Hebrews 10:25
NIV) 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Remember when we played team sports with a group of people watching and cheering you on? How about going to a theater to see a movie and laughing all together at the funny parts? I remember sitting in church next to someone I did not even know! I also remember going to my hair salon and chatting with a bunch of women all in some stage of hair processing. Not now.
Specifically I am thinking about some older folk right now. They may be living alone, or in a facility for older folks, but whatever the circumstances of their lives, they are hurting. People are born to be social. We just find other people interesting, and we enjoy getting to know them and interact with them. A lively debate that gets our thoughts flying back and forth is just what we need to improve our well being and keep the brain cells firing. A chat over a cup of coffee and a scone is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon or evening. Even the occasional ‘disagreement’ with a friend can be invigorating, and a way to see another point of view as we learn to resolve differences, and still stay friends.
If someone you know came into your thoughts while you were reading this, please call them as soon as you are finished reading this blog. I have just had an experience today that brought this ‘plague’ into my vision. Someone I care about very much has been doing her best to stay busy during all the covid restrictions. She has been sewing, making many things to give away to people less fortunate, and giving her a feeling of contributing. While they are beautiful things, and it is a wonderful way to spend time that you would be sitting alone in an apartment, it just does not fill the void of human interaction. Yet, there is still a great fear of this illness coming upon us, and in some ways we are risking our emotional health, for our physical health.
I was thinking today about our forefathers as it is 400 years since the ‘Mayflower Compact’ was signed. These brave people got on a ship having no type of sophisticated gadgetry. They had very little in the way of medical knowledge or medicine. What they did have was a determination that they wanted religious freedom or they did not even want to live. In fact, many of them died on the journey from unknown plagues, another half of those left on the ship that find the ‘new world’, died from more unknown sickness, or starvation. Their goal was achieved, however, because here we are over 300 million strong-free Americans. Unfortunately we now face yet another plague that is stopping us in our tracks. Covid-19. But I must ask you to think about this, is it the fear of getting a disease that is crippling us, or is it the ‘I am all alone’ mental issue that is wearing us down and out?
See, God made us to be connected to people. Back is Genesis He said it was not good for man to be alone. He did not mean because men needed someone to cook and clean for him. He meant that deep down longing in the soul that was invented by God. God put that desire for fellowship with one another within us. It cannot be negated by a virus. In fact, the people on the Mayflower even with all the illness, still had each other, and going through it together is better than alone!
Dear friends, please think about this. I trust you are doing well physically and emotionally. If you have had the experience of contracting covid, trust that is is not as bad as many are claiming it to be in the media. Remember, we do not want the cure of mental anxiety of aloneness, to be more deadly than the virus itself.
Remember those resilient Pilgrims on the Mayflower. What they faced back in the ‘old country’ was worse than what they were facing in the unknown. Their freedom was more precious than even their lives! Think about it!
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