This coming week, I will turn 60. As I have been told by those who have reached this milestone before me, you can find yourself thinking a lot about your much younger days. It is no different for me.

One of those remembrances involved my immediate family back in the early 1970s. I remember the day my parents came home one weekend with a “new” stereo and these huge speakers. The stereo consisted of a record player and an 8-track player. We would spend hours listening to the Beatles, the Turtles, Jesus Christ Superstar, and of course, Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits (to name a few).

My favorite at the time was Simon/Garfunkel’s “I Am a Rock.” I would play that 8-track so often that it had to be replaced several times.

I recently heard it and, of course, was brought back to those days of childhood. But now, as an adult, I am realizing that the theme of my favorite song (one of them) was probably not something an elementary child should focus on (yes, there are worse ones).

I know so many people who feel like “rocks and/or islands” for many reasons. They have put barriers around their lives and hearts because of so much pain and suffering. It is so easy to do when you’re human, right? In addition, we have taught are children to be so independent that we have lost the ability to be more interdependent. We don’t want to show weakness because life has apparently become a competition, and we have to be strong… Or I should say the strongest?

The older I get, I realize how hard it is to live as a rock and an island. In fact, I don’t think or feel or believe that THAT is what God has intended for us here on earth. We have the privilege of helping those in their weakest moments and receiving mercy, grace, and love in our own weakest moments.

We were not created to be rocks and islands. We have been created to love, share, suffer with, laugh with, and cry with others. We have opportunities to uplift others and help provide for them in a multitude of ways. We can help someone else in their pain, hur,t or suffering. When we do that, our own hearts can be healed…who wants to be a rock or an island anyway, right?