Last weekend, for the first time in four years, I missed posting my Sunday blog story. Due to moving house, being surrounded by boxes in various stages of being emptied, or flattened for recycling--and not quite sure where everything was--I think I can go easy on myself. For the last two months our lives have centered around cardboard. I'll be glad to see the end of it.
The other issue that disturbed my writing routine and self-imposed deadlines, was that I had no internet or land line phone. Unless I go to the local library I'm out of touch with the rest of the globe. But the phone company has at long last assured us we will have internet service by this coming Wednesday. I guess I can wait that long. By then it will be almost three weeks without daily email. So, it's been quiet. Too quiet.
Like many people today, I've become accustomed to staying in touch with others all over the world by simply tapping a few keys on my laptop. For writerly souls like me, this is total bliss. After all, writing is my favorite form of communication. Because I like to dig deep to the very sinews of my heart and share with people in a sort of detached way on the other side of the globe, I need to make sure I connect with people in a tactile way.
On a normal day for me I can be so engrossed in the world of the books I'm writing, that I can look up after many hours, stary about me with bleary eyes, and realize my life is very quiet. Too quiet.
That's when the Holy Spirit nudges me and I call up a friend or family member and go out for coffee.
I'm glad church attendance is so deeply embedded into the routines of my life I don't think twice about getting up on Sunday to worship with others. As a creative person who's comfortable with long stretches of solitude in order to get the work done that I've been called to do, I need to also make sure I don't miss those moments of corporate worship. It's important to feel like an integral part of community, to share thoughts--not on paper--but face to face with others.
Being without internet these two weeks has made me feel out of touch with people. I'm anxious to know what's going on in my friend's lives. This reassures me that I am ultimately a community-minded person, a person who needs to be connected. Sort of like that metaphor of the branch the Lord spoke of--He is the vine . . . we are the branches.
We don't need internet to stay in touch with people, although it's deliciously efficient. What we do need is the Holy Spirit, reminding us to stay in close touch with the Lord through prayer, and with each other in some form of communication.
So, pick up the phone, dig out your stationary, buy some stamps, make a skype call, drive cross town to knock on some one's door, or even just holler hello over the fence. Stay in touch.
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