Do you know your neighbors?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we live in a individualist society that evokes loneliness and community is becoming something of the past. How often do I make an effort to talk to a stranger, help a stranger? Not often enough. When I see someone with hurting eyes often I find myself closing my own and ignoring the pain I see.

I use to think that I knew what loneliness feels like, but in all reality I don’t. The children I spent time with in an orphanage in Chile who just wanted to be held, fed, touched…they know loneliness. The man I met in Moldova, who is bound to a wheel chair, living at the bottom of a mountain which took us 45 minutes to hike to…he knows loneliness. An elderly woman, who lived down the street from my college apartment, sits unnoticed on her porch all day, every-day. After class I would stop by to say hello. Frequently, after our conversations fell silent I would ask if she was ready for me to leave, she would reply with “no.” She enjoyed the mere presence of a person sitting with her…she knows loneliness. A man I know has made many mistakes in his life. After suffering from years of depression he is left with no friends and a family who is broken, hurt by his past, they struggle to welcome him into their lives again…he knows loneliness.

I want to become more aware of the people around me. I’m trying not to merely glance at people passing by, but really look into their eyes, their souls, and feel the love that God has for them. Jesus spent his time on Earth with the lonely, the outcasts, I want to do the same. I want to welcome these people into my life and into my community so they don’t have to experience the pain of loneliness any longer.