“She sat on her bedroom floor with her back resting up against her desk. The cell phone in her hand was open, ready to dial the number. Any number. Someone. She scrolled through the contacts, looking for someone to call. No one. Sigh. She put the phone down on the floor and stood up. The locked door reminded her that someone else was home. She better be quiet or someone would know something was wrong. A glance in the mirror. Sigh. She notices that her eyes look sad. She stares back. “Who are you?”
The desk is a mess. She needs to clean it. It is covered in papers. To-do lists, phone numbers and calendars. Ha. Feels like it’s all from someone else’s life. Her eyes drift to a crumpled paper that has fallen on the floor. Hurriedly scribbled in pencil is the phone number of a girl she met last week. Should she call her? What would she say? Doesn’t matter anyways. She’s late.
She gathers her things, grabs her keys and heads to her car. She wonders who is already there. With one last look in the mirror, she gets out of her car and walks into the church. Her smile appears, although it resembles a dimly lit light, and she welcomes the people she passes in the hallway. Looking for a seat, she is painfully aware that she will be sitting alone. Again. She wonders if anyone else notices.
In search of the new face, she purposefully engages the people around her in conversation. She enjoys the worship service, and thinks the band is getting better and better. A look around proves that the place is pretty full tonight. Not many empty seats. The preaching is great. So much amazing truth being taught. She feels grateful that she can be in a place every week.
After the service is over, she jokes around with her friends in the parking lot until it starts to get dark. Her mom is going to wonder where she is. She says goodbye, climbs in her car, and heads home. Her friend calls on the way home to tell her a funny story from the night. Laughing she hangs up. Sigh. She pulls in the driveway.
Her mom asks her how it went tonight and they talk for a little while. She finally says goodnight and goes into her room. Everything is right where she left it. It is quiet. It is lonely. She sits down on her floor, with her back resting up against her desk, and looks through the names on her cell phone for someone to call. Someone. Anyone…”
The girl from the story above is a leader who is surrounded by people yet feels alone. However she got there, and if it is right or wrong does not matter. That is how she feels.
There has been a major lack of strong friendships. There are friendships. Like the girl, surrounded by friends to talk and laugh with. Yet it is all very surface. None of the friendships went to a deeper level. The level where someone else knows everything about you. The level where a two o’clock in the morning phone call is ok to make when you need to talk. The kind of friendship where someone carries you when you cannot take another step. Deep.
It is very easy when we get to a place where we lack those types of friendships to point fingers and say it is someone else’s fault. This person did or didn’t do this, and that person did or didn’t say that. No one called me. No one talked to me. The truth is….friendship is a two way deal. It takes TWO people. We need to stop and check what we are doing to strengthen the relationships we have with the people around us. Are WE calling THEM? Are we being honest with them about how we feel? Are we giving them a chance to talk about their problems? We need to take responsibility for the friendships we have right in front of us and be good stewards of them.
I understand that sometimes God will have us go through a season where there is no one around. In those times, we need to reach out to someone else who feels the way we do. We need to be the mentor when we feel we are lacking that. We need to call someone and encourage them when we feel down. We need to go beyond ourselves. God is so faithful that when we give out of our lack, He meets our needs more then we could ever imagine.
