Joining
Synonyms: Getting Together, Assembly, Amalgam, Fusion, Connecting,
Bonding, Touching, Reaching
Scary? It shouldn’t be. Yet how often do we consider true connection as
an unpleasant experience? Even as I
formed my little list of Thesaurus words (I’m a synonym maniac . . . addict), I
became a little uncomfortable when I got to the words bonding, touching, and
reaching. "Dude! Get off me!"
Found
However, sometimes reaching out and touching someone else is exactly what needs to happen. Recently, I stumbled upon a cute little blog called Little Fancy Things. I have no idea what exactly drew me in, but I quickly realized that this was a team of blog authors working together to minister to women across the world through the medium of a blog. As I searched through their site and through the various posts, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to JOIN, GET TOGETHER, FUSE with this blog . . . with these ladies. These Fancy Little Ladies connected by God.
The Reality
The blog world can be so impersonal. You sit and read the words of a blog author who lives far, far away and never form a true connection. Call it your morning entertainment or perhaps your naptime hobby. While learning from blogs and simply reading blogs for entertainment is great, I have realized that there is a possibility for more. Authentic connections . . . friendships . . . mentorships can be created through blogs.
The More
Why hide behind cyberspace and maintain your comfort space? Jump in! Well, no. I didn’t mean jump into cyberspace (though I have often thought it would be awesome if you could). I mean get involved, join the discussion, have your heart and life open to be touched, and get in there and reach back to touch the hearts of others. Personally, I did this by writing to Fancy Little Things and asking if I could be a part of what they were doing, a part of who they are. Let me tell you what, God is cool. They were already in the process of growing and being molded by God into a blog with more authors and they readily accepted me into their team.
Acceptance: Given and Received
I know the reason we don’t reach out, the reason we hold back. Not only do I know it, I’ve felt it, been hurt by it, and considered myself damaged by the lack of it. Acceptance. We want to feel accepted and we fear being rejected. Truthfully, that holds me back tons. I’ve stepped out to try to be a friend and I have been hurt by the result. We’ve all had it happen. Instead of seeking authentic relationships, we press the skip button. Let me skip all the hurt, fast forward through the dagger in the heart, and we’ll just pretend to be friends without the depth. Sure it saves the hurt temporarily, but the walls we build hurt us because we want someone to break through and love us.
My challenge to you is to intentionally make real relationships. Don’t close the doors up and shut yourself off from the good just because you’ve experienced the bad. Seek relationships everywhere. Find God’s leading in every encounter with new people, but also look in unexpected places. Look online, look in the grocery store, look in Fancy Little Things, look in your favorite new blog, but by all means look!
Fancy Little ThingsAs for me, my new acquaintance, my new set of friends, has come in the form of a blog community. Of course, I still have friends offline, but you never know where God is going to minister you and to whom He has called you to reach out. Each encounter, each happenstance is an opportunity for God to use you and for the other person to be used of God to touch your life. Through blogging at Fancy Little Things, I cannot wait to reach out to women all over the world in different walks of life, but even more than that, I cannot wait to be changed by God by the women who will reach out to me.
When I say bless and be blessed . . . you know I mean it! ;-)
Brooke
P.S. Just so you know, Fancy Little Things is going though a big update come December 1st! The site might be down the 29th or the 30th, but keep posted, change is in the air ;-) Join up with Fancy Little Things and see some amazing things going down!
Find Fancy Little Things at:
