Once during a return flight home, I noticed a gentleman seated cattycornered to me playing a game of Solitaire on his laptop. Now, during an extended flight you have numerous options for what you can do, read a book or magazine, watch a movie or show if available, play a game such as my flying neighbor was doing, or sleep. One additional option is to strike up a conversation with the complete stranger seated beside you. The majority of the options presented are for you and you alone, hence the game of Solitaire is aptly titled, because it is a game for one person pitted against a deck of cards. Given, the limited opportunities to move about freely and engage on a plane aren't overflowing, the concept of living life alone is easily highlighted in the journeys of a plane traveler. In comparison to the world we live today, it is much easier to live in a mindset of solitaire, but Solitaire in this case is synonymous with the word solitude.
Although I started today's FTM Thought with a trifle anecdote that took place during one of my flights, the idea of living life in solitude isn't a lifestyle to embrace for us as servants of God. We weren't designed to live life alone, from the beginning of time, God's plan was for man to not live life alone. (Genesis 2:18). With all of the modern technology literally right there in your hands, it is easy to pull away from society and set all of our attention on the index card sized computer screen to which we are attached. A keynote speaker at a conference I was attending this past week was making a point about how attached we are to our phones, Crystal Washington motivational speaker, asked the audience how many people sleep with their phone? Many replied that they didn't sleep with their phone but that it lays on a bedside table or area within arm’s reach during the night. The majority of that same group did not think that sleeping with their phone in such close proximity was a problem. Washington quipped, "If you slept with a beer beside your bed within arm's reach every night that would be a problem!" Too often when Missy and I are out to eat at a restaurant as you scan the dining area, couples and even families are all solitarily entranced with their personal screens. They are there together in complete solitude.
This life of living in solitary solitude isn't relegated to our cell phones, in our larger metropolitan cities there are people literally living on the streets. It is too easy for us to walk by or possibly step over a homeless person and just keep on walking, as if we just stepped over a log that has fell across our path. My nephew/son Bo, served our country in the Air Force and while he was stationed in the horn of Africa at Djibouti, he shared with me the desolately impoverished state of that area of the world. Children walking around naked, skin and bones, laying in the doorframes of buildings much like our favorite canine pet. The big difference there, we invite our dogs into our homes, bathe and groom them, and feed them without them even whimpering. We live in this world together in complete solitude.
And probably most problematic for our society is the choice to live life in solitary solitude. We choose to live outside of God's plan for us to live in a community of believers. His church, His people, His family shares, gives, and serves each other, especially those who are in need. The term "neighbor" does not only reference those who live next door, Jesus commented on watching out for your neighbor several times during His life on this earth. In Luke 10:27 Jesus answers the crowd "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." In Mark 12:30-31 Jesus is quoted saying, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." And notably, one of the best examples of Jesus's advice to not live life alone is His parable of the Samaritan and the man lying in the ditch after he was beaten and robbed. In these instances, Jesus directed us to live life together in complete union, personally connected to Christ and personally connected to our fellow man.
I think back to my airline companion who completed his full journey without saying a word to anyone, but then I also reflect on how often I too go through opportunities to connect and in my busyness, I fall short of God's plan for this life He gave me to live. My challenge today is to myself as much as it is to each of you. Don't spend your days playing Solitaire in solitude, find someone to share God's good news with and live life as God intended for us to live it, together, unified not isolated. Where Solitaire is a game for one, the game of life is not one to be played alone. Engage!
Coach Carter
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