ARE YOU ALONE?

As I was prepping this week for my Sunday message (the beginning of the FRIENDS FOR LIFE series), I came across the lyrics for the Simon and Garfunkel song, I am a Rock. I know, how old school of me. Even though the song was written in the 60s, the message of someone who has convinced themselves they don’t need others is still “sung” today. There is a risk involved in relationships, and if badly burned, the temptation is to build fences around our heart to protect against being hurt again. Instead of the risk, some people isolate themselves. As the song says, they become a rock so they feel no pain and an island to themselves so they never cry. My question is: What kind of life is that? Sure, relationships are risky, but the rewards are worth it. If the lyrics below remind you of someone, someone you love who’s built walls around their heart so it’s hard to have a relationship with them, take time to pray for them today. God is the one who mends broken hearts, Psalm 34:18 and 147:3, yours and theirs.

A winters day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
I’ve built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
Its laughter and its loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don’t talk of love,
But I’ve heard the words before;
It’s sleeping in my memory.
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.