Day 38: Alone

Andrew loves to sit on the floor of the living room and play with his pile of toys ... for about 30 minutes. Then, he looks up and gets concerned if no one is around. He begins to make little noises indicating that he doesn't want to be alone. If these aren't responded to, they escalate until they are. If for some reason I can't get to him and he's cried for a bit, he'll absolutely panic.  He gets this deep fear that maybe he's been abandoned and it takes a long time nursing to convince him that he hasn't indeed been forgotten.

I think all of humanity is much like this to some extent. We can do things on our own to occupy ourselves, fill out time. But we begin to notice our aloneness and we decide we'd rather have company. If left too long we get upset about it. And in extreme cases, we panic.

Humans were made in God's image. Born to be in relationship and we know this instinctively. Even before we have the ability to communicate or even our own coherent rational thoughts, we have a need to connect with and bond that is as primal as our need for food, water and air.

But, as much problem as we have with being alone, we seem to have being in relationship. We struggle to know how to connect with each other. We have difficulty fulfilling each other's need for love and affection. We hurt each other deeply and leave scars on the walls of each other's hearts. And yet, for all the imperfection in our relationships, we find that they are a vast improvement over loneliness. That we find meaning in together that we can't find in solitary.

Jesus focused much of his teaching around how to live in unity with each other. With stories about mercy and forgiveness. With acts of openness and compassion. With his silence and his scars. As we come upon holy week, we see his greatest teachings unfold. And if we let them penetrate us we can carry his teachings to a world that is starving of loneliness. We can forgive. We can love. We can be loved and we can reach out to be a source of healing to those who journey alongside us.