friendship

connections: why they are vital for the health of our souls

/ Joy Lenton / 6 Comments

connections - hands reaching across the world

There is nothing quite as reassuring to our souls than to know we are not alone with our world view, thoughts, pain and hurts. And if we can find close connections with our family, friends, neighbours or those who live far from us, then that is a great gift to treasure.

It is one we need more than ever when life gets tough, our focus is fractured, social media “friends” might be anything but, and real life friends can disappear at the drop of a hat. Everyone is so busy and hard pressed that it takes real commitment to stay in touch.

My years of internet life and blogging have been greatly enriched by making close connections and friendships with others. It’s one of the things I miss most when I need to pull back due to health relapses.

I cherish hearing from those who maintain contact with me when I’m out of action and particularly unwell. Because we could all use friends who keep the faith and do not give up on us.

It’s when we’re more adrift than usual due to chronic illness, extra health challenges or excess pressure that we really value the connections we have with others and with God. Our relationship with God especially acts as an anchor for our restless souls and a life raft to cling to when we feel lost and alone. 

Making connections

Across the curve
of this sprawling earth,
through different time zones,

straddling deep oceans,
instant communication comes
across the vast continents,
and hope gets birthed.

It comes from close
connection forged across
the pond, home to home,
where hand holds hand,

where hearts beat as one
and prayers ascend
to our online friends
via the Father’s throne.

We discover others
who think like us,
whose souls are in harmony,

united in the bond of humanity,
criss-crossing the world
with ease via our screens,
revealing expressions of love.

This great privilege
enables us to visit
without boundaries of time,
distance and space,

as we bring companionship
to our isolated, lonely friends
and receive a joy and peace
which nothing can transcend.
© joylenton

connections - earth - globe - network - making connections poem excerpt (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

Wouldn’t it be good if what unites us proves to be stronger than what divides us? I’m praying it will be so as my country begins to live with the outcomes of Brexit. And for the world as a whole so that greater harmony and peace might result.

Maybe if we realised that reaching out with understanding, compassion, grace and love was preferable to distancing ourselves because we cannot all agree on something, maybe we could rediscover the joys of making life enhancing connections with one another. PS: My poetic friend, Jenneth Graser, has written a beautiful prayer for connection here.

connection people in a circle - Wouldn't it be good if what unites us proves to be stronger than what divides us quote (C) joylenton @poetryjoy.com

Our friend

/ Joy Lenton / 6 Comments

friendship post file image

Genuine friendship is a gift to treasure.

To proffer the hand of friendship to another is to offer yourself in support of their wellbeing, and open yourself to reciprocal attention, care and concern.

Feeling heard and understood is rare in a world that is often too busy to listen or too indifferent to care.

Multiple connection points are provided, but true friendship is a gift of grace.

When it’s all about what you do, who you are, what you look like and who you know, it provokes competitiveness, discouragement and despair at not fitting in with the world’s perceptions of who they think we should be.

As we get assessed, found wanting and bypassed, we can easily feel isolated, rejected and neglected.

So where does our security lie? Is it in the numbers of followers, fans, ‘likes’ and comments we receive?

No, far from it. It’s a shaky foundation indeed to build our self-esteem on other people’s fluctuating, fickle feelings.

Though it’s not all bad news on social media; it does have its positive side regarding friendships.

I’ve been greatly blessed by the wonderful on-line community of writers, poets and bloggers, M.E and chronic illness sufferers, and fellow Christians I have got to know and consider to be real friends.

They are genuine, giving and caring people who lift, encourage and help me come up higher. I thank God daily for them.

And I’ve been bruised by putting too much store on how people in general interact with me.

There is only one friend who will never let us down, always be there for us, consistently reliable, capable, loving unconditionally despite knowing all there is to know about us.

His Name is Jesus.

Our greatest Friend, Lord and Saviour.

And as my real life friendships often fall foul of the challenges presented by my having M.E ~ finding it hard to never know when I’ll be well enough to speak on the phone, be visited, or meet up ~ it is His friendship that means the most to me.

I’m joining here with Lisa Jo and other brave writerly souls  for the challenge of Five Minute Friday, where we write freely, letting words fall as they will with no deep reflecting, on this week’s topic of  ‘Friend’. You are very welcome and warmly invited to take part.

START…

‘Our Friend’

This friend

has arms stretched wide

forming an extended circle

of Love for you and me

This friend

calls us to His side

forming a fellowship of grace

as brothers, sisters, community

This friend

provides a safe place to hide

when life’s storms overwhelm

He is shelter from all harm

and balm for every calamity

This friend

will brook no boast or pride

in knowing Him, for all

are welcome to enter in

embraced, held, received

This friend

is Rock against the tide

of sin and shame

taking all upon Himself

when He died and rose again

to set us free

©JoyLenton2014

STOP.

friend ~ our friend poem file image pin

 

Making connection

/ Joy Lenton / 16 Comments

It’s often hard to analyse the creative process.

There are probably as many reasons to write as there are writers.

In thinking about why I write, several ideas sprang to mind.

The most important one for me is that I sense God is asking me to express myself this way, and all the more the longer I live.

Other reasons?

Well… here are a few…in no particular order of importance.

1) I just can’t help myself ~ It’s an urge deep within that cries out to be addressed and cannot be ignored.

2) I love to make connection points with others ~ soul to soul ~ to offer encouragement, support and hope.

3) It makes me come alive on the inside ~ enables me to feel free in a life that’s otherwise limited and constrained by illness.

4) To leave a heritage ~ a footprint in the sands of time with memories and memoir.

5) To communicate my voice and viewpoint ~ to hear and be heard.

6) In the process I discover more of who I am and what makes me tick ~ it reveals all that previously lay hidden.

7) It makes me listen more closely to God and observe the world around me with greater clarity.

8) To share my story as part of God’s greater narrative ~ give testimony to His goodness and grace.

9) I get to make friends with like-minded people in the supportive writing and blogging community in which I move.

10) Because it is a world of beauty, love and joy I can share in and be a small part of.

No more ado..here’s a poem to express much of what I feel about making a connection through the medium of words…

“Tears are words that need to be written” ~ Paul Coelho

‘I write’

I write..

mainly poetry

because of its great ability

to connect succinctly

communicating deep and whole

engaging soul to soul

and because, for better or for worse,

my life has been circumscribed by verse

I write..

because I cannot

resist the tug and urge

of emotions pressing to be heard

as they flood and surge within me

to spill and splurge their way

upon the printed page

with passion, joy or rage

I write..

for an audience of One

who gifts me from above

courtesy of His grace and love

with a calling to reveal and share

memories, life and story

threaded with hope and mercy

to encourage those in need

I write..

because I desire

to express myself like this

be it creative agony or bliss

and find catharsis in release

of feelings that are healing

in enabling seeds of recognition to be sown

to show others they are not alone

©JoyLenton2013

“Always be a poet, even in prose” ~ Charles Baudelaire

I am grateful to Jeff Goins and Bryan Hutchinson for inspiring this post.

You can stop by Jeff’s blog to find out why others like to write too.

The gift of friendship

/ Joy Lenton / 8 Comments

It is said you can choose your friends but not your family.

We are blessed indeed if we not only like those we are related to, but are friends with them as well.

Sadly, it is not always the case.

To have a close friend and to be there for another is one of life’s greatest gifts.

Whenever we count our blessings, friends tend to be top of the list.

And if we have no or few actual close companions on our journey through life,  we can still take comfort from knowing that God is always there for us, our greatest, most reliable and constant Friend.

God is all about relationship. His heart is fine tuned to beat with love for mankind.

He longs for us to know Him intimately. To trust Him with all our concerns. To seek Him and His ways above our own.

Jesus came in order to bridge the gap between heaven and earth, to pave a way to draw us back to the Father’s heart and to become our lifelong Friend above all others.

In so doing, He also shows us the huge benefit of friendship in its manifold expressions.

Today’s #poetryforthesoul micro-poetry offering is a celebration of friendship, written with gratitude for friends old and new.

‘Friends are’

Friends are

companions on our journey

holders of hands and hearts

listeners to pain and fears

bearer’s of God’s goodness

and all His grace imparts

bringers of smiles

wipers of tears

who make life worthwhile

as embracers of all we are

and can be

containers of God’s love

a gift unto eternity

treasure from above

©JoyLenton2013