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October 10, 2007

The Gift of Loneliness

by Shana Schutte

When is the last time you were lonely? Was it when you stood in a crowd of 5,000 cheering people? Was it when you visited a friend, or when you lay next to your snoring spouse at 2 a.m.?

In Luke 5:16, Scripture says that, "Jesus withdrew into lonely places and he prayed."

While Christ may not have been lonely, but just "withdrew into lonely places," in the same way, your loneliness can be a type of "lonely place" that can transform your heart.

Our natural response to loneliness is to run from it, avoid it, or deny it. Why? Because it can make something in us feel small and afraid. However, when we allow it to do its redemptive work by embracing it, it can be a powerful teacher. And as Henri Nouwen writes in, The Inner Voice of Love, we may find our "loneliness not only tolerable," but even fruitful.

The teacher of loneliness can expand our hearts to receive God's gifts; it can open us to a deeper knowledge of His love, help redefine who we are in Him, and move us to appreciate qualities in others that would have gone unnoticed. And just as Christ experienced, when we press into it, it can silence the world's voices to recenter us in His will, confirm our calling, and help us hear God in ways we have never heard Him before.

If you're lonely today, I invite you to embrace your loneliness like a good teacher who will stay only for a season. And while it rests in your heart, I encourage you to press into Christ.

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