Isolation

I loved our time back home this Christmas. Most of it was spent with family but we were able to see a few friends too. It was refreshing and relaxing to be surrounded by friends and family who know us so well (and love us anyway). We knew we’d be hitting the ground running once we got back so we found joy in just going with the flow while we had the chance.

At least we thought we’d be hitting the ground running. Instead Tommy ended up with strep shortly after we got back, so we quarantined him to the couch and steered clear of people in case the girls and I were contagious and our symptoms just hadn’t shown up yet. (Thankfully we escaped it!!!) I did find out I’m anemic though (which explains why my energy level never bounced back at all second trimester). Hopefully the extra iron will kick in soon and my biggest craving (naps) will disappear.

The illness and exhaustion has left us going from a state of being surrounded by love to a relative place of isolation. Coupled with the fact that it’s January and Levi would have been 8 this Thursday it’s a perfect storm (my hormones don’t help in that department either). Thankfully Tommy has recovered and friends are no longer feeling the need to keep their distance.

Tommy and I have signed up to help with some of the planning committees at the church we’ve been attending up here. Someone commented that we must be self starters, and I guess you have to be when you jump in and start your own business, but in church it’s more than that.

We’re called to be a part of a body.

I can’t be the church alone. Neither can the pastor. We aren’t called to. We’re all called to work together. As a body we are bound together to seek to glorify God and share the gospel. I can’t make it in this world alone and I can’t change this world alone. I love seeing what we can accomplish together when we join together in seeking God’s will. Just as I can’t be the church alone, neither can one congregation. We are unified as all part of the body of Christ.

There are times when we need to separate ourselves from others. Jesus gave us an example of this on multiple occasions. But he didn’t spend that time alone. He spent it with the Father. There are times we are meant to be alone, but during these times we must not be truly alone. I have a tendency of retreating into isolation when I’m hurting and vulnerable but really that’s the time I need to be surrounded. Sometimes that means seeking to be surrounded by the presence of God and sometimes that means other people. I am so thankful we had the coffee shop when we did. It forced me from withdrawing and isolating myself. There were times I needed to be alone, but there were many times I needed people. Like all things, it’s a balance.

I can’t remember what pastor or leader first pointed this out but I love this reminder. So many churched people claim that God is all they need. There’s only one problem. God saw it differently. In Genesis 2 God gave Adam everything. He had the perfect home but even better, he had communion directly with God. Verse 18 tells us though

Genesis 2:18
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God saw the need for Adam to have human interaction too. He wasn’t meant to be isolated from others forever. He had the whole world before him and yet God declared that it was not good.

I need others to lift me up and remind me of God’s goodness when I’m down. I need others to teach me from the wisdom they’ve garnered over time. I need people to challenge me to grow in my faith and knowledge. I need to do the same for others. I am so thankful to be a part of a larger body working together to glorify God and show His love to this broken world!

1 Corinthians 12:12- 31
Unity and Diversity in the Body
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.