Tag: kindred spirits

A Season of Returning : 2014

This is Ash Wednesday, 2014.

lent

 

It wasn’t a special day or season as I was growing up in my particular Christian faith tradition, but with the new connections and resources I found through graduate school and the kindred spirits I found on the internet over the last ten years, I have been able to tap in and reconnect with this very ancient, rich, and reflective seasonal observance, each year.

 

This time of year, and especially during this particularly harsh winter, we can feel isolated, burned out, discouraged, troubled, or restless. It’s not just a state of mind, it’s a spiritual thirst.

Lent is a whole season that specifically helps us work through the darker, profound things that reside in the deepest recesses of our hearts, and prepare us for Spring (in every sense of the word).

 

This year, my husband and I are using a YouVersion Bible App reading plan called Lent for Everyone which includes a daily commentary by N.T. (Tom) Wright. Each day, the Lenten scripture reading and commentary brings the season into a richer light.

(Click to see all the Lenten plans.)

Why not do a reading plan this season?

 

Here’s another resources you might like.

It’s from Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center.

(Click it to read the whole thing.)

Scripture for Ash Wednesday: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

“‘And yet even now,’ says the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart . . .’” —Joel 2:12 

If people only knew…

What do you wish others knew about you?

Do you ever wonder if others really know you? (The real you)

If one tries for positive personal P.R. (public relations) it’s a sure way to find disaster of some kind. There’s nothing like the awkwardness of hearing someone spin their own outlook or circumstances to clue us into that person’s obvious desperation.

“I’m a good (or cool, or smart) person; please like me.”

Yet, most of us wonder if others misunderstand us, or really know us at a core level. Some of us have come to assume few, if any, do.

I’ve been watching Anne of Green Gables…on old skool VHS tapes (originals from 1985)!

(Kindred Spirits and bosom friends) Anne Shirley and Diana Barry

In that series of stories, there’s a lot of talk about “kindred spirits” and “bosom friends.” There’s much mention that Anne and others desire and cherish these sorts of relatioships–best friends who know you and love you. People who just “get you” and hope to spend time with you. People who seek you out, and love you at your most unlovable times.

I’ve been fortunate to have friends like these, but I can’t say that contemporary culture makes it likely. I find a number of potential kindred spirits won’t take the time to get to the deeper stage of so-called “bosom friends” (best of friends). Life is busy, and accomplishing things–rather than knowing and loving others– becomes paramount. And I think insecurity can short-curcuit the whole thing too, causing some of us to sabotage these depths, because of the emotional risk and the complicated consequences. Relationships, even the best ones, are messy and nuanced things.

This time of year is always reflective for me, as it is for many. Most of the time I think about the good and bad from the past year, and my hopes for the new year coming. But this year (now), it’s different. I’m thinking about friendships (and relationships). Ones I’ve had in high school, college, grad school, and other dimensions of adult life. It’s actually far more disappointing lately than I’d like to admit. If I would have to pick up and move away from my location, I wonder what or who I would miss. Far too little, I’m afraid. And that is something to ponder a bit more, and endeavor to change, if time allows.

Do you ever think about your lack of “bosom friends”?
(Comments can be placed anonymously, if you choose.)

What do you wish others knew about you?
What do you hope for in your relationships that is not happening?