Carving Out Time To Be Together
I used to think I was an introvert.
I love the quiet. I long for the moments I can grab a book and go sit on my front porch and read. These moments fill my soul with such richness.
But the other day I stumbled upon an old personality test I took while I was studying Psychology in college. I was surprised to find I landed in the extrovert criteria. But the more I thought about it, the less surprised I became. Every time I have taken one of those tests, I land right on the line between either extrovert or introvert. I guess the correct word for this is ambivert.
Regardless of what you think of personality tests— and I have a few thoughts myself—when I thought about being an extrovert, it brought to my mind all the times I have experienced fullness and joy after being with others. My spirit lighter, my heart full—I come away with a deep sense of contentedness.
We live in a time when community is so important. Being together in person matters. Wendell Berry wrote in The Art of the Commonplace ,
“We need drugs, apparently, because we have lost each other.”
Our world does everything it can to distract us from being with each other in person. We have the continual interruptions of our phones, the constant reminder that something needs our attention, and we neglect actual time together.
If we’re not careful, we can miss the beautiful collision of life upon life. When a life touches another life, two souls interact and beauty arises. The invitation is given to explore, and we are wise to take it up.
In the busy pace of daily life, sometimes it takes stepping out of our normal routines to make time to be together. I can get so focused on productivity —making sure I get through my daily to-do list—that the immediate trumps the integral. What needs done at the moment swallows up what is most important.
In The Beauty Chasers, my husband reminds,
“God intended for us to experience the joy of togetherness.”
In a world hell-bent on stealing our joy, being with one another combats this destruction.
And so Tim and I, along with our friend, Daune Pitman, are offering our Foraged Beauty retreat one more time in March. It’s a one of a kind two-day special event where we combine deep and beautiful discussions with a hands-on experience designed to explore the art of living together, in person. We want to be together with you.
Together we can learn how to be more intentional about Foraging the Beauty of the everyday.
Beauty is all around us. Waiting for us to participate. Why don’t we do it together?
Have you always wanted to practically step into Beauty Chasing but not known exactly where to start? Do you desire to be with a group of like-minded people who know the importance of finding wonder in the everyday? If so, this is the perfect live art workshop for you.
There are only a few spots left to this event, and we would love for you to join us in March.
“The stoke comes from gathering. It’s when we gather that we should be caught up in the act of stoking one another on toward love and good deeds.
Why should we do this?
Because who doesn’t need encouragement in their faith? Who doesn’t need a time set aside to meet with brothers and sisters of the faith and hear stories of how God is working?”
~The Beauty Chasers
We gather to stoke each other. And our hearts and spirits leave full. Let’s carve out time to be together today.