Two ways of not being alone

"You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me" says Jesus Christ in John 16:32. When I say I could have said the same (though perhaps not in the same situation!), it is not to blaspheme. I realize that the unity of the Father and the Son was of a much higher quality, because of the purity. But on the face of it, on the bare words, it is also my normal condition to never be alone even when I am all alone.

For me, it is due to grace or mercy, a gift not deserved. But due to the Divine Presence in my heart or mind, I can spend days without seeing a human being and I hardly notice. Even when the Internet is down for a couple weeks, it does not cause me to become lonely - if anything, less so - although it certainly disrupts my daily routine otherwise. For many years, I go to work with computers, come home and stay home except for a walk or two. For so many years have I been alone that my voice has physically atrophied. When our job was recently changed to incorporate two hours of taking phone calls twice a week, I could not do it. My throat is sore after 15 minutes and my voice gives out. I had a specialist check me out and he found no other reason than the fact that I simply have forgotten how to talk. I don't need to, for the One who is always with me knows my heart.

Interestingly, this seems to have conferred on me a small amount of wisdom, even though I lack the purity of heart of a saint. It is just that the small nuggets are not washed away by a flood of useless words anymore. So that is good.

But children who grow up today will probably never be lonely either, for they are given a cell phone as soon as they don't need a babysitter anymore, if not before. There is no need for them to commune with their heart on their bed, for they can always send text messages or at least update their Twitter. I do get these from younger friends sporadically. "It is 2 AM, why am I even awake?" The answer is: So you can commune with your heart. But who even knows what that means anymore? "Yet I am not alone, for my iPhone is with me." Not the same thing. I wonder, will this age bring enough blessings to make up for such an unspeakable loss, to never know from experience the meaning of the word "alone"?