You Don’t Have To Be Lonely

3, 2, 1. I can think of very few things more sad than.

Aloneness. Loneliness, being alone. I can think of very few things that are more tragic in the human experience than being alone. In fact, being alone is so counterproductive to any human.

That when God made everything in Genesis chapter one, he used an adjective to describe how it was. And here's what it says. And God said, and it was so. And God saw that it was good. And when he made day one, it was good. Day two, it was good. Day three, it was good. Day four, it was good. Day five, it was good. Day six, it was good. God rested on the seventh day from all his work, and it was very good.

But he got down to Genesis chapter number two.

Verse number 18. And here's what it says.

And the Lord God said, it is not good.

This is the first time we see lo in front of tov. The Hebrew word for good is tov. It means good. It means prosperous. It means blessed. It means abundant is good. This is the first time we see the word lo, which means not or no. So this is lot of like loneliness. We could call this loneliness. Is Lotov right? It's not good. And he said, it is not good.

That the man should be alone. I will make him an help.

By the way, the word help is the noun I will make him and help meet. The word meet M E E T is an adjective that describes the noun help. The word meet means sufficient. I will make him an help sufficient for him. Now, interestingly enough, God said it is not good for man to be alone. Loneliness is not good. Aloneness is not good. But I don't like people. It doesn't matter.

And people who think they don't like people, it's not that they don't like people. It's that they don't like the fact that they feel like XYZ is going to happen when they're with people.

Now people are not easy.

I'm talking about friend people. I'm talking about family people. I'm talking about enemy people, business people, work folk, church folk. People are hard. And if you like, you gotta have, you gotta have your big boy pants, your big girl pants on. If you gon deal with some people.

Cause folk are jacked sideways. And they'll jack you sideways if you let them. Even people who love you will jack you sideways.

I was listening to an audio book this morning by this author and I, who had never really I'd heard of him, but I was listening to this audiobook this morning and he said, I Always got A's and B's all the way through high school. This is what the guy said. I got A's and B's all the way through high school and.

Just thought of something funny. That was not the time to think of something funny. Come on, Myron. You are almost there. Okay, so. So he said, I got A's and B's all the way through high school. He said, my teacher asked me before I was getting ready to graduate, are you planning on going to college? He said, I'm thinking about it. And she said, you'll never make it. What is that? What is it about people that want to project their limited beliefs on the lives of people they come across? They want to infect other people, but they're negative disease.

Well, that's people for you. Yeah, no wonder you don't like people. They judge you. They talk about you behind your back.

They'll steal from you. They'll cheat you. They'll cheat on you, huh?

They'll want to fight you. Some of them will want to kill you. They'll take what you work for, even though they was wasting their own time.

And yet God said, it is not good for man to be alone.

Now, he must know something. Now, the thing I thought about that was really funny.

Was when.

When Adam and Eve sinned. And God said, adam, where are you? He said, well, you know that woman you gave me?

He said, God said, did you eat of the fruit, the tree I told you not to eat off? You know that woman you gave me? She gave me of the tree.

That you told me not to eat off. And I did eat.

And I can imagine Adam thinking, now why again was it that you thought it wasn't good for me to be alone?

And in spite of that, God said, oh, by the way, God didn't make Eve thinking she wasn't going to eat the fruit and tempt Adam to eat the fruit. God made Eve knowing she was going to do both and knowing he was going to do it. Let's don't get it twisted. Now. God doesn't learn anything because he already knows everything.

And still it wasn't good for the man to be alone. Preacher said to me one time, said, man, some dude in my church came to me and said, pastor, Pastor, I'm having marriage problems. And I looked at him, I said, well, you married, ain't you?

And yet, and still God said, it is not good for man to be alone. And we have children and they grow up and we find out very early in their development that they Are not us. Can I get a witness? And not only are they not us, they want to make sure we know that they are not us.

Huh? And yet God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. Because relationships will make you become something and help you become something that you cannot become by yourself.

Relationships will inspire you to do things that you can't find the inspiration to do on your own.

Some of those people at your job that you can't stand and they can't stand you.

Those very people might be the inspiration necessary for you to go build that million dollar business.

I've told many of my coaching clients, don't you quit your job. Don't you quit your job yet. Why? Nothing will inspire you to build a business that you love like working at a job that you hate. Mm, wish I had some help in here. Oh, Lord.

Loneliness is not good. God did not make man to be alone. In fact, if you were the last person alive and you owned everything, you owned all the restaurants, all the farms, all the grocery stores, all the cars, all the money, all the banks, all the real estate. You owned everything.

I went into preach mode there for a minute. I'm gonna pump the brakes, Myron. You're sitting in a chair. You own everything.

You would be one miserable soul. You would realize maybe for the first time in your life how essential all those frustrating, irritating, aggravating, nerve wracking, annoying people are in your life.

They get on my nerves. Well, that's part of their job. How else are you going to become resilient enough to deal with the other people who are going to get on your nerves way worse than they are? Okay. God gave me six brothers. We didn't get along all the time when we were children.

We didn't get along most of the time when, when we were children. Now we get along most of the time now. Almost all the time. In fact. I'd be hard pressed to think of a time when we are not getting. We might like, have a disagreement, have a conversation about the disagreement. After that, it's a wrap.

But we didn't always get along growing up.

But God said it's not good for the man to be alone. There are some children right now growing up in the home of an alcoholic parent.

And God said it's not good for the man to be alone. And there are some spouses that are married to an alcoholic or a drug addicted spouse. And God says it's not good for the man to be alone. There are some children who have disappointed their parents. It's not good for man to be alone. Like, you need people, and the people you need aren't always the people you want to need.

I need people, and the people I need ain't always the people I want to need. But I need people. I am. It is not good for Myron to be alone. It ain't good for you to be alone. Ain't good for Entebbede to be alone. I wish they just leave me alone. Yeah, until they leave you alone.

I wish it was easier to deal with this person. Yeah, until you don't have that person to deal with anymore.

God gave us.

Some reasons and some cures for this whole idea of being alone. Now, I've often said, how did. Well, like God looks around. How did God know it wasn't good for man to be alone? Well, Adam named the animals. Adam probably didn't even realize he was alone until he saw all the unclean animals coming two by two and all the clean animals coming seven by seven to name them. And I know those went into the ark. But he named all the animals and he saw them in pairs. He said, here. Here I sit. God knew before Adam knew it wasn't good for the man to be alone. Yeah, I don't. I don't. I don't need a husband. I don't need a wife. I don't need children. I don't need friends. I don't need. I don't need the people at my job. I don't need the people at my business. I don't need my bus. Okay. God knew before Adam knew that Adam needed people.

He also knew before you knew that you need people you may not like being around. You may not like the work that you have to put into being with people. If you're gonna be with people, it requires work. Now, some people. Can I get a witness? Require more work than other folks. Some folk, when you get ready to work with them, you need steel toe boots and a hard hat and some gloves, Right? And a raincoat. Cause here they come. Right? But it's even good for you to be around those people.

One of the best things that ever happened to us in my childhood was the fact that we moved around a lot. I'm gonna define a lot. I went to two different elementary schools. I went to one, two, three different junior high schools and four different high schools. We moved around a lot. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life. Do you know why? Because I had it forced upon me to deal with all types of different people. White folk, black folk, Spanish folk, Asian folk, folk that liked me, folk that didn't like me, folk that were bigger than me, folk that were smaller than me, folk that were smarter than me, folk that were dumber than me. It gave me the ability to deal with a whole lot of folk, folk with accents, folks without accents, all kind of people. And guess what? It's one of the greatest blessings of my life because I realized at an early age that people are different. Not just different from me, but different from each other. And I had to learn how to deal with people differently and communicate with people differently depending on where I was. And priorities of people are different depending on where the people are from now. You know, if you if up north, they don't care. They don't care how high you get if you don't get too close. But down south, they don't care how close you get as long as you don't get too high. Can I get a witness? I'm talking about people. You got to understand who you're dealing with.

And so God said it's not good for us to be alone. How did he know that? How did he know it wasn't good for man to be alone? I believe that God knew that first of all because he knows everything. He's God. But also because man is made in the image of God. And it wasn't good for God to be alone.

God didn't make man for rules. God made man for relationship. God made man for him. God made the creation and the creatures for the man, but he made the man for him. When I say man, I'm talking about men and women. God called their name Adam, which means man. Humans, God made man Adam. Men and women, God called their name Adam. Adam later called her name Eve. And guess what?

God knew it wasn't good for Adam to be alone because it wasn't good for God to be alone. So he took a rib out of Adam. I love the fact that he didn't take the bone out of his foot because.

She wasn't meant to walk upon.

He didn't take the bone out of his head because she wasn't meant to lord over him. She took the bone out of his side because she was supposed to be beside him on this human journey.

It's not good for the man to be alone. And guess what? If you're married, congratulations. You need your spouse. You may not always like your spouse, but you need your spouse. And your spouse needs you. But guess what? Your spouse ain't the only one you Need. You need friends. You need family. I'm gonna prove it to you from the Bible here in a minute, and I'm gonna show you how to, like, go through life and navigate the loneliness landscape so that you can become connected to a community of people in every area of your life, so that your life gets better because of them. And more importantly, from your perspective, their life gets better because of you. That should be your focus. My focus should be your life getting better because I'm in it. Your focus should be other people's lives being better because you're in it. That's how God set it up. And so it wasn't good for God to be alone. So it's not good for the man to be alone, because God made man in his image. And.

If you look at how do we overcome loneliness? We overcome. How do we overcome loneliness? What's God's cure for loneliness? It's amazing. It's all right there in Genesis. The ultimate cure for loneliness is three things. They're the only things that bring fulfillment. And by the way, they don't bring fulfillment individually. They bring fulfillment as a collective. God didn't create one solution to loneliness. He created three, which, by the way, three is the number of God.

And here's what's fascinating.

God said the ultimate. He shows us principally that the ultimate cure for loneliness is creation.

Connection, and contribution.

We have to have a level of all three of those if we are going to be fulfilled. We have to have a level of creation where we create something. Now, here's what creation does. Creation gives you the ability to focus on something and someone other than yourself. Because in the. So when I'm thinking about creation, for me, as an entrepreneur, I'm creating solutions to other people's problems.

And when you create solutions for other people's problems, you will have people in your life who will come and pay you for those solutions. And then thank you for the privilege of paying you so that you could solve their problems. How many of you ever bought something from somebody and then said, thank you for letting me buy this from you? I know I have, right? I go to a restaurant, I buy some food, I thank. I don't just. I don't just pay for the food. I don't just tip the server, But I thank them for providing a great experience for me. Because guess what? All restaurants don't provide a great experience. So when I get one, I'm gonna make sure I let them know how many. Y' all track it. And so what we have to do is we have to make sure that we understand that part of the reason that God created this thing called creativity for us to participate in is so that we can create things that make other people's lives better. And as we create things that make other people's lives better, that itself makes our lives better. How cool is that? See, God created his image. And so the first thing God tells about God is that he created. What did God create? He created creation, he created creatures, and then he created creators. That's men and women. Oh, that's so cool. So God created creation.

And then he created creatures, and then he created creators. Well, when we focus on creating something for someone else.

It makes our lives better.

One of the joys of my life, and this is going to sound more weird, but I'm a little odd. You've probably already noticed that one of the joys of my life is the fact that I've finally been able to build a business that sustains other families than just mine.

I have people who have livelihood because of the creativity that God placed inside of me. I've got a really good friend. His name's David Mitchell. The dude, him, his wife Charlotte, they're just. They're just. I don't know, they're just some of the most amazing humans I've ever met. And I asked David, this is probably 10, 12 years ago, and this dude has been an impact on my life since I was in my early 20s. I said, David, how many people do you have working for your company? And back then I might have had one person working for my business, right, David, how many people you got working for your company? He said, oh, I don't know, probably 60 or 70.

What?

I said, doesn't that make you nervous?

He smiled. He said, nah. Charlotte and I have been praying for years that God would give us a good business, that we could hire people so they could support their families. I'm like, who thinks like that? Who talks like that? But that became a focus for me. Oh, I want to have a business that's successful enough to support more than just my family.

God intended for all of our lives to be farther reaching than just the own wall, just the four walls of our house. I was reluctant to hire people for a long time because I didn't want to lay anybody off. I didn't know. I was like, how many? All be nervous about hiring somebody now. It ain't just yours depending on you, it's yours and somebody else, right? I don't want to have to lay anybody off. I don't want to have to. I don'. What if we can't bring. Right. But you know what it does? It causes you to focus at a level that you're not gonna focus.

By yourself if you're only focused on you.

And so creation gives us the ability to focus on our work at a totally different level, but it gives us the ability to bring in finances from that work. Our finances from the work that we create can be. It can be like. When you start out, it could be a little. I remember my first job. Tim, you ready for this? My very first job, I was 14 years old. I was so excited I'm gonna be able to buy me a pair of Converse All Stars.

Because when I asked my mom to buy something for me, she said, if you think I'm gonna buy you some $13 sneakers, you out your mind right now. People mortgage in their house to buy their kids tennis shoes. Anyway, that's a different conversation for another day. So, man, I got this job. I'm making $1.55 an hour.

Picking up trash in Columbus, Ohio. Let's go. I got my own money.

But if there was nobody to do work for, I couldn't get paid. All of the money that you desire that you don't have right now, it's in somebody else's pocket. And if you'll create something for them that they value more than they value the money, they will happily hand it over.

And there's no. There are no guards out there saying, oh, no, that person has too much money. There's no money guards out there saying, nope, nope, they have too much. You gotta go give it to somebody else. At least not in the United States of America, there isn't.

You can make as much as you want to, depending on how hard you focus on solving other people's problems. And then.

That whole creation piece, it gives you the ability to tap into your mind, into your imagination, and, like, conjure up things and contemplate things and comprehend things that you never had to think about before because you're looking to solve somebody else's problem. Some of the most miserable people in the world are the people who are. I won't even say some. I'm gonna say the most miserable people in the world are the people who are so self absorbed with their own problems that they don't think about other people. You are happiest, you are most joyful when you are leaned into somebody else's problems more than you are your own. Period. It's in our makeup, why we're made in the image Of God. God loves us.

Hence we love other people. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. That you have love one to another. Anyway, creation, that's the first piece. But then connection. What's interesting is God made man for connection.

And the scripture says that the voice of the Lord walked with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day. God made man for connection. God created you because he desires for you to have a connection with him.

Now that's amazing because he does not need you or me, but all of us need him. But he still desires to be connected to us. Huh, that's fascinating.

And sometimes I think the mistake we make as human beings, we seek connections from people who can benefit us more than we seek connections from people we can benefit.

Wish I had some heaven here. Oh Lord. And the reality is the joy comes like when you're connected to people that you're connected to because you're connected to them.

You know, one of the things I noticed even people like, I'm going to keep it real now. Can I keep it real? Okay. Like I get peopled out sometimes.

Like my people meter goes down to zero. Hear me when I tell you. And I deal with a lot of people. So if I'm at a conference, man, it's. I get people out so fast. It's like.

I'm so exhausted. I just want to go to my room, play my guitar and not have a conversation with anybody, right? So I get peopled out. So all people get people out. Some people get peopled out with way less interactions than others. That's just human nature. We're all going to get peopled out sometimes. We just. I don't have any more people energy.

I don't have any more people energy today. I remember when my kids were little and we'd have a birthday party for them and our friends would bring their kids over to our kids birthday. Then they act like they want to spend the night. Not the kids, the parent.

It's 8:30. Y' all still in 9 o'. Clock. I gotta get up at 2:30. What y' all doing?

I shouldn't have done this. I was very immature.

But I'd say, hey youngsters, ladies, y' all want just lock the door when you leave. But I'm going to bed, right? I gotta go to bed, right? I get peopled out. I get that you get peopled out sometimes. But don't resist and refuse the opportunity to connect with people. Because relationships are hard and sometimes they hurt.

On the other side of that hurt is a level of fulfillment that can only be experienced when you allow yourself to go past it.

I'm going to tell you the last one.

Because God made man for connection, and man severed the connection by doing the exact opposite thing of what God told him to do. Don't eat off this tree. You got all these trees, bro. You can eat off all these trees.

You can even eat off the tree of life. Just that tree. Leave it alone. They had everything but one thing. Do you know what it means when you have everything but one thing? It means you. I.

Right.

But see, the enemy got them to focus on the only thing they lacked.

And as soon as he got them to focus on what was missing, it cost them everything they had.

And so man, by disobeying God, severed the connection. And then what did he do? He tried to hide.

Can I give y' all some advice? When you're peopling with people.

When you know you've done somebody wrong, don't defend yourself.

Repent. You know what the word repent means? Comes from the. The word repent in the New Testament comes from the Greek word metaneos.

Which we get the word mental from. Okay, so what does metaneach. It means to change your mind.

You know what? I was wrong. If you don't ever say I was wrong and feel genuinely.

Like, wow, I was so wrong, like, when you repent because you know the person expects you to.

Or, you know, you ain't getting nothing else from them until you do, or unless you do, can I get a witness? That's not. That's not repentance. I'm talking about the kind that, like, I should not have said that. I should not have done that. I am wrong, and I'm going to do everything in my power to never do that again. Never say that again. That kind. Okay, well, man didn't do that. He made himself fig leaves and made. He took fig leaves and made aprons. I'm gonna cover up the fact that I'm exposed. I'm gonna cover up the fact that I'm vulnerable. I'm gonna hide the fact that my human condition of weakness and frailty is exposed. I'm gonna cover it up with. And God said, that's not enough. And it says, the Lord made them coats of skin. A blood sacrifice had to be made, which is a foreshadowing, a forecast of. Of the Christ who would die.

And.

God gave a contribution of one of his creatures for Adam and one of his creatures for Eve to make them coats of skin, to cover them up. With a blood sacrifice because a non blood sacrifice wouldn't do.

And God made a contribution for man showing him that you can't cover yourself. You can't cover yourself enough to be accepted by God. You can't fix your sin problems. Only I. Here's what God's saying. Only I can fix your sin problem. Your church attendance, your baptism, your good deeds, your this, your that, the other, your third rights, nine rights. None of that, none of your religious activity is going to do it. You have to trust in my ability to restore the connection.

Well.

That'S through contribution. That's why we feel so good when we give to somebody who has nothing to offer us.

That's a good. I don't know, what is it about giving to a cause or an individual or a charity? Notice I didn't say give back. I hate that term. I'm just giving back. I'm not giving back. I didn't take anything from the charity. I'm just giving.

There's no back.

Now when I give to God, I'm giving back because everything I got came from him. But I'm talking about when I give to a charity, I'm just giving. I'm not giving back. I didn't take anything from anybody. I made the lives better of the people I bought the raw materials from and the lives better of the people I had sold the stuff to and the lives better of the people who I hired to help me do it. A whole bunch of people's lives got better because I gave, not gave back. Anyway, so.

The contribution is when you give money to a homeless person or you give money to somebody who says, I'm just hungry, I want some something to eat. And you buy them something to eat. Or if you don't have time to buy them something to eat, give them some money, would they go spend it on drugs? That's between them and God. I don't have time to fix all their problems right now. I know there are enough hungry people in the world. If I give some money to somebody who says they're hungry, even if they're not hungry, and they go buy drugs with it, that's not on me.

But if they starve to death that day because I didn't buy something for them, that is on me. And I could have and, and I didn't. Why didn't I? Okay, y' all tracking.

But you have to be very alert too. Like you have to use discernment.

I pulled up to the gas station one day.

There'S this van sitting there and There are people in it. There's two guys, and there's this woman. And she comes over and says, excuse me, sir, can you help me buy some gas?

And I see these two dudes and I see her. I'm like, can't help you.

Now. Not because I didn't want. If it had been a woman by herself, maybe.

Can't help you. What are these two jokers doing.

Now? If they had come and asked me, I might have said yes. But they sent you. Now I got a problem. There's no universe in which I'm gonna send my wife to ask somebody I don't know, some man I don't know for some gas. And I'm sitting there with my sorry self in that van. There's no universe that exists in the galaxies that I'm doing that. Can you tell? I got a little attitude about that.

But I was on my way in the grocery store one day, like, I don't mind helping you. I was on my way in the grocery store one day. I was in a hurry, too. I was like, I am in a hurry. I'm going here, get one thing, one thing. I saw this lady sitting there with a van, three little kids.

Saying, help me buy some groceries or something. I don't know. It could have been the whole thing could have been a scam. I don't know. I don't have time to figure it out. I'm in a hurry. I'm going to get one thing. I said, ma', am, you and your kids come in the store. I'm only gonna be in there for a few minutes, so you gotta hurry. But anything you get, you get it. I'll pay for it.

I'm not saying that because that makes me somebody. I'm just telling you. Sometimes I say yes, sometimes I say no.

Contribution is a thing that gives you a level of fulfillment. Probably because it's one of those things that makes us most. Like God.

Giving to someone who can't give back. To me, that's a jam. That's a vibe. That's a thing. Now I'm going to read something else to you. Ecclesiastes, Chapter four. This is so good.

God not only tells us that it's not good for the man to be alone in Ecclesiastes, chapter 4. So if you understand the book of Ecclesiastes, this is a book that Solomon wrote at the end of his life when he finally woke up after his ridiculousness.

And he came to the realization that.

If you. The theme of the book of Ecclesiastes is this. If you live your life for a life under the sun, you've wasted your life. That's the theme of the book of Ecclesiastes. The whole theme. Like, you'll keep reading it, keep saying, all is vanity and vex. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. This is also vanity. Vanity is emptiness, vexation of spirit. As you've tortured yourself, so he said, if you only live your life, the whole theme of the book of Ecclesiastes, as you're reading it, just read it with this as a frame. If you live your life.

For all of the things that exist under the sun, you've wasted your life and tortured yourself. That's the theme of Ecclesiastes. Okay, so, and then he says, in chapter four, verse seven, he says, then I returned and saw.

Vanity under the sun. There is one alone, and there is not a second.

Remember the theme. You wasted your life and tortured yourself. There's one alone, and there's not a second. He hath neither child nor brother, yet there is no end of all his labor. Neither is his eye satisfied with riches. Neither saith he, for whom do I labor and bereave my soul of good. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. What is he saying? He's saying, if you focus so much on creating wealth.

And you eliminate people from your life and you get all the stuff, you have nobody to enjoy it with, you've wasted your life and tortured yourself. Isn't that good?

Like, how does God know this stuff? He knows everything.

Then he says, Verse 9, Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. So in creativity, in creation, two are better than one. It is easier to build a business with a team, with co workers, with affiliates, with joint venture partners, than it is to do it by yourself.

I was teaching a class in a church over in Orlando many, many years ago, and I quoted the verse. Okay, so I'm gonna back up a little bit.

In Proverbs, chapter.

30, I think it starts with verse 24. It says, There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.

So Solomon, here's what Solomon's saying. If you will pay attention, I'm going to show you how to be wise beyond your size.

He says, the ants are a people, not strong, but they prepare their meat in the summer. What's he saying? In the wisdom of contemplation from the ant, because they know how to prepare. See, what does it tell us in Proverbs, chapter six, about the ant. Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Which having no guide or overseer or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest. Oh, what do we learn? Well, we learn a couple things from the ant. We learned, number one, that an ant thinks negative when things are positive.

What does that mean? It means an ant thinks.

Winter, all summer. So when it's summertime, the ant is not partying, the ant is preparing. We learn the wisdom of contemplation for the ant.

Because they know how to prepare. Yes, it's summer, but winter's coming. I can't act like it's summer all summer. I gotta act like winter's coming all summer.

Ants can't shovel snow.

But see, ants, not only do they think negative when things are positive and think winter all summer, but ants think positive when things are negative. They think summer all winter. They ain't all hopelessly in despair. Why? Because they prepared. People who prepare for their future don't spend the time in their future that becomes their present lamenting the fact that they weren't ready for it. They revel in the fact that they were.

So the ant. And then it says, having no guide or overseer or ruler, an ant is self taught, an ant is self motivated, and an ant is self disciplined.

Not waiting for somebody to come by and teach him. Not waiting for somebody to come and buy a motor. Not waiting for somebody to come by and make him do it the right way. He's just gonna do it. Well, that's what I'm an ant. That's what I do. I do it the right way every time I do it, that's what I. I'm an ant. Then he said. He said, after you said, the ants are a feeble folk. I mean, the ants are not strong people. Not strong, but they gather their food in the summer. He said, the coneys are feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks. So we would learn the wisdom of contemplation from the ant because they know how to prepare. But we learn the wisdom of comp from the coney because they know how to protect themselves with things that are stronger than they are.

Huh?

Coney says I can't protect myself from a lion. I can't protect myself from a bear. I can't protect myself from a wild dog. I can't protect. And a coney is a rock badger. So what does it do? It makes its houses in the rocks. And it's really interesting when you go to Israel. They have these mountainous rocks. Rock. They have these rock mountains that are made of rock, but they have these little holes in. Like, you could stick your hand in the hole, right? And you see. And you can see these little rock badgers crawling down in these little holes. It's so cool to see.

The Coneys are a feeble folk. They build their house in Iraq. Okay. The locusts have no king, but they go forth, all of them, by bands. We learn the wisdom of cooperation from the Locusts because they all participate.

See, locusts don't isolate. Locusts participate. And see, you want to have the benefit of a locust without participating. You want to isolate and then have the benefits of participating. It don't work like that.

And then what does the Bible tell. The Bible tells so many things about the importance of connection and community. What does it tell us? It tells us that two are better than one. I'm gonna get to that in a minute. Threefold core is not quickly broken. It tells us if one will chase a thousand, two will put ten thousand to flight. That's some serious God math right there. Cause I would think one will chase a thousand, two will chase ten thousand. I mean, two thousand, but not ten.

He's saying the synergistic effect of two is ten times better than the lonely effect of one.

Yeah, but I'm a loner. Okay, how's that working for you?

You may think it's working well, but you have no idea how much better it could work if you were a part of a team, a community, a family, a friend, a network, something.

Two are better than one. So we learned.

And so one of the things that hit me when I said that, that whole part about want to chase a thousand people, put 10,000 to flight. Those are war terms. But since all principles are microcosms of each other, if it's true in war terms, it has to also be true in wealth terms.

Right? So if two will chase a thousand. I mean, if one will chase a thousand, two put 10,000 to flight. If one person can make a thousand, two people can make 10,000.

But, see, you're so busy wanting to sing Frank Sinatra's I Did It My Way.

You need me singing Myron Gold. It's teamwork makes the dream work. Okay. Anyway, that's another different song for a different day. Okay, now you say, what's your point, Myron? My point is 50% of 10 is five times more than 100% of one.

And most people spend most of their lives because peopleing is hard. Spend most of Their life living 1/5 as good a life as they could because they block people out.

It's so interesting.

That even before we started on YouTube, most of my business did not come from advertising. It came from connections.

Think about that. Connections are so important. Well, so. Oh, the last one, I said four things and I only named three. Since I'm. Since I'm chasing a rabbit, I might as well get that last one. It says, the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in the king's palaces. What are we learning from that? We learn the wisdom of capitalization from the spider.

Because the spider knows how to profit from what others have done. A spider can't build a palace, but a spider can live in one.

Let me ask you a question.

Did you gain enough wisdom from the spider.

To learn how to build a superstructure on another person's foundation?

I can't build a YouTube.

I didn't invent YouTube.

But I can build on the platform on that palace that's already there. I can't start the Internet, but I can benefit from the fact that it's already there. How many are picking up what I'm putting down?

Whatever you're going to say after that really doesn't matter because the reality is God made you for creation, connection and contribution. Let me keep reading.

This is so good.

Hey, how many of y' all can tell? I'm not negating the fact that peopling is hard. Okay? Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. So God wants us to connect in creation.

And then it says.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe unto him that is alone when he falleth. For he hath not another to help him up. How many older people have fallen and been a home alone and then nobody found them for days or hours?

We need community. We need connection. We need people.

Then it says again, if two lie together, they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? Oh, not only is it good for creation, but it's good for procreation. It's good for family. Isn't it interesting that everything's a picture of everything else and everything's a microcosm of everything else?

There's no. There's no universe in which my business would be as successful as it is if I hadn't married the woman I married. There's no way. It wouldn't be. There just wouldn't be. Yeah, but Myron, I don't ever see her on camera. That's okay. She's the one behind the scenes that makes all the stuff I do on camera make sense.

Her ability to expect.

Just unbelievable, outlandish.

Ridiculous faith outcomes is way bigger than mine.

And when I wanted to quit, she wouldn't let me.

There's no single solitary person on this earth who's better off by themselves. Never has been one. Never has been one. And it's interesting that when God made Eve for connection, Adam and Eve, when they connected, guess what? They created other little humans. And guess what little humans can't do by themselves? Anything. They can't do anything by themselves but cry and make messes all over themselves.

Do you understand? When we have babies. Congratulations, Tim, you just had a new baby, right? That little baby is so dependent on you. That little baby's more dependent on you than that little baby realizes. But you and Millie all realize it, right? Because there's something about the joy that comes from contributing to that little life that has nothing to offer you.

Except the joy of contributing to that little life. Isn't that awesome? Only God can do that.

And then.

Not just in work.

Or creation, not just in connection, but in conflict. It says, if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Just being in a community of people with a common vision who are working towards a common objective, even if those common objectives are separate from each other. Just having that common. Why are you here watching me on YouTube right now? Because something I'm saying makes sense to you. And you. Something in you knows I'm not just speaking to you, but I'm also speaking for you. How many understand what I'm talking about? Like, you've been thinking this for all year or maybe your whole life, and all of a sudden, oh, somebody's putting words to the stuff that's been.

Like, jostling around in my head.

I am telling you, God's ultimate cure for loneliness is creation, connection and contribution. I don't have any, Myron. I don't know how to create anything. Well, everybody knows how to create something.

I mean, you. You've been here too long not to know how to do anything.

I mean, if you understand the words coming out my mouth, you've been here too long not to know how to do anything.

So my recommendation for you is gonna be this.

Put some effort, energy, intention, and most importantly, a decision into. I'm gonna do peopling in the area of creation. I'm gonna do peopling in the area of connection. I'm gonna do peopling in the area of contribution, even though it's hard. And here's what you're going to find out.

You're going to find out. Eventually you'll be able to say, I'm glad I put effort, energy, intention into peopling, especially because peopling is hard. And that is God's ultimate cure for loneliness. It'll change your life. Go make somebody else's life better. And if you don't do anything but write them a poem or write them a song or make them a flower arrangement from some flowers you found in a field, you can create something that's gonna make somebody else bring joy and light and life and breath into somebody else's life. You will be so glad you did.

I promise you. All right. In the meantime, in between time, stay blessed by the best. We'll see you on the next video.