Whom Do You Love?

What a great thing it is to have people around you that you love. Family. Friends, even celebrities that we can enjoy through music and television. I have one friend that really makes me laugh, one that would be here right *now* if I asked, one that teaches me to be content, one that teaches me to pray, one who will always be there through time and distance, one that needs me, one that gets all my jokes, one from whom I get to steal jokes (right about now, you’re reading this and wondering which one you are... aren’t you??).

We have family around us attached to us through some unseen cords, sometimes against our will, yet the truth of blood always surfaces. We have that strange relationship of spouse, which is a difficult combination of the same and yet not the same.

Today when I dropped my husband off at work after having lunch together, I watched him walk away and realized that though we want to be as close as possible to people around us, though we think we have so many loved ones surrounding us, ultimately, we are alone in our own skins. We come together with a friend and we, say, see a movie or get a bite to eat. We love it, we relish the time together, we laugh, we tell stories that illuminate who we are. And yet at the end of it all, we walk away, back to our lives. Even with our spouses, we can’t know and be everything all the time to each other. At some point in every day we walk away, even if it is just location.

I have always struggled with the desire to be close to people, closer than I should, closer than there was time for, and these thoughts left me feeling so abjectly alone. And then there was a tap on my shoulder.

And Jesus whispered in my ear – I will never walk away.

I suddenly understood (and I’m shocked it took me this long) why no one else can fill me up, why no one should. It is so I will always need Him and He will be Enough.