. Sometimes you can swing from being lonely to really filled up and NOT lonely in just a few days. Sometimes you can fix it, and sometimes you can't.

So then if you can't fix it, it becomes trying to find coping mechanisms. Escaping reality through drinking, watching TV, video games, reading, sleeping too much, etc. Staying extra busy. Or really nothing at all - just wallowing in it.

I wish I could fix everyone's loneliness, but I can't even fix my own sometimes. It's inevitable. It's life. Some just feel it more than others, some longer than others, some stronger than others.