Several weeks ago when the racial unrest really came to the country’s attention, I was asked to join a virtual book club. I think we were all looking for a safe place to process. We were all looking for some way to come together and talk things out. We were all looking for actual things we could do to help with change. You are probably envisioning me with my closest circle of friends reaching out to each other…..but it was actually a group of wonderful ladies that for the most part I would be meeting for the first time. There were about 10-12 of us. I knew two of the ladies. The others I met for the first time on our Zoom call.
We were all different ages. We were in different cities. We had different backgrounds. But we had willing and open hearts. They had selected this book
Most weeks we took a chapter at a time. Some weeks we did a couple of chapters. It is a good read. It is not too long. It gave great historical explanations. It also referenced what the word of God has to say about all of this. Our two leaders (shout out to Cara and Nikki) did a wonderful job leading us through prayer and discussion.
Doing things virtually can be challenging. You lose a lot of body language…..plus we didn’t necessarily know each other that well and there was a lot of room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation and judgment and hurt feelings. You know what there was none of….misunderstanding, misinterpretation, judgment and hurt feelings. We all came there from different churches and religious backgrounds, but with a love of God that translated to love for each other.
I know times are weird and hard, but I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider opening your circle. You know how we come to better understand those who are different from us? We talk with them. We hear them. They hear us…..and inevitably we find more things that we can come together on than draw us apart.
So thankful to be asked into this sweet circle of ladies. I am blessed!
Hope you all have a great weekend. Monday is a holiday so I will be taking a blog day off too. See you back on Wednesday!
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