INTERDEPENDENT AND NOT ISOLATED

 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.   But how can one keep warm alone?   Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. —Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

             How much easier it is when doing a job when another is there to help? Think about it— A person putting siding on a house by himself does all the cutting and nailing. Yet if he has someone working with him one can do the nailing and the other cutting. The work goes so much faster.

            Also, if a person falls down and needs help— woe to that person if they are alone. But when there are two people then the other can help the fallen one up. Years ago I was visiting my now deceased parents who lived a few houses from my grandmother. My grandmother lived alone and had fallen and couldn’t get up. She was able to reach the phone on the table and called my parent’s house. I went over, broke through the locked door and helped her up and into a chair and called the ambulance. Turns out she had broken her hip. If there would have been no one around and she could reach her phone, she could have been laying there for hours or days… Woe to the one who is alone. How many people do we know that are living alone?

            Two people can generate heat when lying up against each other. I know my wife has said to me more than once— “Whew… you really throw off the heat!” Years ago a read about this couple lost in a snowstorm. They had one sleeping bag. It was cold, sub zero and the woman was encouraged to get into the sleeping bag so the two of them could warm each other. The woman declined and wound up freezing to death. Yes, two are better than one to warm each other.

            One person can be overpowered, two can defend themselves, but three people together are not quickly defeated or broken through. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus send His disciples out two by two?   It is so encouraging to have someone else with you. Those who isolate themselves are not adhering to the principles of togetherness revealed throughout God’s Word. We need others and are not meant to be islands unto ourselves.

Dear Father I thank You for those You have in my life. May I be faithful in encouraging them toward You and may I be encouraged by them as well. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus. So be it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxI0Yyy57Wo