Uphill Both Ways

  What to make something seem easier? Bring along a friend.

  Simone Schnall from the University of Plymouth conducted research where people were taken to the bottom of a hill and asked to estimate how steep it was and therefore how difficult it would be to climb. When they were accompanied by a friend, their estimates were about 15 percent lower than when they were on their own, and even just thinking about a friend when looking at the hill made it seem far more surmountable. Friends have a way of making things easier.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-13

 Our world has recently been forced into isolationism. Even before the pandemic, people were disconnected using faux connections like social media as poor substitutes for personal connections. This isn’t good for us. (Genesis 2:18) We need others to encourage and support us. Christianity was never meant to be an individual religion. We are added to the body to become a useful part of the body (1st Corinthians 12:18-21). Trying to go it alone doesn’t just make it harder for you it makes it harder for everyone.