Alone in a crowd

We are a lonely people.

While money buys automobiles, homes, and clothes it ultimately buys isolation.

If we were without this wealth, we would once again learn interdependence on each other. We would learn the meaning of borrowing a cup of sugar, of helping a neighbor out of a predicament, of community.

This isolation has lead to problems untold. We have built fences around our castles, avoiding any neighborly contact with the push of a garage door opener. We enter these castles eating quick heat dinners and hovering over computer screens with no connection to our fellow man.

Remember the Iraqi man who hid 22 years in a wall that he built inside his home, running from Saddam Hussein’s death squads? But he is like so many of us. Rather than face the world, dangerous and frightening it may be, we choose to live in our own prisons. The light of day passes with nary a nod of acknowledgement, for we are captives of the dark.

How many men have run from relationships, a superhero complex keeping them from intimacy? How many women have built up a legion of acquaintances and yet avoiding true friendship?

Many of us try to fill the hollow ache inside with activity, filling our waking moments with parties and leisure and travel. But one look in the mirror reflects the sadness.

Reaching out to fill the holes in our souls, we find nothing. So we doubt our self worth, pushing ourselves away from others and burrowing in a world that no one can understand.

Combating loneliness cannot be overcome with companionship; otherwise a dog would fit the bill. Walking down a busy city street can be among the loneliest activities if you don’t know anyone.

Proverbs 18.10 says, “A man of many companions will come to ruin.” But it goes on to say that “there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.”

The first friend you should have is God Himself.

He will listen. He will care. He will not leave you alone.

Eleanor Rigby, your coworker, and you

Image via Wikipedia

Materialism is such a false lover. It leaves us empty and cold.

Still, we buy and we charge and we consume. And in the end we swallow the bitter pill of rejection. Our toys stand lifeless, unable to meet out deepest needs.

Loneliness transcends all classes of people. I've lived in one of the most affluent communities in the nation. Parties. Purchases. Plans. These people substituted busyness for importance. And at night, like the rest of us, they still look in the mirror and the hollowness mocks them.

Something deep within our souls cries out and a void beckons to be filled.

We fill the void with casual relationships. We run from pleasure to pleasure, looking for ‘soul mates’ and acquaintances. Rarely do we find a true friend that we can cry with or share our deep needs. Those that do allow a sliver of light quickly shut the door when we ‘get personal.’

Our lack of intimacy causes us to try to fill the void with work and pursuits. We work long hours for recognition that never comes. . We drop in our beds exhausted — and lonely.

The Beatles sang the song “Eleanor Rigby” a generation ago. She was a simple woman who walked the streets in complete isolation, a mere extra in the movie of life. 39 years later “Eleanor” is more than a simple analogy, she has morphed into a picture of modern society. The song was insightful into human nature, yet provided no solutions.

“Where do they all belong?”

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Are you lonely?

Image by Michelle Brea via Flickr

We are a lonely people. Even in a crowded room of people we have all heard the cry and ache of our souls. It is pervasive and deep as our whole society is entangled in it’s grip.

Just listen to the frivolous talk and hollow laughter.

Thomas Wolfe said that “loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.” It surrounds our thoughts. Loneliness robs our passion. It strangles our hearts.

Amazingly, in a world of endless entertainment, active lives and bustling streets that men and women are still be isolated, empty and alone. I put the cause directly in lap of modernism, the god of this age. Modernism teaches us that the material world is the end of all things. This ideal maintains that the scientific method, the world that is measured and observed and touched, is all that ever was and that there will ever be.

Is this all? Is there really nothing else out there?

From this seed has sprouted the weed of thought that technology can solve all our ills. If technolgy is indeed our king, then humankind is it’s servant. Secular society does all it can to silence the supernatural.

The only substitute is an eerie quiet as we are alone with our empty heartbeats. Left with nothing but machines and computers and inventions, we are isolated and empty creatures. While evenings were once filled with visiting family and friends, they are now filled with parents and their children tapping out directions in front of computer screens, exchanging emails and chatting with strangers.

Are you lonely? Comment here.

Work would be great -- except for the people

Our friends over at “Think Christian” have a fascinating post on work and how it molds the way we view humanity at large. Nathan, the author, suggests that “that our line of work…shapes our view of human nature.”

For example:

• A judge might see all humans as prone to wrong-doing.
• Someone working in a nursery section of a hardware store might see humans as loving and caring
• A counselor might see humans as needy
• A social worker might see people as manipulative.
  

This really got us thinking here. Does our job change our outlook? Are we more cynical towards God’s creation because of the influence of our work? Are we more compassionate? More judgemental?

How about your job? Does it allow you to see men and women as God sees them?

Go to Think Christian and comment there, and then feel free to comment here.

Tomatoes, the first frost, and the Christian walk

Image by vinduhl via Flickr

The bite of fall is in the air. It snuck in while we weren't watching.
Suddenly the leaves in the trees are slightly off-color, the mornings are a little crisper, and the evenings a little darker.

It won't be long, now.

And then there's the tomatoes. They hang in bunches in the back yard. Their crop has been full of promise. Thick and rich with round living ornaments, the plants bow deeply, kissing the ground with heaviness.

There is nothing like a smell of a tomato plant, rushing to the end of the season.

But it's too soon.

The fruit (or is it a vegetable?) isn't ready. In fact, the pale green produce seems to be a long ways from maturity. Will they beat the coming frost?

I have confidence that I'll have harvest. I'll check the forecast to see that the big chill is coming. And I'll walk outside, expecting green, and instead be surprised by the deep red of fullness.

It's time.


I've been at this Christian walk for years -- no, decades. And like these green tomatoes, I droop in immaturity. I'm not ready for Christ to come. I'm not ready to go home. I still need a few more days -- or weeks -- or years.

While I wait for the day of His appearing to come, I need some maturity. I just want to be ready.
How about you? Comment here.

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Thanks to my friend Wim for inspiration for this! May your crop be full!

The break out

Do you feel trapped?

At work, are you chained to a desk you despise, doing work you dislike, working for a boss who doesn't care? Likely, the rest of your life is simliarly imprisoned...and you are serving concurrent sentences. If you are unsettled at work, you are probably unsettled outside of work. You may feel trapped in your marriage, in your home, or in your church.

You can't get out.

Perhaps you have tried to make your escape by quitting your job, looking to break a relationship or shopping for a new church. If you have tried making a change, you probably found yourself right back where you were, serving the same dismal sentence in a new prison cell.

When you think about it, our entire world is a holding cell. Sure, the sky is without ceilings and we can move about the environment freely to do as we please, but that freedom we perceive is only a short-term release.

It doesn’t take us long to be reminded of our ongoing sentence as we engage the fallen world around us and we live among the false gods and idols that enslave our follow man. Decay engulfs every living creature. Addictions track us like wanted men and women. Our relationships are in turmoil.

There is no freedom here.

The reminders weigh us down like iron shackles or a yellow ankle bracelet. Like a clock ticking in an otherwise silent room, they tell us that time is marching, that the permanent sentence will one day be handed down.

But followers of Christ have a commutation, a repreive from our sentence.

"Behold, I have come to give you life -- and life abundantly." Jesus has secured our freedom and allowed us to experience freedom unlike anyone else.

Think about it. Are you really trapped?

Tell us what you think here.

Labor day reflections

Image via Wikipedia

Talk to almost any working person and they'll tell you that Labor Day is the bookend to summer -- a sad closure to an already too-short summer. The day may be filled with family, travel or BBQs. It almost always entails a holiday, a day off from work -- which seems ironic that we would rest in honor of labor.

But thats exactly the point. Congress established the day in honor of the working man and woman and the strides that we have made in labor. Thanks in part to unions, we no longer have to work under slavish, unsafe conditions. In this country our work is usually reasonable, compensated and protected from danger. We have it good.

Across the world, labor isn't always so pretty. In some countries, children are forced into the fields or factorys at an early age. Pretty girls are taken advantage of by wealthy men. Long hours with little pay is a norm in many places. Under the harshest of conditions, laborers work in squaller for a few tokens of compensation.

Labor is holy --- and yes, it is supposed to be difficult at times. The worker is charged with honesty and diligence and godliness. On the other hand is the law of justice -- an employer cannot be harsh or cruel and must treat his employees with respect.

Labor, when it's done under God's law, is a beautiful thing. From our hands, we can turn heaven's bounty into man's sustenance.

So today, may your rest be restorative. And tomorrow, may your work be a sweet aroma.