I have a friend that is very lonely. Many times she, and her situation, come to my mind and I hurt for her and pray for her and long for the day when she doesn’t feel lonely. Although I have not experienced the level of being alone that she has, I can relate to her in so many ways.
Lonely has many voices and faces.
I believe that lonely can call out to all of us, no matter who we are, or where we are, or what we are doing.
Lonely
Lone
One
O
N
E
Me
Lonely
I can feel alone in a room full of people. I can feel alone in places that are havens of rest, such as church or ministries or groups. I can feel alone in relationships, or lack of them. I can feel alone in family situations.
I have so missed my parents in this last season. I’ve thought much about my dad and the time he spent here at our home in his last years. How he bore the burden of being without his wife for decades. In recent months, I have mourned the loss of both of my parents being gone from this earth and from being here for me. Wow. That sounds a bit selfish; but it is true. I know that my parents loved me like no one else and I miss them. I feel lonely without them. I enjoy hearing about my friends adventures with their parents. So of the funny things that they do lighten my heart and bring such joy to my heart. I can say that in this season of feeling lonely without my parents, I have truly grown more deeply in my love and appreciation for my only living grandmother. At 92, she is such a gift.
I realize that lonely comes in many forms and fashions. My lonely is different from my dear friend. And your lonely probably looks different from ours.
Dear ones, I don’t know where you are today,
But this I pray:
May you find the lovely in the lone.
When you feel you are stripped to the bone,
May HE bring lovely to your lone.
May the rhythm of where are emotions are,
Remind us that Our Father is never far.
No matter what happens.
No matter what *things* look, or feel, like in the natural.
No matter what others say or do:
Beloved, this is ONE who tenderly cares and tends to you.
When I first started mulling over the word lonely and relating it to my personal places of feeling lonely, all I could think was that nothing rhymed with lonely. And I thought how appropriate that the word that brings us to a sense of abandonment can’t even be linked to a rhyme. Then I started thinking that maybe it was more of the process HE longed to work in us, to bring some lovely out of the lonely.
Does the sound of lonely every whisper in your ear?
To where you honestly believe no one holds you dear?
Do the tears freely fall?
The ringer silenced because no calls?
From loved ones estranged?
Separation seems to be the game?
You are not alone.
Though you feel solitary in your home.
You are not alone.
I pray you find the lovely in the lonely.
But, until we do,
Help us to see, and feel, and experience, the lovely in the lonely.
Lovely
Love
Lo
O
Over
O
Lo
Love
Lover
LORD
YOUR love welcomes and embraces
The hurts by changing faces.
LORD, be the haven where I rest,
Show me that love is best.
When reality hurts and at every juncture,
Help loneliness not to pierce and puncture,
The tender spirit that lives within me,
And may the reality of YOUR love, cause me to be free.
Crucify in me any pride,
As we desire, and long for a turning of the tide.
Lonely feelings, oh they ebb, and then they flow;
But, help us to experience and truly know:
We are not alone because of YOUR love.
