Waves of loneliness…..

Small disturbance swelling until it crests and breaks over me…slowly receding…only to return…I learn to rest in the loneliness…to know that it will ebb…that when the wave recedes there will be little treasures left behind…little rocks worn smooth by the waves….pieces of shells that glitter in the sun…even food for the sea gulls…

Lonely for children who’ve left the safe little nest we call “home”… profound loneliness for family who’ve passed on to Heaven; but will be seen again….for children lost before birth but someday to be known and held…lonely for times and seasons that crested and receded…no longer to be lived and enjoyed and endured…but to be remembered and treasured and pondered…lonely for friends (and even “well-intentioned dragons”) whose lives were touched and who touched in turn…then swept out of daily life and into “the past”….

Ah…but He comes to heal the brokenhearted….brokenhearted surely not…bruised…ah yes…He who comes to mend and heal the brokenhearted surely can patch the bruised at heart as well…waves of loneliness that lead to times alone with Him…shut up alone with Him to hear, to learn, to get the courage to move on….to allow new people in…to form yet another circle of friends…in a few short months those who are strangers now will be friends….destined in the cycle of military moves to become waves of loneliness in their time….and so the loneliness crests and ebbs…and leaves shining in its wake…treasures…brilliant memories…stronger character…sharpened character…certainly in me and hopefully in those with whom I’ve collided….I am touched and shaped by the influence of so very many…I never would grow if I shut myself up and shied away from the inevitable periods of loneliness that follow close friendships….the memories sustain…He sustains…in fact the very wave of loneliness carries me deeper into His presence…His arms of comfort…His peace…trusting Him to transform this treading in the sea of loneliness into growth and maturity….treasures…

Giving up the struggle…floating on the wave…as it carries me to new adventures…new relationships…new shores…blown by the wind of the Holy Spirit to new crests of friendship…ministry…relationships…experiences…Ah…the loneliness is good…it’s beneficial… it’s joy after all…