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While staying at home seems cozy, being part of a community offers opportunities to support and serve one another in Christian love.
There’s a saying that goes like this: “Once is chance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern.” If that’s true, there’s been a pattern in my life lately about the topic of isolation.
The popularity of burrowing
In early July 2024, the New York Times shared popular health trends, declaring that “ ‘hurkle-durkling’ is in, along with gut health and floor time.” That’s when I learned that hurkle-durkle is a phrase from Scotland for when you lounge in bed well past when it’s time to get up.
Then I heard people on the radio discussing cocooning and burrowing. These concepts were introduced by Faith Popcorn in 1981. She predicted that cocooning would be popular because people would live and work mainly at home, insulating themselves and avoiding anything that might take away their sense of control. It’s all about peace and protection. When people take that to the extreme, it’s called burrowing. Streaming services and food delivery are making it even easier for people to stay home.
Finally, I saw on Instagram this quote from John Delony, host of The Dr. John Delony Show: “In prison, when they want to punish someone, they put them in isolation. Loneliness is torture. And yet we do it to ourselves. Hear me clearly: There can be NO long-term life change or wellness in isolation. Be with others. Find community. Make friends. Dare to love. Dare to be loved.”
The perils of burrowing
Look, I like reading in bed and wearing stretchy pants as much as the next person, but I think John Delony is right to sound a caution about the epidemic of a lack of social connection and loneliness. Timothy B. Smith, a professor in the department of psychology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, agrees. His research team found that having few or no social contacts increased the risk for an early death by 29 percent.
Whoa. So even though hurkle-durkling, cocooning, and burrowing sound cozy, they aren’t actually healthy for us. And after thinking about it, I don’t think they are part of God’s good plan for our lives either. After all, the Bible is full of instructions about how we “one another” the people God has put in our lives. We are told to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), and offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9). We can’t do these well if we are intentionally in bed, in our homes, not venturing out.
The importance of community
So how do we create healthier lives?
Connect to a church community. As Christians, we belong to a spiritual family here on earth, which is the best kind of community. Do not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25)! Get involved with your church’s social events, volunteer opportunities, and small groups. Then invite your friends to join you too.
Connect to your local community. Invite a coworker to eat lunch with you. Run for local office. Serve as a volunteer firefighter. Work the polls. Sit by a parent you don’t know at the band concert and introduce yourself. Invite a friend to help you paint a room, and then help her pull weeds in her yard. Take classes at a local gym.
Connect to a prayer community. It’s awesome to have a praying relationship with the Lord on your own. At the same time, sometimes it’s easier to have others carry your burdens and share your joy. Find a group that is willing to do that. I just did, and we now have a group chat for prayer requests. I love it!
If none of these ideas work for you, I’m sure you’ll find some way to get involved. No matter how you get out of your comfort zone, pray that God will bless your choices and lead you to meet people who will support you so that you can all encourage one another. Pray also that you will meet people who need to hear about the hope God offers.
There’s even a chance you’ll still be able to wear stretchy pants.
The importance of rest
I’m not trying to make it sound like we shouldn’t take any time to rest. We absolutely should! The Bible talks about Sabbath and rest. If never resting is your struggle, check out these passages:
GENESIS 2:2,3: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
ISAIAH 30:15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
MATTHEW 11:28,29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
LUKE 5:15,16: “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
HEBREWS 4:9,10: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”
This article originally appeared as a blog for Time of Grace, timeofgrace.org.
Author: Linda Buxa
Volume 112, Number 02
Issue: February 2025