Thoughts on loneliness

A few days ago I posted a blurb on Twitter about loneliness and how I feel this is a theme not just for our generation, but more specifically young adults. I just moved back to Arizona from Oklahoma where I had spend the last year attending college. While my experience up there is one that I will never forget I am glad to be home. Arizona will always have my heart. Let me tell you though, the transition from being on my own to moving back home (temporarily) has brought its challenges. I have had a hard time balancing friends and being home to spend time with my family. But when I'm home with my family they are busy with the duties and the personal things in their life that occupy their time. Often times, they're away when I'm at home. This is where that feeling of loneliness comes in. Don't get be wrong I'm not blaming my family, they are just going through the day to day routines that God has given them. Soon, I will be working, going to school, have homework, etc. I will have my own routine. I won't be sitting at the house alone anymore. Hey, maybe I'll even get a boyfriend! I'll be busy and my loneliness will go away. Yeah right! I feel like my generation thinks ( or maybe it's just me) that if we stay busy, with family, and with our friendships and our personal relationships and work and school and all this stuff we will be so busy that we won't even have time to be lonely. But that truly is not the case. I've talked to a few people my age recently and they too have struggled with feeling lonely. Some of them are college students who thought the business of college and being with their loved ones would take away that feeling of loneliness they often times experienced. However, when they moved to college this was not the case. Even with their busy schedules there are moments of loneliness.I think our loneliness comes from the lack of focusing our hearts and minds on something better than this world has to offer us. I'm a Christian. I believe In God and His son and the whole message of the gospel in the scriptures. So for me, my greater focus needs to be Christ. I need him to fill the gap ( not people and things). Don't get me wrong we need to be thankful for our present relationships and responsibilities. We should be happy for the friendships and relationships We've been given, but in our times of loneliness we must turn to something greater. And perhaps the more we keep our focus on something greater the less we will be lonely. "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish." Psalm 25: 16-17