"NO PLACE FOR ISLANDS"

By Charles Swindoll

Nobody is a whole chain. Each one is a link.
But take away one link and the chain is broken.

Nobody is a whole team. Each one is a player.
But take away one player and the game is forfeited.

Nobody is a whole orchestra. Each one is a musician.
But take away one musician and the symphony is incomplete.

You guessed it.
We need each other.
You need someone and someone needs you.

Isolated islands we're not.
To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support.
And relate and respond.
And give and take.
And confess and forgive.
And reach out and embrace.
And release and rely.

Especially in God's family...where working together is Plan A for survival.
And since we're so different (thanks to the way God built you),
love and acceptance are not optional luxuries.
Neither is tolerance.
Or understanding.
Or patience.

You know, all those things you need from others
when your humanity crowds out your divinity.

In other words:

Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each
other...
Be glad for all God is planning for you.
Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always.

When God's children are in need, you be the one to help them out...
Why? Because each one of us is worth it.
Even when we don't act like it or feel like it or deserve it.
In a rare moment of remarkable insight,
the Wall Street Journal dedicated an entire page to this very subject.
It's like a modern day application of the Romans 12 passage:

How Important Are You?
More than you think.

A rooster minus a hen equals no baby chicks.
Kellogg minus a farmer equals no corn flakes
If the nail factory closes what good is the hammer factory?
Paderewski's genius wouldn't have amounted to much if the piano tuner hadn't
shown up.
A cracker maker will do better if there's a cheese maker.
The most skillful surgeon needs the ambulance driver who delivers the patient.
Just as Rodgers needed Hammerstein
you need someone and someone needs you.

Since none of us is a whole, independent, self-sufficient,
supercapable, all-powerful hotshot, let's quit acting like we are.
Life's lonely enough without our playing that silly role.

The game's over. Let's link up.


_____________________________________________________
To say that you can love one person all your life
is just like saying that one candle will continue burning
as long as you live (Tolstoy)