The Safety Net of Life

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in Ecclesiates 4:9 -12.  It is a longer passage, but I think you will benefit from me writing it here:

"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.  If one person fals, the other can reach out for help.  But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.  Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm.  But how can one be warm alone?  A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.  Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

If you've ever had to face life completely alone, you know how impossible it seems.  My heart goes out to single moms, widows, and orphans.  People who are alone.

But then again, all of us need each other.  We need a support system, a safety net, a shoulder to cry on.

I think loneliness is one of the most painful feelings a person can have.  The feeling of having nobody on your side.  No one who cares.  No one who calls.  No one who checks in on you.

In the middle of life's trials, there is nothing that can hurt us more than to allow the enemy to isolate us form the people around us, even if we are not feeling like being around anybody.  You have to reach out.  God never intended you or me to go through life alone.  There is life, joy, love, and hope in community.  And each one of us needs it.

I want to encourage you to look at your life and identify your support system.  Who are the people that are your community?  Your family, friends, pastors, doctors, neighbors, and others can all have a role in your support network.  You need to be able to be honest with these people.  To not pretend everything's okay when it's not.  Choose to be more dependent and not feel like you have to so much on your own.

The world ingrains independence into our brains from an early age.  And sure, I am not talking about needing a crutch.  What I am talking about is loving one another.  Laying down our lives for each other. Bearing each other's burdens.

Don't walk life's road alone.

Blessings!