Disconnected, But Never Alone
There is a photo I love of two gorillas sitting side by side, their backs to the camera, as though they are quietly looking out at the world together. A mother and her baby. Just the two of them, present with each other, needing nothing else in that moment. Underneath it I wrote two simple words: Better Together.
I keep coming back to that image because it captures something I think so many of us are quietly longing for right now. Connection. Presence. The feeling that we are not doing this alone.
When the Connection Breaks
The last two sermons I listened to both touched on the same theme, and it stopped me in my tracks. The message was this: many of us are walking around feeling deeply disconnected, and we may not even have the words for it.
When I read that definition I felt it in my bones, because I have lived it. For me, the disconnection came at the end of a very long marriage. One day I was part of something, a partnership, a shared life, a future I thought I understood. And then I was not. The connection was broken, and I found myself adrift in a way I had never experienced before.
Maybe for you it looks different. Maybe it was the loss of a loved one, a friendship that faded, a job that ended, a move to a new place where nobody knows your name. Maybe it is something you cannot even fully name, just a quiet ache that tells you something is missing.
Whatever the circumstance, the feeling is real. And it is more common than any of us realize.
You Are Not As Alone As You Feel
There are people around you who are feeling the exact same way. The neighbor who always seems busy. The friend who stopped reaching out. The woman sitting quietly in the back row at church. Disconnection has a way of making us feel like we are the only ones struggling, but the truth is it is one of the most universal human experiences there is.
And that means every small act of connection matters. A phone call. A text. A smile across a parking lot. Showing up. Reaching out. Saying “I see you” to someone who feels invisible. We are, after all, better together.
The One Connection That Never Breaks
But here is the part that truly comforts me, the part I come back to again and again on my hardest days.
No matter what has been broken in your life, no matter who has left or what has fallen apart, there is one connection that remains completely intact. One relationship that was never severed and never will be. God has not disconnected from you.
He has not stepped back, grown tired, or looked away. He is present in every quiet moment of grief, every sleepless night, every morning when you are not sure how you are going to get through the day. His promise has not changed and it never will:
“I will never leave you or forsake you.”
That promise is not conditional. It does not depend on how together you have it or how broken you feel. It simply is. And on the days when everything else feels uncertain, that is the anchor I hold onto. Thank you, God. That makes me smile. 😊
Whatever season you are in right now, whatever has left you feeling cut off or alone, I hope you will carry this with you today. You are seen. You are known. And you are never truly disconnected from the One who matters most.