Alone In A Crowd

I look around at all of the conversations going on. Everyone is having so much fun. Why not me? How come I'm not talking with anyone? I am alone in a crowded room. How is that even possible? Alone, in a crowd.

Do you ever feel that way? How can we be totally surrounded by people and still feel alone?

I think there is something within each of us that longs to be loved. Not in a physical, erotic sense, but in a nurturing, "hugging" sense of the word.

When my wife gets up in the morning she usually walks over to me to get a hug. Then she wants her back rubbed. She wants some attention. I give it. It's a beautiful thing. But what happens when we don't get that attention? When we long to be "held" or "touched" emotionally?

Some people chose to attain that missing element in their lives in many different ways. Some choose drugs, some choose alcohol, others sleep around, others lose themselves in exercise or watching television. There is a hole in us that longs for attention. That longs to be filled.

Go back to that "alone in a crowd" scenario. What would change that? What could possibly shake us loose from that funk? That conscious "trance" we currently find our selves in? I think it's love.

I have noticed that the one thing that can change our moods, from bad to good, is for someone to pay attention to us. For someone to think WE are significant.

I was standing with my family the other night. There were 19 of us in the room. Everyone was talking except me. I was feeling alone in the crowd. Then my nephew came up to me and started a conversation. Suddenly I was involved . . . someone was paying attention to me. Suddenly I was "normal."

There are many people in this world who are alone. You can see them on the street, staring blankly, as crowds of people pass by. We chose not to make eye contact, thinking "What if these people will rob me or ask me for money?" I admit to being one of those people. Should I not be about my Father's business and love these people as I wo8uld any other?

Everyone is "alone in a crowd" until they come to know Jesus. When we become followers of Christ we become members in a large, loving community. We care for each other. We love each other. We are WITH each other in this life and we are never EVER alone. And that my friends is a beautiful thing. :)

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” - John 14:18-21

Never Alone - Lady Antebellum