Advertisement in newspaper:
"Someone to listen...really listen. No advise wanted...just someone to listen."
So many people pretend all is well, when deep inside they are screaming...or maybe they are just silently mourning. Hoping for a love they've never experienced or a love lost. Maybe they are "just putting one foot in front of the other," not knowing where their steps will eventually take them.
Many say, "Hi! How are you doing today?" When the truth of the matter is, they really don't care...don't even want to know (if it's going to take more than 5 seconds to explain). Maybe they just don't have the time to listen...maybe they WOULD care, if they had the time to.
Many walk around with a deep emptiness inside, not knowing why. Or maybe they know why, they just don't know what to do with the hole that engulfs them. Afraid if they did ask for help, they might look weak or that someone else wouldn't really know or understand their pain. So...they pretend all is well.
Others, make excuses for their plight. They blame someone else or their environment for their problems, instead of taking the situation and finding a solution. We are indeed responsible for our future...each one of us. Many times choices of how we will live are some of the hardest choices we'll ever make. However...we still need each other! Sometimes we just need someone to listen. And by their listening, we are able to release the frustration we feel, finding understanding and solutions to our challenges, much of the time.
Loneliness kills us. Kills our spirit. It creates an atmosphere of desolation (complete emptiness or destruction). We must change the situation and find someone tangible who's willing to listen. Sure…God listens. He does. He's really good at it. He knows everything we could ever go through, because there is nothing new to him. He really, really understands! And He'll comfort us, by way of His Holy Spirit. Yet...we need each other. God said we need each other. "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." ~Proverbs 17:17. When we have a true friend, they are always there to pick us up when we need picking up and to speak truth into our situation.
The advertisement above, was not found in a newspaper…it was created in my mind, as my eyes perceive the vacant look in people's eyes I see every day. It was imagined partly from a reality of my own from many years ago (and still chases after me from time to time), that causes my eyes to pierce through what seems to be "normal" situations. So many seem to be walking in a fog. My husband says I read into things way too much. Maybe that's true...or maybe God is giving me a small piece of what He sees…and asks me to listen.
The question I must ask myself is this: "How available am I, here…in Mary's World?"
