Alone Together

I was driving home from Waubay yesterday, listening to Garrison Keillor on the radio. The Lake Woebegone Lutheran pastor had been called to the bar, because he'd been told one of the men there was asking for him. He walked in and sat next to the man, who had a glass of whisky in front of him, and listened as he told his troubles. His life had fallen apart. He'd lost his livelihood, his sanity, and had been left by his wife. He said "I've just never felt like I belong, and I'm all alone."

The pastor told him, "No one feels like they belong, and everyone feels alone, because no one does belong here. We belong with God, because no one can love us as completely and as perfectly as God does. We're all alone." He said "come with me now, I will help you, we'll talk."

But the man stayed behind. Why did he stay? Are we so wrapped up in our own loneliness that we can't embrace anyone else's? That we become afraid to step out of it, not knowing what is on the outside?

No matter how lonely it gets, it's strangely comforting knowing that everyone else is too. Because one day, we'll all Belong.