Photo by Facebook?
I know I am behind the curve on this one, but I suspect there are others even further behind. Nathan set it up for us (every family has a Nathan, I hope). Teleconferencing, duh? Only take the conferencing out of it. In these so difficult times each of us is going through, we can get the gift of present family. Together! Never has there been such a time when we all needed our family! I know there are dysfunctional families…never has there been such a time to work it out. We have the means to draw nearer in a time of uncertainty.
Nathan used Zoom. I know there are a multitude of other technological ways to do this. The wonderful thing is that you are together—you can see each other and hear each other (granted, doesn’t compare to real life). I already have plans for a cocktail hour with my beloved Spurs Group buddies.
Do you realize how useful this is? Our pastor Cheryl prayed today “Lord, do not let social distancing draw us apart, but rather find a way to use it to bring us together.” We have the tools to draw nearer to our families. I’ve had more contact with my brother and four sisters in the past week than I have in the past six months. (Another connection my sister Diana introduced: my side of the family (the five above and all of our progeny) are connected on an app called WhatsApp—we can use Facebook to send our in-family reflections (of every kind) to all of us—no one else sees us. I started yesterday and I like it very much already.
I believe we are supposed to draw strength from our family. We are to draw from the love that we find there and we are to spread it outward. Our friends, our co-workers, our acquaintances, whoever life puts in our path…has there ever been a more important time to look beyond our own needs?
It is going to get tougher out there. At our gathering, we talked about what positives we could see in this current crisis. This is what I told my children: Somehow in the last five or so years (or longer than that), we as a nation got pointed in the wrong direction. We began to change our values…the love of money is okay…you get what you deserve…some people are better than others…my opinion is more important than yours. And we began rolling down that road. As one soul on the planet, I prayed: How do we change this, Lord? How can we turn?
Don’t misunderstand, God had nothing to do with giving us the virus…we could do that on our own. God takes what we do and turns it toward our good–I don’t know how—it’s a miracle! I hope and pray that God uses this virus to open our hearts—to give ourselves to one another—I pray that the Spirit of the Lord is sweeping over the land… (okay, I might not have said all that). I believe there is unlimited good that can come from this. We have to look for that good.
Loved this!
I love that you do this! Zoom on!! I will consider trying it too.
My annual Spring college friends reunion is being postponed to end of June. I may suggest Zoom to get us all together sooner. Glad you have a Nathan. In my family I am Nathan! ?