Connection is the key to joy, consolation amid struggles

Metro Creative Connection

We live in an alienating world in which people are forgotten, ignored, neglected, rejected, abandoned and abused. 

But at our core is the longing for love.

Psychologist Gerald G. May puts it this way: “There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it; it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the human desire for love. Every person on this earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire.”

Norman Cousins expresses it concisely: “The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness.”

We need friends. We need love-with-skin-on to help us to feel connected at the heart, and to enable us to experience joy in life, consolation in sorrow and encouragement amidst our struggles.

We also need the assurance of God’s unwavering love and God’s constant presence with us. We need the assurance that there is One who will love us beyond the fallibility of human effort and longer than the span of human years.

Therefore, before his death, Moses said to the Israelites, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8). And God said to Joshua, “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). The prophet wrote, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Following his resurrection, Jesus assured his disciples, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And the apostle Paul declares, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Editor’s note: Tom Tripp is a retired pastor. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.