No Lone Rangers
No Lone Rangers
“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share, the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there’s no one to help, tough.” Ecclesiastes 4:10 The Message
Have you ever heard or used the term ‘pulling up oneself by their own bootstraps?’ The phrase is normally used to mean the person improved their situation without any help from other people. However, did you know that the original intent of this phrase was sarcastic because it was well known that it was an impossible to accomplish by oneself?
Why do we try to do life alone? You know it, ‘the lone wolf’ mentality. I do not need anyone. I am fine alone. I have heard many times over the years, as a response to this statement, ‘even the Lone Ranger had Tonto’. Yes, I will give the younger crowd a minute to Google ‘Lone Ranger’. Where did this attitude of self-sufficiency come from? Self-sufficiency, according to Webster.com, is having an extreme confidence in one's own ability or worth…haughty. This makes me think of being prideful…which sounds similar to the Pharisees.
This is not how Jesus wants us to live. Ecclesiastes 4 explains, “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps.”
Jesus did not intend for us to do life alone. We all need to have a group, even if it is a tiny one, to call on, to pray with, and be there for us. My Dad died on November 9th of this year and as an introvert, my circle is on the smaller side. But, each one of them has been there for me during this tough time.
It can be easy to forget, especially during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, that the babe born on Christmas Day never intended for us to be ‘lone wolves’ or to ‘pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps’.
Dear God, as we gather together this Christmas, may all of us (even the introverts) remember that Jesus never meant for us to do life alone. He did not ask us to be self-sufficient for He is all-sufficient. Amen.
Written by Dawn Whitmore
“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share, the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there’s no one to help, tough.” Ecclesiastes 4:10 The Message
Have you ever heard or used the term ‘pulling up oneself by their own bootstraps?’ The phrase is normally used to mean the person improved their situation without any help from other people. However, did you know that the original intent of this phrase was sarcastic because it was well known that it was an impossible to accomplish by oneself?
Why do we try to do life alone? You know it, ‘the lone wolf’ mentality. I do not need anyone. I am fine alone. I have heard many times over the years, as a response to this statement, ‘even the Lone Ranger had Tonto’. Yes, I will give the younger crowd a minute to Google ‘Lone Ranger’. Where did this attitude of self-sufficiency come from? Self-sufficiency, according to Webster.com, is having an extreme confidence in one's own ability or worth…haughty. This makes me think of being prideful…which sounds similar to the Pharisees.
This is not how Jesus wants us to live. Ecclesiastes 4 explains, “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps.”
Jesus did not intend for us to do life alone. We all need to have a group, even if it is a tiny one, to call on, to pray with, and be there for us. My Dad died on November 9th of this year and as an introvert, my circle is on the smaller side. But, each one of them has been there for me during this tough time.
It can be easy to forget, especially during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, that the babe born on Christmas Day never intended for us to be ‘lone wolves’ or to ‘pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps’.
Dear God, as we gather together this Christmas, may all of us (even the introverts) remember that Jesus never meant for us to do life alone. He did not ask us to be self-sufficient for He is all-sufficient. Amen.
Written by Dawn Whitmore
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