Good morning Sisters! It's a beautiful Saturday - I'm sitting here in front of my laptop enjoying my homemade almond milk latte, trying to ignore the plethora of toddler toys glittered on the carpet, jealous of my ministry sisters at a California chapter getting to listen to a Catholic big-wig coming to speak the next couple of hours. The Husband is next to me on his iPhone, absentmindedly skimming through Facebook and IMBD. The baby is finally napping.
This healthy jealousy rouses a question in me - how do we promote a more active, encouraging online community on the HeartofMaryWF.com site?
Since creating the website just a short 32 days ago - it has boomed into an extraordinary life-filled, life-giving ministry. There's so much on there - bible study, devotion, encouragement to participate more fully in our Catholic faith, support to fall more in love with God, artfully beautifully, feminine smart phone screen savers, Instagram posts - but I feel as though something more is missing. Our sisters are reading (I see the blog statistics growing each day). But what is it?? What's the missing link?
As I Google today, prayerfully going through different search engine entry options, it hits me: We are reading the devotions, but we are not responding to them. We are listening to the devotions, but we are not vocalizing our hearts. We are not utilizing this online community to its potential.
We are a community. An assembly of Sisters. We must encourage one another. We must also be vulnerable. This is a big, big request Sisters. Can you bear your heart with us? Can you encourage your Sisters online? When we read a study or a devotion - we do nothing with it, we benefit nothing from it, if we do not express our hearts and what we learn from it. This could be within the quiet personal writings of a prayer journal. It could be sharing your heart over coffee with a dear friend. But it can also be in an online setting. Your Sisters are going through similar things as you. You can bless them by sharing with them how our amazing, just God is loving on you. You are not alone. We are not alone. Do not stay away from your assembly. We need encouragement from each other.
xo,
just some unorganized thoughts to respond to your post :)
ReplyDeleteI relate wholeheartedly to this after blogging for the parish 30 day prayer challenge and not having people participate in the comments section as I wanted them to...
I think it has a lot to do with what we, as a culture, have bought into as connection... We read something, "like" it or push the Instagram heart, and often move on to the next thing in our scroll. We have such busy lives that we move too quickly onto the next thing, perhaps without ever really listening, or responding...
I am so guilty of this!
We have to do better. We don't know how to have community, and the online forum is no different.. We have to lean into that space though and take some risks.