Mary In Bloom

Belonging to a "life group" has been such a major part of my growth as a person, in my faith, and has helped me to feel very connected in a church as large as Barefoot.  Many Hands, One Heart (our group) has been meeting for going on two years now and is comprised of a mish-mash of people.  Many life groups form based on age or other common bonds, but One Hearters initially drew people in due to the fact that child-care was available.  Dad, Mom, Brandon, and I - though we didn't need childcare - joined so we could belong to a life group with my sister Leslie.  Since then we have had people move on, but have had many others join, usually because they knew someone else ...

     Living in as many places as I have and no longer being geographically close to many of my friends, I have been a long time advocate and defender of Facebook.  Last month, however, there was family member with whom we were trying to reach on the phone.  It was frustrating because she would not answer her phone or return missed calls, but I saw that she was constantly on Facebook.  I not only felt hurt, but a little self-righteous.....until I took a closer look at my own Facebook usage.  The few close friends I do have, I maintain real time or phone time relationships with so I am not guilty of replacing the real connections with Facebook messages.  ...

     A church out of Wilmington, NC challenged its members in 2010 to choose a word to help shape their coming year instead of making a list of resolutions.  I heard about the challenge last year on K-Love and was inspired by the abstract kind of motivation it could unleash in my life.  They have a website to help you get started and write about your journey: http://www.myoneword.com/.  Last year my word was "bloom" and, as you may have guessed, became the catalyst for me to start my blog.  As 2011 drew to a close, I started to think about what my driving word would be for 2012. I noticed immediately that I was feeling pretty protective over the word ...