It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Feeling somewhat burned out spiritually, I decided to take the month of January to rest, refocus and seek God.  So I requested a leave of absence from my volunteer commitments at church and initiated a month-long Facebook fast.  I just never imagined I would feel so very… isolated.

An unexpected visit from the Flu Fairy didn’t help matters any.  I literally did not set foot out of the house for over a week.  On the days I left the confines of my bed it was only to relocate under a blanket on the couch.   A couple of sweet friends brought meals.  One joked about leaving the food on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell and running.  I couldn’t blame her.  I’d avoid this flu like the plague.  Despite my aversion to needles, I am vowing from this day forward to get an annual flu shot.

But my big takeaway from this month of self and influenza-imposed exile is that we were never meant to do life alone.  There are certainly benefits to withdrawing for a time from the busyness of life to commune with God.  Jesus Himself modelled this.  But withdrawal is never healthy as a long term lifestyle.  We are hard-wired for human contact.  The fact is:  We Need Fellowship.  Jesus modelled and taught this as well.

In the 1970’s, Reuben Welch penned a little gem of a book that was extremely formative to my early Christian growth, called We Really Do Need Each Other.  I dusted it off today and was challenged afresh by the relevance of his words:

I have come to believe with all my heart that the life that Jesus brings is a shared life.  The life of God in the world does not have its meaning in isolated units, but in a fellowship of those who share that life in him.

Isolation = bad.  Fellowship = good.

When we feel like we are slipping spiritually, or growing cold, or indifferent, we have a tendency to withdraw and pray it through, or to get hold of God, or get back to where we ought to be, so we will have something to give to others–and that’s false.

Ouch.  Guilty as charged.

Of course we believe in the total adequacy of Jesus Christ to meet the total need of the total person.  But we must remember this also:  he saves in the context of the community of faith.  It isn’t “Jesus and me,” it is “Jesus and we…”

I’ve always remembered that last line.  I just don’t always remember to live it out.

A month of near seclusion is more than enough time to remind me of the importance of community.   This bear’s had enough hibernation for one winter.  I am more than ready to re-emerge and re-engage.

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25, NLT)