I remember the days before cell phones when we would come home and immediately check the answering machine. How excited we were when there was a message for us. How disappointed we were when it read no new messages. “I guess no one loves us,” I’d say over and over.

Fast forward 30 years and we are bombarded with messages, texts, alerts and emails. Yet like never before we feel more alone, more abandoned, more desperate for intimate connection. How we long for a real letter from a sincere friend who sends us that little note with no agenda, no asks, wanting nothing. How we long to open that letter and see just a few words that say, “Just thinking about you today.”

For us first responders, these feelings are all too familiar. In the midst of busyness, in the chaos of increased call volumes, being up all night running from here to there, many of us feel more alone than ever. Accentuated by Covid 19 and social distancing, many of us feel further abandoned by all. Sitting next to another, yet so distant. No one knows us, none understand, no one cares. Surrounded by a crowd, we’re desperate for connection.

Although we pretend to be ok, were dying for a real friend on the inside. A true friend who is thinking about us.

Today in my time of quiet reflection I came across this Bible verse:

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

Psalm 139:17-18

For me today, as I was reading in God’s letter, I was reminded that even in the midst of such great darkness and collapsing economies, when we’re forced to be isolated from everyone, there is a God who is thinking of me. There is a God who hasn’t shifted his attention away from me.

Just in case you were wondering, because I was, there are 5 sextillion grains of sand in the world. That number looks something like this, (5.6×10^21). All I know is that that’s a lot of zeros after the 5!

His thoughts are on you, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how much you don’t believe him or want him, he’s thinking about you right now. Not only is he thinking about you, he’s inviting you to come and sit with him. Away from the chaos, away from all who are too busy for you, away from all the pain and hurt you suppress.

He is the genuine friend who today sends you the note we’re all longing for.

“Just thinking _________(your name here)___________about you today.”

Stephen Johnson