the risk of love
The Grant Study has followed the lives of more than 250 Harvard graduates for 70 years to learn what makes people happy. It revealed that positive emotions make us more vulnerable than negative ones—in part because they expose us to rejection and heartbreak. One man had received a box of 100 loving letters from his patients when he retired from practicing medicine. Eight years later he proudly showed the box to a researcher and began to cry, “I don’t know what you’re going to make of this, but I’ve never read [them].”
turning to friends
Redwood trees can grow to incredible heights—some reaching more than 375 feet! Yet most redwoods have a shallow root system that typically burrows less than 10 feet into the ground.
isolation
In a state of exhaustion and despair, at the 5-year anniversary mark of serving in Uganda, I sent an email to friends and ministry partners pleading for prayer. In response to learning of my struggles, a small army of brothers and sisters in Christ lifted me up in prayer and helped me walk through a difficult time.
watching
Watch me, Mom!” On any given day, these words resonate through our house as our kids seek to entertain us or attempt a new skill. Sharing moments of accomplishment with those who believe in us and stand ready to encourage our next endeavor is a beautiful thing. Lately, as my husband and I are going through a test of faith in our ministry lives, I have become aware that God is calling me to act in such a way that I can say to my children, “Watch me.”
God is near
Last October, the world looked on—cheering and crying and laughing with relief and joy—as 33 Chilean miners were plucked one by one from their deep, cavernous prison. For more than 2 months, these men hung on to hope and life a half-mile below ground. The rescue teams preparing for the evacuation had numerous concerns: Would the escape pod function properly?…
breaking the stronghold of isolation
John 8:29–30: "The one who sent Me is with Me—He has not deserted Me. For I always do what pleases Him.” Then many who heard Him say these things believed in Him.
When God created us, He said that it wasn't good for us to be alone. Although the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were created in the image…
seeing potholes
Potholes can be a pain. If a car tire hits a deep one, we’re talking some serious damage. That’s why the idea of Italian engineering students Domenico Diego and Cristina Corradini is so bright—literally! The duo, noting that many potholes in Europe aren’t repaired due to lack of funding, have come up with something called the Street Safe initiative. Their creative…
alone
I saw this quote on a friend’s Facebook page: “It’s not that I feel alone because I have no friends. I have lots of friends. I know that I have people who can hold me and reassure me and talk to me and care for me and think of me. But they can’t be inside my head with me all…
designed for relationship
Human beings are mysteriously designed for relationship. Isolate someone in a room and eventually he or she will become stressed, and confused, and their sleep will be disturbed. The chronically isolated person will become ill more often and have a higher risk of heart disease. In fact, their genes will begin to decay—one researcher likened chronic loneliness to “premature aging.”…
who needs relationship?
Emperor Frederick carried out an isolation experiment to try and determine humanity’s original language. He reasoned that infants would eventually speak the natural tongue of humans if they were sheltered from the sound of the human voice. The infants never heard a spoken word. Wet nurses, sworn to absolute silence, were employed. Within several months, the babies all died.
We’re…
shared happiness
The 2007 film Into the Wild tells the true story of Chris McCandless. Upon graduating from college in the early 1990s, McCandless had become disillusioned with his conventional life. Without saying a word to his family, he sold all his belongings, disappeared into the back country of the western United States, and eventually ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness—alone.
McCandless…
struggle to surrender
Recently, I found myself chuckling over a radio commercial for car stereos. A couple of men joked about two things you don’t want to do on your own. The first was to perform surgery on yourself: “Hmmm . . . I think I’ll take out my appendix this weekend.” That’s definitely not a good idea. The second was attempting to…
tender talk
Sheryl Crow gets it—at least when it comes to loneliness. Many of her song lyrics express our longing for relationships and the questions that bubble to the surface when we live in isolation for too long. Does anybody want me? Does anybody need me? What will I do if the answer is “no”?
For Hagar, the answer was no, and…
