You Are Not Alone

I recently heard a song on the radio that made me think. I love songs that make me think. This particular song was called “No Man Is an Island” by Tenth Avenue North. If you haven’t heard it, you really need to look it up. The core message of the song is that we’re created for community, to do life together. When talking about the song, band member Mike Donehey said, “You’re made like God. That’s why you feel lonely. You’re made for others.”

Wow. What a powerful statement. The idea that God created each of us with a deep desire connect with others—to know and be known by fellow humans—astounds me. In a world that bombards us with the idea that we must be totally independent of one another, God calls us to interdependence. It’s not just something He wants for us. He’s encoded it in our DNA.

The yearning for community is something we inherited from God. I believe it’s one of the many things God was referring to when He said, “Let us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26). We serve one God who exists in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons coexist in harmonious community with one another. They form the perfect balance of interdependence. This model of community is the one that we should seek to emulate as we interact with each other and be drawn into as we interact with God.

So there’s nothing wrong with the desire for community. In fact, it’s a desire that God placed in all of us, and we actually got it from Him. Many people feel like they’re weak or codependent when they feel lonely and crave true human interaction, but that’s the wrong way of looking at it. Everyone feels that way sometimes because we all fail at one point or another to fulfill the need that God has placed in us to connect with other people. And that loneliness is just God’s way of reminding us, “Hey, you were made to be in community with other people, remember?”

But it’s not enough to just have superficial interactions with others. Although casual conversations or even just a smile from the stranger on the street can be nice sometimes, we all want more than that. We all want to know and be deeply known by other people. We want to share our deepest feelings, our greatest experiences, and our darkest moments with others. There’s something in us that just isn’t satisfied until we have that. That’s normal. That’s OK. In fact, it’s good. Because we all need that. It’s just the way we are.

Communities come in many shapes and sizes, and there’s no one-size-fits-all way to form and maintain one. But whether it be a group of friends from school, a small group from church, or some close family members, we all need the support and fulfillment that we can only get from connecting with others in a deep, meaningful way. We all yearn for community.

So if you’re feeling lonely, I want you to know that it’s OK. In fact, it’s probably good. It means that you recognize your need for community. Maybe you’re like me and have a tendency to keep to yourself most of the time, and you just need that little tug on your heart from God to remind you that you were made for more than that. Please know that you are not alone. God made you for community, and there are other people out there just like you looking for someone to connect with. All you have to do is reach out and find them.

Thank you guys for reading. I hope this blog post has meant something to you. I know it’s something that’s been on my heart. I am so thankful for the awesome people that God has placed in my life to support and encourage me, especially for my church mentors and friends that I get to see and work with day in and day out. On that note, I’d like to give a shoutout to my friend from church Amy Ward, who asked me to include her in my blog post this week for some reason. Check out her shop Amy’s Attic on Facebook and tell her hello for me! Thanks again for reading, friends, and I’ll see you on Saturday for Stuff Devon Likes: Transformers Edition.