Alone but Not Lonely

I'm linking up today at The Gypsy Mama for 5-minute Friday. It's been a while since I did this, and I like having the writing prompt--saves me having to decide what to write on! And it's lovely to visit the others in the link-up and see how they interpret the prompt.

Hop over and visit others' blogs, and maybe write a five-minute post of your own?

What to do:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word. 2. Link back and invite others to join in. 3. Go and comment on the post of the person who linked up before you. This is the one rule of this community.





Today's prompt: lonely.

I could be lonely right now.
I'm home alone, in a house that's quiet except for the ticking clock and the sound of cars going by outside.
But I'm not really "lonely". I think of lonely as a negative thing--alone, and not wanting to be. Sometimes we want to be alone. Even I like being alone sometimes, and I'm an extravert.

But I'm not lonely.
Sometimes I kind of feel lonely, even when I'm not by myself--missing my mom and dad and siblings (I still haven't fully gotten used to living eleven hours away from them). Missing my friends--all my closest friends live far away from me now, and I hardly ever see them.

Missing family and friends or not, I always have the comfort of my husband. With him, I'm never lonely. He's the best of both worlds: my closest family, and my dearest friend.

And more than that, I have Jesus. I know, there's no physical presence there--I can't reach out and touch him. But I know that the Holy Spirit lives in my heart, and I know that God is everywhere, all the time, so I'm never, ever truly lonely.

But there are so many people who don't know the amazing presence of a God who loves them, who desires to be always near them. I think it's those people who are truly lonely. And what's sad is, they don't even know what they're missing. That "God-shaped vacuum" C.S. Lewis talked about--they have it, and don't necessarily even know it.

I'm thankful that, although I may be alone, I'm not ever truly lonely.