Connection isn’t easy, but the experience is worthwhile. The tighter our bonds with other people, the better our marriages, families, and children. The impact even extends from our homes all the way to society at large. Political strife becomes nonexistent, and wars obsolete. With so many people walking the Earth today and technology so readily available, none of us have to go through life alone, yet, the current loneliness epidemic indicates that many people are doing just that.
Any one of us can look around and take note of the sheer number of broken families, superficial friendships, and people in need of constant affirmation. These factors are all representative of a culture that has fallen short of an ideal community.
But why is loneliness so rampant?
There are many answers to that question, but they all boil down to one key answer - our culture promotes living more for ourselves and less for God. “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another” is one of many verses in Scripture highlighting the benefits and importance of connection (Proverbs 27:17, CSB). At the heart of these various passages, we understand that connection is formed when we live both in service to God and to other people.
However, our society encourages self-care over care for others. Add that to the natural awkwardness that comes with talking to people and the fear of uncertainty and rejection we so often feel. This leads many of us to stick to our comfort zone. Plus, we can chat via social media without making ourselves vulnerable in any meaningful way and ghost anyone when we get too uneasy.
Yet, the results show. Doing things the way we have been will ensure that loneliness continues to thrive. Only by reclaiming the lost art of communication can we hope to end this epidemic.
And how do we do that? The solution is two-fold: we act, and we pray.
I know first-hand what the struggle with loneliness looks and feels like in the darkest way, but I’ve never quite understood those who complain about loneliness and do nothing to change their circumstances. Loneliness may be something you’re struggling with today, but you have some control over what tomorrow looks like.
Here are a few ways you can start building connections with other people:
- Get involved in church or a recreational group.
- Strike up conversations with strangers at the store, library, and similar places.
- Make plans to connect with someone you know.
- Abandon any fear of coming off as weird or awkward.
- Consider how you can grow relationally wherever God has placed you currently.
In addition to acting, the Bible calls us to pray on the things we care about (1 Peter 5:7). God is invested in your well-being and, therefore, in your connections. If there’s any doubt you want to assuage for yourself or anyone else, then here are five prayers for stronger communication and connection in today’s culture.
A Prayer for Communication
God,
I come before you now with deep concerns for my culture. Today’s people are not centered around you. We’re occupied with ourselves and our interests. Dedication to you and our neighbors has fallen by the wayside.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are lonely.
But God, truthfully, even those who choose to follow you find themselves lonely today. There just aren’t as many people who are after your heart.
So, we feel lonely if we chase you and lonely if we don’t.
Lord, I pray that you would help all of us to first find stability in you. Let those who know you, learn more, and those who don’t, find Christ. Help us to get to know you, understand you, and ultimately, dedicate our lives to you. From there, I pray that we would learn to communicate better with one another. Help us to become more aware of one another’s needs and discern how to better serve one another.
These days, there’s so much conflict, so much arguing, and everybody wants to be right. We all seem to be suffering, yet no one knows how to come together. Please, give us the tools to cooperate. Instead of sweeping problems under the rug and ignoring what obviously burdens us, Lord, would you grant us the courage to speak up? Would you give us the courage to be humble? Would you show us how to make tomorrow better than today?
Thank you, Lord. Amen.
A Prayer for Self-Awareness
Lord,
I pray for greater self-awareness in today’s culture. So many of us can easily diagnose the problems in others, but we have a difficult time holding a mirror up to ourselves. Something about being honest about our problems makes us afraid. Perhaps we feel incapable of change, prideful, or just plain lazy. I suppose everybody has their reason, but I pray that no excuse would ultimately prevent us from growing, both to you and one another.
Amen.
A Prayer for Humility
Father,
Humility makes such a difference when we communicate. However, humility is in short supply today. We think about ourselves all the time, and culture pushes us to do so. Proverbs 21:2 says that every man is right in his own eyes, but you weigh our hearts. I pray that you will move in your people today to create a culture of humility. Change our hearts to think of ourselves less often and to have more thoughts about you and other people. Make the church the embodiment of humility, and may our example go on to change the culture at large.
Amen.
A Prayer for Reconciliation
God,
This society is in need of deep reconciliation. Families have been broken apart, marriages abandoned, and children neglected. Has anyone been spared from some kind of hurt in recent years? There are societal problems related to transgenderism, the Covid response, and so many other political topics. The media tells us to treat those who disagree with us like our enemies. Social media encourages the same. And the fact that we don’t know how to communicate well with each other doesn’t help.
Lord, please restore sensibility to our culture. Restore a sense of civility. Give us a greater understanding of those we disagree with and ourselves. Just as we see the shortcomings in others, please help us to be introspective, too. The more we know, the greater our problem-solving can be.
Help us to come together again as a society before things get any worse.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
A Prayer for Change
Lord,
Loneliness is being labeled an epidemic, and truthfully, I see no end to it in sight. People complain about loneliness and yet seem to be working against finding connection. Then there are those working hard to find connection and praying to you, yet still coming up short. What are we to do, God? How do we actually make change?
Could you please show us the way out of this strife? Please bring an end to this loneliness, both for individuals and for society. Deliver us into a brighter tomorrow where we can experience the beauty of connection with you and people.
Amen.
Conclusion
Connection isn’t easy. It’s hard. But the experience is worthwhile. There will be times in life when you feel lonely, either in the absence or presence of other people. I’ve been there, and more than once. Yet, what I have also realized, and what I hope you learn too, is that though you feel lonely, you are never truly alone, not because of people but because of God. He is always present.
Loneliness is a result of reality contrasting with our expectations. When we rewrite our thinking and focus more on what we have than what we don’t, our attitude changes. We begin to see God more than what we lack. And while that doesn’t erase what we don’t have, and believe me, human connection is important, connecting with God does remind us that we can get through the day. He will provide our needs. All because He cares.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Christina @ wocintechchat.com
Aaron D'Anthony Brown is a freelance writer, hip-hop dance teacher, and visual artist, living in Virginia. He currently contributes to Salem Web Network’s Crosswalk platform and supports various clients through the freelancing website Upwork. He's an outside-the-box thinker with a penchant for challenging the status quo.
Get in touch with him at aarondanthony.com and check out his debut short story anthology Honey Dreams on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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