Connection. That word
keeps coming up for me over the past few weeks.
It’s a simple word but, boy, does it pack a punch! It is, quite simply, the cure for so many
ills. With another Thanksgiving
literally under my belt, I thought about the word from a family
perspective. The holidays (Thanksgiving
and Christmas) are family times. Yes,
they are about gratitude and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, but they are also about being with family. For many, it is the only time of the year
when they see these people. It is a time
of reconnecting. For the most part, when
a holiday is not good for someone, it is because they did not connect in some
way, shape, or form with their people. God
designed us to be connected. After God
created everything in this world, He sat back and surveyed it and found that it
was all good, except for one thing. It
was not good that Adam was alone. So, He
made woman. That stupid line in the
movie, “Jerry McGuire,” got it all wrong.
Adam was complete in and of himself.
Rather, Eve complemented Adam.
Men and women are divinely designed so differently yet, they enhance
each other. People need other people not
because they are incomplete without them.
People need other people because you can’t be your best without them. Connection enriches people.
Connection is actually part of our biochemical design. Oxytocin, a neurotransmitter (chemical
messenger), is a bonding agent. It’s
nickname is the “cuddle hormone.” It is
released when mothers nurse their babies and they feel that wonderful warmth
and bond with their child. It is
released right after orgasm and promotes bonding between lovers. It also explains one reason why porn is so
destructive because then you are bonding with images. Oxytocin is also released in times of
stress. Your body is literally urging
you to connect with someone in order to manage stress. Connection makes life easier.
Connection is also the cure to shame (my favorite topic of
study lately). When you feel those awful
feelings of shame come on, those feelings that say, “No one can know about
this” or “I’m a loser (or a horribly person, or whatever) because of this, it
is imperative that you run, not walk, to your safest person and tell them about
it. Shame cannot survive out in the
open. Shame only lives and thrives in
the deepest, darkest recesses of your heart.
Shining light on it by sharing it with someone, especially God, robs
shame of its power. Connection trumps
shame.
Connection is also a vital component of faith. In the past, when I went through difficulties,
I would always feel very far from God.
It felt like God was nowhere near me.
When I was going through the abuse and in the years afterward when I was
dealing with the aftermath of it, that distance was so great that I deemed God
non-existent. So, I painted Bible verses
in my bathroom based on the theme “Emmanuel: God With Us” to remind me of that
fact day in and day out. Then Kelsey got
sick. Chronic Lyme disease creates a
hell that is hard to see God in. I was
losing the connection with God. I started
writing this blog so that I could see Him more readily. I had to force myself to notice His works in
my life because I had experienced the desolation of the desert without
Him. That is not a trip you want to take
twice. I reached out and held on. Sometimes that rope between me and God felt
like those giant mooring ropes you see on cruise ships; other times it felt
like a thread. But a thread is still a
strand of that mooring rope. God is
still on the other end. Connection is my
lifeline to God.
Perhaps Friedrich Nietzsche said it simplest, “Invisible
threads are the strongest ties.”
I love this song because it sounds like the joy I feel when
I am connected to God.
Jamie Grace feat. Toby Mac – “Hold Me”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgr8SgCYbY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgr8SgCYbY
