I hope you’ve had a great week reconnecting with friends. I think God created us with the desire for relationships and connection. I remember when I was a child, my mom and the neighboring women would connect in community at the clothesline or the fence. They’d talk about their children, cooking, gardening– all the things that were important to them. They also gathered in quilting groups, sewing circles and church socials.
Although the way we connect has changed, I believe our desire to connect and belong within a community has remained the same. This last year has been hard on relationships. It was a year of trying different ways to stay connected. Technology was a blessing as we used Zoom, FaceBook, FaceTime, texting and calling. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a women’s conference in person. The energy, laughter, sharing and joy of being together with other women “in real life” was invigorating. It was nice to make new friends and see women connecting one heart at a time. All of us want to feel accepted and connected on some level.
As the world starts to reopen, I hope we can reconnect with the personal touch of another. Reopening might possibly have as much anxiety as the lockdown did, so extending patience and kindness to one another will be important. It’s important that we’re aware and respect each other’s wishes about the vaccine, hugging (I’m a hugger!), shaking hands or wearing a mask. Our compassion towards one another will help make it easier for us to reconnect and be in community as life returns to a new normal. It’s important that we give ourselves time to know when we are ready to put ourselves back out there. We may need time to readjust.
The benefits of connection are so wonderful. We learn from each other; we can serve, encourage, laugh, inspire, share and experience joy.
Some ways to start reconnecting:
- Meet for coffee at an outdoor cafe
- Go for a walk together
- Invite a friend over to sit outside and chat
- Host or join a small book club.
God created us to be in community. He gave us the gift of connecting. Are you ready to reconnect? I am.
C aring for one another
O opportunity to grow
N eighbors reaching out
N oticing others’ needs
E ncouraging others
C reating community
T aking time to care
I like the CONNECT poem 🙂 It is so cool and makes a lot of sense in a concise, easy to ready way.
We are better together!
Yes, together we encourage, inspire and lift each other up.
Precious connections with quality community friends, broom, zoom or “vroom”.
Yes, so thankful for all the different ways we can connect,
Thank you for your encouragement. 🐸
You’re welcome. Thank you for reading my blog.
The round robin away to connect with all my nurse friends we have kept a letter going around for over 50 years now and we connect with each other all the time by putting a letter in and and if he’s going around very lucky to have that. God bless you all
That is a beautiful gift you have given each other over the years. Connection is so important.
Yes I am ready to reconnect with friends in person. I have reconnected with my family and it’s wonderful. I also have seen some friends. It brings so much joy to my life. Thank you Marie. This was wonderful.
You’re welcome.
Connecting brings us so much joy. God created us for community.
I love the way we as a family here have been able to reconnect these past few holidays and when an out of state family member was here. It felt so much more normal and was wonderful for our hearts and soul! Your blog has also been a way of connecting through ths whole ordeal and something I look forward to each week!
Thank you for reading my blogs each week and commenting on them.
It’s nice to see old friends, family and to hug them. So good for the heart.
Yes it’s time to get back out there, I still have not gone back to church but watch it faithfully every week, hopefully we will return.
Yes, it’s time to get back out there. Each person will know when it’s right for them.