Choosing REALনমুনা

Cozy Corner Booth: Community in the Midst of Loneliness

Over breakfast, I told my friend Cathy about the loneliness I was experiencing and compared it to setting a large banquet table only to discover many of the seats remained empty. Cathy wisely offered thoughts across the table, “I’m curious if perhaps Jesus wants to first sit with you at a cozy corner booth like this one, and over time will provide the right people in the right seats. Maybe your dinner party isn’t a long banquet table for many, but an intimate corner booth for the two of you first.”

Until we find community enough in being with Jesus first, an occupied table won’t satisfy the ache that loneliness hungers to fill.

In Luke 14, the parable of the great banquet paints a similar vision to how I dreamed for life to appear: large, full, fancy. Then reality hits. Every person the party planner invited came up with an excuse. What does he do? He invites the lowest of the low to occupy the chairs, eat delectable delicacies, and sip the finest wine.

This is how the Spirit makes Himself real in our loneliness. He invites, and similar to those guests, how we respond affects how much we get to enjoy the taste of God’s great banquet. Instead of mourning empty chairs, scoot into a corner booth and be thankful for the Divine who always sits there. He inches closer and says, “You are never alone. Even if you feel alone. I am still here.”

What if we join Jesus at a cozy corner booth first? What if learning to be comfortable with the One will teach us to be grateful when there’s more than one?