“It takes a village to raise a child” is wisdom we often quote, but seldom boldly step into. People thrive in communities where they are seen, heard, and valued. When we learn, work, grow, harvest, play, resolve conflict, celebrate, and eat together we strengthen our bonds with each other and will be more inclined to…
It’s time for connection
If someone asked you to reach back to the vault of your childhood memories and retrieve the one that brought you the greatest feeling of joy, what would you say? Where would you be? Most of us were quite possibly somewhere in nature, or perhaps with food involved. Who would be with you? I bet most of us were not alone in our moments of pure joy.
These common threads from our childhood, when we were our most fundamentally pure human, are because we were designed for connection. There are threads within us that will always pull us toward life. Life with others and life abundant in nature. Our culture has strayed too far from what it looks and feels like to live in a community, living with multiple generations, surrounded by neighbors who knew each other, surrogate aunts and uncles, and local business owners that knew our names. We have forgotten that family, while never perfect, could once again be a treasured space of safety and a place of true belonging.
Our souls crave to know and be known, to feel welcome just as we are with all our woundedness and ways we need growth. To be alongside others in this journey and be missed when we’re gone. This is what gives life meaning.
It is time to take our families on the journey of what it looks like to rebuild what has been lost. Instill the value of connection with father, mother, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and expand out from there to neighbors, teammates, corner store owners, and faith groups. Cultivate nature back into the fabric of life with gardens, nature journals, hiking, camping, snow days, climbing trees, and building branch forts. Gathering with others to share meals, laugh and play. Let us practice vulnerability and honest imperfection, compassion and grace. This task can seem daunting but our souls long for it, will seek it out, and as we hold the future of the next generation in our hands we must make our best effort to walk this journey, with all its stumblings, to reclaim connectedness.