On any given day, I can get all the news, conversations, pictures and daily life snapshots I wish for online and never need to engage in face to face conversations. Social media provides an avenue for all the information we could ever want with the push of a button and a face to face with the screen of our choice. It is challenging to think that human contact is not needed due to this “at your fingertips” world that we live in. Just the thought of the busyness and lack of “realness” in our daily lives causes me to ponder what once was…
Long phone calls
Handwritten letters
Knocking on your neighbor’s doors to visit
Conversations with friends over coffee or lunch
And just sitting on the couch with your favorite people
It is so easy to get lost in our own world that we start to believe that reality is the device at our fingertips. This past week was my Spring Break – my last one ever 🙂 – and I was reminded over and over that friendships are nurtured by doing life together. Real life is face to face, in person conversations, sharing stories about who you are and where you are going. It is the chance to laugh, cry, pray and share a meal together. It is a time for honesty, messy and investing in another’s life as they invest in yours.
My good friend Beth at Simply Beth has been writing and taking about real life connections and their importance. She has stepped out intentionally to make this happen and it has encouraged me in my own life. It has been a beautiful journey to follow and learn from Beth as she sits with friends over coffee, hangs out with her neighbors, puts family first and works on being present to others in her daily life. She models what friendship should be and I am blessed to learn from her bravery and challenged to carry this out in my own life.
A.A.Milne via Winnie the Pooh says…
[Tweet ““You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you.You have to go to them sometimes.” Milne”]
So what are you waiting for… take that step!
I took a step of courage when I contacted a dear online writing friend to meet me for lunch. Meeting an online friend in real life is a huge blessing and this was no exception. Last Tuesday, I met Candace at Candace Creates for lunch. One hour turned into two, then three and eventually we realized that the afternoon had disappeared and dinner time was up next. Sharing real life conversations with Candace was a beautiful way to see a friendship unfold and become a real life connection of sharing our stories, our love of writing and love of our families. We took the first step into friendship by meeting, but many steps are yet to come because we said “yes” to real life together.
Since I have been on Spring Break, I also had the blessing of spending extended time with family. God met me during the week and reminded me that writing about being intentional for the post “Are You Listening?” is not enough if you choose to then ignore all that you have learned. God does have the last word and He purposely provided me with everything I needed to be present with those I love.
Family ~ Sons ~ Girlfriends ~ My Dad ~ Time
All I had to do was let go of my agenda, my to do list, my preconceived notions of what I had to do over break and show up. Sounds easy, but it was so beautiful because God orchestrated every moment and taught me that being present was not just presence but intentionality, love and letting go.
Being present + intentionality = God’s loving Presence
When I said “yes” to taking a break, God prompted me to lay aside myself and engage my time in others. He created the time I needed to complete several “must do” items like my taxes and then asked me to breathe deep and let the week become a time following His lead. I don’t believe I have ever had a week quite so unfocused yet focused at the same time. The gift of intentional time led to beautiful conversations, ministering to friends and family, loving myself for letting go and honoring God for teaching me presence.
God’s Word was never more true!
In the leaning in God strengthened me with His love and grace. Take time to be fully present with your presence and listen well when you are gifted with time for family and friends.
Blessings,
Mary
Blessed to be linking with:
#DanceWithJesus linkup @ susanbmead.com
Mary, It IS so much fun meeting an online friend for the first time! We need to be intentional with all our relationships! Beautiful post, thanks so much! #DancewithJesus
This lesson of being intentional in my life continues. I imagine that God is working hard on me to get it right and to make it a habit in my life. I am blessed you stopped by. Hope your week is full of many more God reminders.
Mary…This is soooo good! I cannot tell you how attached I feel to these many people I am meeting via social media. I met a gal on Twitter a few weeks ago and she lives in MD where I was attending a conference. Before I knew it she was offering a chance to go to a beautiful Easter production the weekend I was there. And we did. We knew that would limit our connect time, so we also scheduled doing breakfast the day I was flying out. What a blessing it was. Also, I am excited about having QUALITY TIME with SO many of the #RaRaLinkUp Sisters at She Speaks this year. Thank you for driving the point home about being intentional about our relationships. I also being mindful of making family time sacred (blocking out social media!). Glad to visit with you tonight Friend!
Thank you for cheering me on and for your own story of an intentional friendship. I have not been to She Speaks but imagine that you will be blessed by the new friendships as well as the amazing time of learning while you are there. I have been to Allume and know that I came back changed. Praying we all look for authenticity and intentionality in our time with loved ones and new friends. Blessings!
I’m so glad you’ve taken time to intentionally connect face-to-face with your friends and even another blogger, Mary! What a treat! I’ve met three bloggers who live in other parts of the country, while I traveled. I would so love to find those who live in my neck-of-the-woods (Southern Illinois) to connect with regularly, but don’t know where to find who’s nearby. I did notice that you live in Ohio, correct? My husband and I will be in Virginia in October of this year for our vacation, but probably won’t get that far north. But how I would love to hug you in person, Mary, and not just in “cyberspace.” Thanks for this great reminder and challenge!
There is something unique about face to face relationships which is weird to think about considering how we grew up. You know I would love to meet you and I am not sure which way you go to get to Virginia but I live in Southwest Ohio-specifically Cincinnati! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
So blessed by this post and the truth you share. It is tempting to let online connection and the busyness of life crowd out face time with friends. Love the Milne quote:) Thanks for the encouragement to trust God with all that needs to be done and be intentional about spending time with friends and family.
I was blessed with a gift last week and found out quickly that once you read back to work some of that intentionality escapes quickly. I do know that God will continue to send me reminders and opportunities to instill face to face time into my life. I hope your Easter was blessed and that as we have journeyed through this week you have been able to walk the path of resurrection in your own life. Blessings!
I love this post! I love that you two met. Wow. Power in the sisterhood of Christ. Yes, intentionality is so powerful. Thank you for driving this point home in my heart this morning. Great love is here Mary! Cheering you from the #RaRalinkup on Purposeful Faith.
There is so much power in the sisterhood and I pray we may all experience those moments in our own lives. The other blessing last week was my awareness of how to be fully present with my own family. I am easily distracted and found the time together to be so restorative and meaningful. Blessed by your encouragement and heart for cheering others on in their writing journeys!
Mary,
Oh how I miss the time of handwritten notes and phone calls. Now it’s all emails and texting. We’ve lost the “personal” aspect of interpersonal communications. Am I sounding like a middle aged curmudgeon lol? Thanks for encouraging us to be present in the moment and put emphasis on our relationships. So glad I stopped by 🙂
Blessings,
Bev
Hi Bev! You do not sound like a middle aged curmudgeon! 🙂 I feel the same way and know that these feelings are not ones that should be ignored. We should listen and follow our hearts to making our time with others authentic and meaningful. This is an area that I will need to continue to work on in my own life and I pray that others will also reach out to making real life connections. Have a blessed day!
This very very beautiful. I love your courage. Stepping out and making a real life connection.
God Bless Mary and keep up the inspirational messages.
Thank you for stopping by! We are so blessed to know that God blesses us doubly in those real life moments and is honored when we bring Him into the center of our lives. May Easter remind us to live our lives fully for God and share His love with all we meet. Blessings!
Awww! I love seeing that picture to remind me of such a wonderful day. It was amazing how quickly the time flew and we were blessed to hang out all day. I can’t wait to do it again.
That time with you really drove home to me every beautiful word you have shared here. I honestly thought through blogging and social media, I was being “social” enough ;). But spending time in person with you made me remember how incredibly important face to face interaction is!
I’m thrilled to hear your spring break went so well while you allowed God to lead you. He really does know what He’s doing, doesn’t He ;)?
Wasn’t that an amazing day. I am learning so much about real life, authentic connections and stepping out bravely to meet you was the beginning os something wonderful.I feel like I have an in with you now because we actually have met and know each other. Spring Break was amazing thanks to family and the wonderful time spent with you. Can’t wait until we can do it all again!
I love this deep reminder of the importance of real relationships and intentional time Mary thank you. Inspires me to do the same! God bless
I am so glad that you found inspiration here today. I love how God’s voice touches and teaches us in so many different ways and is used to show us that seeking the real in our lives is so important. Have a blessed rest of the week.
I love this circle of relationships that grows and expands over time. Beth and Candace are the loveliest of women … I’m only just a bit JEALOUS that you had that sweet lunch last week together. I’d so love to shrink the miles … and hang out together.
;-}
Thanks for talking about the need for face-to-face connection, my faraway friend. This is becoming more of a challenge … it’s just so easy to send a text or an email.
What’s happened to us? Why do we settle for fingertips on keyboards? Face to face was such a blessing …
Sigh …
Hi Friend!
I would so love to meet you in real life and just hang out and have those real conversations that I am finding are so important to who I am and to what God wants. I still find that I have so much work to do in that area but God is pulling me in this direction and I believe I can get better at this as I free myself of certain distractions.
The more I think about this I believe it would make a good series to write about, learn about and help each other to increase the “real” in their life and let go of the unnecessary distractions. Hmmmm! Any thoughts on this?
Mary, “meeting an online friend in real life is a huge blessing” – Oh I know that blessing too. Hopefully we will meet also someday. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post on #raralinkup. Have a great day! Kim
I love the dream of meeting all of these beautiful people that I do community with online. I am glad you have experienced the blessing of an online meet up in real life. It is the beginning of real conversations, real friendship and authenticity. Blessed you stopped by Kim. Hugs to you!
Mary, wonderful post. May we intentionally hold onto real life connections. I loved the photo of you & Candace as it is a beautiful example of online becoming real life 🙂 Thank you for so wisely directing us to be fully present with the ones we love. Blessings to you!
I am sure you have experienced times that God’s voice in on repeat in one certain area. This is one of those times for me. I spend too much time thinking of what’s next instead of being present in the moment. Spring Break was a beautiful time for me to understand what God means when He says my presence is magnified when you choose to be fully present. Thank you for being here! I love your wisdom. Blessings!
Great post Mary! It can be so hard to put oneself out there. It can be risky too when you don’t know anyone around you. I’ve invited four women from church (all very different from one another) over to enjoy some fellowship together on my screened porch on Thursday afternoon. Somehow it feels like I could invite my online friends and know we’d have more in common to talk about. Face-to-face is SO very important though.
Blessings to you dear one,
Patti
It made me so happy to read that you are inviting women from church to your house for fellowship. I want that to be a next step for me-intentional hospitality at my house with people I would like to get to know more. That would be a huge step for me. I wish we had more time together at Allume last year. I know we would have so much to talk about. I am blessed that you spent a little time here today. Praying your week is beautiful and your Thursday afternoon is a blessing to all. Hugs!
Great post- I need this reminder and to be intentional about developing those real-life relationships. Get offline and spend real time with those around me. This is such an area of challenge for me.
I know that working full-time, keeping up a blog and spending time with family doesn’t always leave extra time for intentionality. I will pray that we both are given more opportunities for this face to face time with those we love and even make time for new friends. Hope your week is full of God’s grace and love.
Oh, sweet friend. This has touched my heart so deeply. Yesterday was a rough day and I woke up feeling weary and as though I’m failing at this relationship stuff. To be honest, with the writing less, I fear losing some of those connections that mean so much to me. But your post pointed me back to God and let me know that once again I was letting lies win in my mind. We will never be perfect this side of heaven, but God is always growing us. And I love how He uses friends to bless us on our journey with Him. I am so grateful He brought you into my life and I cannot wait until the day we sit across the table from one another. 🙂
How awesome that you and Candace were able to spend time together. I so wish I could have been there with you. The photo of the two of you just makes me smile big this morning.
Much love to you.
xoxo
You are such a real, honest and beautiful person that you could not lose connections even online. Your mission for connecting with people has truly inspired me and it is because of you that I am trying to be more intentional in my face to face time with others. You are such a blessing in my life and I know that God has you just where He wants you. Thank you for being you and for showing me the importance of being present with those we love. Have a blessed week! Love you!