I love writing to you once a week about the thoughts that are roaming through my mind. Our physical health. Mental health. Our faith journeys. Even though we are separated from one another I somehow feel connected to you in a closeness I cherish.
This week I was reading about the cultural phenomenon of sorting. Not our laundry—the whites, the colors, the delicate, etc. In Brene’ Brown’s book, Braving the Wilderness, she writes about the sorting that is happening in our nation. Americans are sorting by gender, race, political affiliation, religion, to name just a few ways. We are divided from one another in almost every area of our lives. Very few people are working on connecting. We have grown more extreme in our thinking and consume only facts that support our beliefs. We support politicians, strangers we don’t really know, barely believe, and definitely don’t love.
Friends, we need real, honest connection. Your senator is not going to drive you to chemo. Your congressman is not going to watch your children or prepare you dinner when you are ill. Let’s get real. We need community. What comes to my mind just now are lyrics from the Youngbloods:
Come on, people now smile on your brother Everybody get together, try to love one another right now.
Let’s, you and I, reach out to our neighbors today. Don’t put it off. We need each other. Jesus’ mandate is that we love one another. Support one another. Lift up the fallen. Feed the hungry. You know how to do it—to love. Let’s be Jesus’ hands and feet in a hurting world.
Linda