A Prayer for Loneliness in a Crowd

Father, I was in a full room tonight, music and laughter all around, and I have rarely felt more alone. Everyone seemed to belong to someone, and I stood at the edge nodding and smiling and counting the minutes until I could leave.

I confess there is a particular cruelty to being lonely surrounded by people. It makes me doubt myself, makes me think the problem must be me, that I am the only one who cannot find the thread.

So I bring You the gap between how full the room looked and how empty I felt. You saw the one woman in the crowd who only touched Your robe. You always notice the person no one else is noticing.

Meet me in that gap. Remind me that no party can give me what only You can, and no crowd can take what You have already given. You knit me together and You know me through and through.

I lay down the performance of seeming fine. You see straight past the smile to the lonely place underneath, and You are already there. In a thousand faces, I was never out of Your sight. Amen.