Alone or lonely? 🕴

Being alone is different from loneliness. Loneliness is an emotion that speaks of a lack of friends, family or relationships. However, the Bible highlights the benefits of being alone with God and taking time to be alone to think, pray and meditate.

Have you experienced the difference between being lonely and being alone? Is it possible to feel lonely while you’re in the midst of a large crowd? The answer is yes, most definitely! I’ve been alone a lot in my missionary travels, but I rarely felt lonely. There is one thing I’ve learned to help me overcome the sense of loneliness I felt as a child.

Ecclesiastes tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, NIV). This verse hints at a secret of being alone without being lonely, and that’s intimacy. Do you feel intimate with anyone?

There’s a great television program called Alone. It’s a real competition between ten contestants who are left alone in the wilderness. They are separated from each other by many miles. The goal is to be the last one to quit. Some have lasted a few months, but inevitably, loneliness, fear, sickness, hunger or injury ruins their plans to stay the longest and win $500,000 dollars.

All of them were alone, but only a few quit because of loneliness. Some tremendous survivalists quit because of loneliness. It’s fascinating to see these lumberjack men crying like babies because they miss their kids. It actually renews my hope in humanity. They decided they valued intimacy more than pride and money. And they must have really cherished their families. 

What do you value? Or should I say, whom do you value? 

I’m praying you will build strong, intimate relationships that will cause you to never be lonely when you are surrounded by family and friends. In fact, you’ll never be lonely again because you’ll hold your friends and family deep in your heart. Develop intimacy, and you’ll never feel lonely again.

Because you’re a miracle. 

Paul Marc Goulet