I keep thinking about community…

about calls to:

“be in community”

“the way forward is together”

“we need each other”

this is the message of the time we are in, coming from inside of me, from outside of me. it’s resounding and clear.

and also. I’m thinking about how lonely and disconnecting it can feel to hear these messages.

this is also the overwhelming message I get when I tune into what so many others are experiencing. as we all watch in horror, on screens, from our own solitudes, feeling, feeling, feeling … longing… numbing…

these calls to be in community, much of the time, put in stark view just how alone I am feeling.

so much of what has challenged me, what has hurt me in my life, has been NOT feeling like I belong, like I am part of a community, that I am safe and accepted to be myself, that my life and being is tightly and tangibly woven together with my fellow humans.

if I can feel this way then I imagine there must be others feeling this too.

does this call to build community catalyze you, stir you to action?

or does it send you further into the trenches of your isolation?

(or both or something else?)

For those of you feeling alone

For those with attachment wounds and trauma that make it difficult or painful or unknown or scary to connect even though you desperately long for it

For whom hearing the calls to community, to come together, just drives the stake of loneliness in deeper 

I see you 💗

You matter

Your contributions matter

Your experiences and perspectives and joys matter

It’s not your fault. You aren't broken or wrong.

May grace find us and offer us strength and resolve to lovingly reach our wounds of disconnection 

That a healing balm may be applied 

That we may learn how to apply this healing balm for ourselves

And then beyond