You Are Not Alone

I’m the third of four brothers. Throughout my childhood my grandmother lived with us, so together with my parents there were seven of us in a small, three-bedroomed house. I was never alone at home.

Many of my childhood memories are with other children… an eight-year-old at school in a class of fifty… our church full of excited children at a Sunday School party…  playing hide-and-seek in the woods, or football on the rec… Never alone.

I left home, formed new friendships with folks who are still my friends today. I got married, my brothers got married, we had families. Through different homes, and jobs in different locations, people came into my life. Some faded out, many remained.

Throughout my life I have done stuff with others… playing in sports teams, creating music with other musicians, producing stage shows, arranging children’s holiday clubs… working together to achieve something we couldn’t do alone.

When I was a teacher I was legally required to ensure that the children were taught English, maths, science… I was – and am – often persuaded that teaching social skills of compassion, empathy, loyalty, consideration, tolerance… you are not alone… is more important than subjects on the curriculum.

My Christian faith is necessarily about other people… whether it’s the picture of the Good Samaritan treating the injured man beside the road, or a flock of sheep cared for by the Good Shepherd… whether it’s the nature and purpose of the church, care for the local community or concern for the world… the message is the same. You are not alone.

Musing… yesterday’s conversations… Gents, aged 70+… one whose brother has dementia and has been taken into care – other family members will have nothing to do with him… another whose wife’s cancer has deteriorated – they’re considering different medication… another’s still coming to terms with his wife’s death earlier this year…

My friends don’t need advice or solutions. They just need to know, ‘You are not alone’. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that too.