Loneliness: COVID-19’s prominent gift
COVID-19 entered the world bearing gifts. No, not just death and distance. One of the major issues that has come up to the surface is loneliness. Humans are social creatures, by default. When we’re forced to avoid contact with others in our species for too long, it affects us deeply. There’s a reason why solitary confinement is one of the worst punishments meted out in prisons after all. The solution, however, isn’t to surround yourself with people all the time. While it does help, it only helps to a certain degree. You don’t have to be alone to be lonely. You can be right in the mix with your friends or family and still feel distant.
How do you describe ‘Loneliness’?
What, then, is loneliness? Mother Teresa’s words may help: “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” ‘The feeling of being unloved.’ The feeling that all the friends, family, spouses, children, pets, followers, subscribers, likes, shares aren’t enough. A void, an emptiness in the heart that just refuses to be filled. There is no effective way out of loneliness. All of the man-made remedies are temporary. They may merely distract ― nothing more. There is, however, a foolproof solution of a divine nature.
The Foolproof Solution for Loneliness:
Did you know that, according to the Bible, loneliness was the first problem God dealt with after the creation? In Genesis 2:18, it says, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” And he does so, in the following verses. There are many more instances where Biblical characters faced loneliness, but let’s jump ahead a few millennia to see Jesus Christ. The miracle worker, the healer-who, while being surrounded by those he rescued, was sentenced to death. “Crucify Him!”, they yelled. His closest friends deserted Him; some even swore they never knew Him.
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:3
And so, we see, Jesus, God incarnate, yet the only One who can truly empathize with the pain of loneliness. Why did He do this? What motivated Jesus to let Himself be crucified? The answer to that, my friend, is the divine solution to loneliness. He LOVED us.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
It’s only this divine, unending love that promises to fill the void in your heart. You see, as humans, we have a limited quantity of love to provide. We can’t afford to give all our love to someone who needs it, because then, we too, will end up in the same situation.
We can’t keep helping a person all day, every day. There’s a possibility that we may end up feeling emotionally drained ourselves.
This is why psychiatrists or counsellors talk to their clients on a weekly or monthly basis. So that it doesn’t overwhelm them. And so, we need an eternal source of love. And this is what Jesus Christ promises when he says
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
It’s only this unchanging, unfathomable love that will bring you back to feeling alive again. Perhaps more so than ever before.