We All Need Somebody to Lean On!

This post is a follow-up to my “No Man is an Island” post from yesterday. My heart ached when I heard about Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain recently taking their lives. I didn't know them, but I remembered a precious friend, who recently took her life. Depression is real. Heartbreak is real. Loneliness is real. Desiring-to-end-the-pain is real.

C. S. Lewis noted, "Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken."

With all of my good news, uplifting, encouraging, positive and motivational posts daily, I am still very aware that life is really hard for some of us. Sometimes it’s gut-wrenching, “I can’t go on this way” kind-of-gut-wrenching. Some of my precious friends have shared bits and pieces of their stories with me. I see the pain. I get it. I connect with it. I hear the struggle, and I want nothing more than to take them up in my arms and make it all better for them.

As I said yesterday, we need each other. We need community.
We need to get back to embracing co-dependency (I’m still working on that one, myself!). I gave scriptures for it yesterday. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and Luke 15:4). God gives His example of co-dependency. He does everything with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and likewise, they don't operate outside of Him. Three in one. We’re made in His image. So, why would we want to do life independently? It goes against the way God made us.

I have a small close-knit group of people that I trust with my life. Literally. They have lived life with me for years. They’ve shared high and low moments with me. And when life became difficult for me, they were there to encourage me by just being there with me until I found my way out. Words cannot express the depth of love I have for these people. They've seen my ugly cry. They've listened to my crazy rants. They know the depth of me and champion me to the core. (You know who you are. And I love and thank you so much.)

Oftentimes our "community" is our phones and laptops. Just let me say this to you, my FB, blog and social media community -- my faithful readers, I love you so much. You are my people. You are the breath of what I am made to do. Every “like and love” emoji and every word you type on here, every response and comment, I cherish. Deeply cherish. You are my reason for getting up at 5 am each morning to give a word to you that just might give you the breath of fresh air you need to be able to BREATHE in God's grace, love, and hope for each new day.

I know that I'm a by-God’s-design listener. If we met for coffee, I’d listen to you and capture every word you said. I’d ask questions and listen some more. After processing, I’d respond. It’s how I’m made. In many ways, this is what this FB post and blog has become for me. It’s my heart to yours. It’s what I need for me, and when I hit that POST button, it's what I sense you may need, too!

We all need community. People who understand and champion us. When we take off the masks, we find that we are all very much the same. We all have hurt. We all have stories. We all have hopes. We all have dreams. We all long to be known and connected. When we begin to see all people as "our brother, our sister and friend", we gain respect for them. And out of that comes love. Real. Authentic.Love. It is then that we begin to look a whole lot like Jesus. The resemblance is undeniable. And, out of all the lives we help to save, one just may be our own.