And Now for Something Entirely Different...

I am a sucker for community. Love to create it, to observe it, to nurture it. It has, in my life, been a very shaping and important thing. I have been a part of educational communities, faith communities, work communities, social communities... the list is truly endless. I have trained on it and grown in it and found again and again how crucial it is to me.

Over the past year, I have thought often about the online community and it's place in the world today. There are many who believe there is a falseness to it... a disconnectedness found in the distance within. But, it seems to me that the idea of an online community of people who are, in some way, intertwined with one another is changing and growing and becoming something that is much more real than it had been before.

The world of blogging is an integral part of all that. It brings us together based on experience or knowledge or a random series of events that can bind us somehow. Even here, as we talk about our lives as women, as moms, as people who love and think and seek out something intentional, there is community being created that occurs mainly, not because but in spite of me. And when I hear from you through email or posts, it makes it all so real to me... that we are in it together and that what we live is real and good.

So, let's try something new! This week, as you read this blog and any others, forward them to someone who may not find it any other way. Let's be purposeful about building this community and welcoming new friends to join us as we go. Know a mom who could use some encouragement? A friend who seeks to be intentional in her parenting? A co-worker who likes to think it through? Forward this blog to their in-box or send them a link to this site. And as you do that, I would love to know what other blogs you read. Share some ideas about someone else's site that we all may enjoy as well.

Because the truth is, we are in this together. You may be sitting in Michigan or California or Massachusetts but there is something about sharing in this way that helps us to feel a little less like strangers all over the world and a little more like neighbors sharing a cup of well-brewed coffee. I love that picture... and love what we can discover together.

So, let's do it! Let's expand this community and build new connections and encourage one another this way. It will only take a minute to share a link with a friend... and how grateful they will be that you have thought of them, remembered them, saw them today.

Blessings on your day!