Whether we’ve felt it in a very real way or simply as a constant feeling in the corner of our minds, most of us have feared that in the end, we are alone in the world. It’s easy to understand why.

We’re weak. We’re flawed. We let each other down.

None of us are able to be there for each other with the strength, consistency, and magnitude that each of our hearts require.

I’ve felt it in a very real way in the past six months. While I’ve been dealing with my very real faults and have started the exciting discovery of who I am and what I’m here to do, I’ve continued to have a lingering fear in the back of my mind.

The fear that no one is truly there for me. That everyone, at some point, will let me down. More specifically, that everyone, at some point, will leave me.

Everyone knows I’ve felt it with the girl. But I’ve felt it with friends, fearing the inevitable separation that comes with age as we go discover our own paths in life. I’ve felt it constantly in the past few months with my business – that any second the fragility of this new enterprise will be shown to me, that it will crumble right in front of me.

Even with my newfound vigor associated with my faith, I’ve had to deal with the irrational fear that God isn’t there for me, mainly due to my inability to communicate with him in the fashion I see in others.

I’ve been reading a terrific book about the longing in our hearts for something meaningful. One of the things it talks about is that our lives are stories. There’s a beginning, an end, a plot, and a ton of characters. There’s good, and there’s most definitely evil. Our lives are stories – the problem is that we have no idea what the story is supposed to be about.

In today’s world, there’s no context for our stories. For most people, there’s no Creator, and no purpose behind any of it. At the most basic level, this makes us feel good. We don’t have to be accountable to anyone or anything, and are free to live our lives how we want. In essence, we are free to make our own story.

But we haven’t the slightest idea how to do this. We can’t create the story because our lives have no context. Without purpose, without a Creator, our lives are reduced to a series of little events, each one disjointed and meaningless. How could they not be? Without a Creator, there can be no purpose. And without purpose, there is no meaning. Each day is simply another 24 hours before we die.

But that’s not really true. None of us think so. When people take the time to think about what life without a Creator would really mean, we’re left with despair. We become depressed. Sure, we enjoy the little episodes of life while they’re happening, but in the middle of the night when there’s no one but us and our thoughts, we’re left to confront the meaninglessness.

And our hearts scream at us. The screaming is telling us that it simply can’t be. Our lives can’t be meaningless.

Why? Why, if there is nothing behind it all and our lives are simply a series of accidents, does our heart tell us there is more? Why does it continue to torment us?

Maybe our heart is trying to tell us something. Maybe we’re made with that longing for a reason. Almost all of us at one time or another take the time to search for that meaning. But maybe we’re doing it in the wrong way.

Our meaning won’t come from our relationships. We think it will, and invariably are let down. So we leave, and go find another relationship, desperately hoping this one will provide us with that meaning. But the meaning isn’t there – divorce rates don’t lie.

Some of us look for that meaning through work. But it’s not there. It’s not in the next promotion or the next success in business. There’s probably a reason why many of the most successful people in the world still are faced with despair. They have all the money in the world – yet still feel as though they’re alone.

A ton of us look to religion. We go to church, go to Bible study, go to pot lucks. Our churches offer to free us from the despair. But we still feel it. Our hearts still have that longing.

So what do we do?

Maybe the reason why our hearts have this longing is because we were created that way after all. Maybe our inherent feeling that our lives are stories comes from the Creator, who made us because he loves stories. Maybe our contentment that can’t come from relationships, business, or religion, can come from that relationship with our Maker. And maybe the reason why we can’t feel it is because of that fear we’re faced with.

Maybe I can’t communicate with God the way I want to because I’m afraid of being let down. Maybe I haven’t truly felt in my heart that God’s love really is sufficient enough to calm my heart, to give me peace.

Maybe the answer to the problem comes by realizing that we live in a world that is indeed full of evil. Maybe the world is full of roadblocks, distractions, and events that make us feel pain. Maybe everyone’s failures are orchestrated to make everyone else feel the loneliness and despair.

Maybe the answer is to realize it. But to know that behind it all is someone who indeed loves us, created us to love us, and won’t ever leave us. And maybe that love affair is the context for our stories. Maybe the longing in our hearts, in spite of all the pain, is God calling to us softly. Telling us that he does indeed love us, that he is sufficient.

Maybe we’re not alone.