are we ever alone?

Lewis tells us about separation today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And what he says is true... and it feels all the more true when you lose someone. That "cutting off" from the one to whom you were most connected in this human lifetime. It's like losing part of yourself.

But.

In a sense he's not quite right. He (in his understandable grief) felt entirely cut off from his wife. And he FELT as though she was alone... going into the alone. But she wasn't alone. We know from scripture that to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. But even more than that... there is a sense in which we communicate with each other, beyond our normal senses. Haven't you ever been thinking of someone you haven't talked to in months, and suddenly the phone rings and it's them? Have you ever suddenly thought of a friend or family member, and felt like you should pray for them, only to find out that they were in danger at that moment?

It's a mystery how it all works, exactly. Does God tell us directly? Do angels give us messages? Do we communicate to each other on some level that we don't quite understand? Probably all of these, one way or another.

And we know, also from the Bible, that death is not the final answer. Our loved ones (and even those we're not fond of) live on after they pass from this life, and these bodies. They are present to God. And our connection to them, while not the same "telephone lines" that Lewis talks about, doesn't go away entirely either. They are not alone.

One thing we can learn from this, though, is to reach out to each other in these lifetimes, and make sure others know that they're NOT alone, when life can sure make us feel that way sometimes.

God, thank You for making sure that we're never alone.