"It’s a Five Minute Friday!
Where a beautiful crowd spends five minutes all writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here.
Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..
OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on..."
Connect…
Connect the dots... Connect Four... Scrabble where words intersect, gather, connect... Puzzles merging muddled, odd and confusing shapes by connecting them together to somehow create intricate art...
Those were all games I enjoyed as a child. Today, when I have time to sit down and "play," those are still the activities I'd first choose. I like taking pieces and fitting them together so that they make sense, aligning them so that somehow, the exquisite envelopes the chaotic.
I delight in seeing and making things connect.
But it isn't always so easy or straightforward when it comes to relationships... Hearts are more fragile than puzzle pieces. Souls can bruise when hastily dropped into a line. Spirits might not recognize the unexpected significance of a moment. One can initiate, but a single self can't make connection happen.
What is it that twines two (or more) hearts tight together?
In my life, it has been a gentle, friendly smile in an airport lounge sparking the hope of someday getting to know the heart behind the smile. The recognition of need. Loneliness.
I delight in seeing and making things connect.
But it isn't always so easy or straightforward when it comes to relationships... Hearts are more fragile than puzzle pieces. Souls can bruise when hastily dropped into a line. Spirits might not recognize the unexpected significance of a moment. One can initiate, but a single self can't make connection happen.
What is it that twines two (or more) hearts tight together?
In my life, it has been a gentle, friendly smile in an airport lounge sparking the hope of someday getting to know the heart behind the smile. The recognition of need. Loneliness.
I've experienced a common passion or interest that throws uncommon individuals into the same pot... and who then discover they share so much more than first impressions indicated.
I've grasped a persistant hand of friendship offered, even when all odds seemed stacked against the very possibility... because this person-to-person connecting jeopardizes, a requiring of all involved the willingness to risk - be it two, three, seven or sixty-five.
We are beings made in the image of a God willing to risk connecting by offering His very self. As His image bearers, we appear more like Him as we wholeheartedly hazard the dangerously glorious possibility... to connect.
What a lovely post - thanks! I particularly like the comment about a smile across an airport lounge. YES! I've been travelling on long, lonely flights and YES!, to have someone that can relate, even non-verbally makes the journey less lonely.
ReplyDeleteBex
www.thisnthat-everydaylifeobservations.blogspot.com
www.leavingcairo.blogspot.com
Enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful reflections and images :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your lovely comment over at my blog today :)
How lovely! I enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteThe risk involved in connecting... yes, the pain of rejection or indifference. That's some of where I'm sitting at this week too (as I'm sure you could tell).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments on my blog as well. Very interesting for a couple reasons - by being away from home we missed some very old friends home from Israel that I had hoped to see, but they didn't get their schedule out until we were already gone.
And we have been talking about going to teach overseas for years. Who knows if it will actually ever happen, but perhaps, and then it's a whole 'nother level of trying to connect.
Perhaps because I am always trying to keep in touch with people even when I'm not in the same area (and FB makes that so easy now) that it's hard for me to actually see which people are trying to keep in touch with me.