Grace be with you.
—2 Timothy 4:22
I get misty-eyed reading 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter.
He was terribly lonely. “Everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me,” he wrote (1:15). “At my first defense, no one stood with me . . . all forsook me” (4:16). “Only Luke is with me” (4:11).
He wanted to see Timothy: “I long to see you . . . Do your best to come to me soon . . . come before winter” (1:4; 4:9, 21).
This letter was written in a dungeon, where he was “chained like a criminal” (2:9). It was his last berth on earth. “The time has come for me to leave this life,” he wrote (4:6)—from this cell, he went to his execution.
Then he stepped up to receive his reward (4:8).
In his memory, reach out today to someone who is lonely.
Be someone to someone who needs someone.