Don’t Ride Life Solo

Growing up, one of my favorite animated shows was Spongebob Squarepants. One episode that speaks to me now as an adult is the episode entitled SB- 129. In this episode, the clarinet playing; negative; stick in the mud Squidward Tentacles seeks to have some me time away from his troublesome neighbors Sponebob Squarepants and Patrick Star, refusing to go out jellyfishing with the two.

Hoping to get away from the pair, Squidward sneaks into his closed workplace only to get trapped in the freezer. After being frozen for two millennia, time traveling to the Stone Age, Squidward then time travels to a place where there is nothing and nobody but him. Nothing that is with the exception of weird echos and a few different colored squares above and below him. He basks in being free from his neighbor Spongebob. He kicks back, puts his hands behind his head, and lays his treasured clarinet beside him.

“I may finally have found a place where I can be all alone,” he says. The last word he utters is repeated by unknown voices over and again, accompanied by the word alone in many different fonts across the television screen.

The words then zoom out from the screen along with the voices repeating and echoing. Following the last echoes Squidward realizes how unsettling this place is.

“I gotta get outta here!” he cries, wide eyed and sweat drenched.

A minute later after crashing down into his time machine, he breaks down, expressing how he misses his city; his house; and much to his own shock… Spongebob.

Squidward’s situation makes me think about a lesson on companionship which I read over two weeks ago. That lesson references Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12, which reads, “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

I truly believe that God does not intend for us to go about this life alone. Think about what He did for the first man Adam. The father of the human race must have felt lonely, seeing how the creatures of the sky; land; and waters had others alike, but not him. God himself said in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” And that’s just what He did. With the creation of the first woman Eve, Adam was no longer alone, because he gained a helper, friend, and spouse.

Even if you do not desire to have a significant other or a spouse, it is still good to have friends, some type of connection with others. When we have people in our lives we have someone to go to for guidance, someone to hear our sorrows, someone to lend a hand on a task too much for ourselves, someone to just relax with. Even for a person like me who appreciates his alone time to think; recharge; and relax from busy and stressfuls days, I greatly appreciate the connections I have with people such as my girlfriend, family, friends, church family.

Don’t ride life solo.

God Bless!

(I DO NOT OWN THE GIF, NOR CARTOON IMAGE)