When was the last time you wrote a letter? I’m not talking about signing a card where someone at Hallmark already added a poem. I’m talking about taking your time, and your hand, and your own thoughts and expressing your emotions on a page. I bet it’s been a while. When I worked with youth one of the mainstays of our ministry was writing cards. Most weeks each person on staff wrote to five random kids. It didn’t matter if you had a long-standing relationship with them or if this was the first time communicating with them, each card let them know that they were loved and thought about.
At our most basic level that’s kind of what most of us really want; to know that there is someone else in this world that cares and is impacted by us being around. When loneliness hits, if we’re not careful our minds can immediately go to “nobody really cares.” Knowing that we go through this we should be able to empathize and understand that others go through this and we should seek to be a supportive community everywhere we go.
The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it this way, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up their fellow. But woe to those who are alone when they fall and has not another to lift them up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
When we know how it feels to fall down, we can see the importance of helping other people get up. And no state will stay the same forever. Sometimes you’re the helper and sometimes you’re the helped. The key is to stay connected. Ask for help. Lend a hand if you are able.
Write that letter, let someone know that you are thinking about them.