Letters While Separated

After living in Mobile for nine years, we had to move to North Carolina for a time so that my husband could finish up his training. At the time of our move, we had a three-year-old, a two-year-old, a one-year-old, and I was 6 months pregnant. 

It was hard. It was sad. It was lonely. 

Knowing we were moving right back to Mobile after his two-year training program was up gave me little motivation to dig in and make friends. Caleb was working very long hours, family was a day’s drive away, and I had a new baby and three toddlers to tend to. My plan was to tuck my head in and push through the two years. 

It was hard. It was sad. It was lonely.

Right now, this time of quarantine and social distancing feels a lot like my time in North Carolina. I’m stuck at home with nowhere to go with a now six-year-old, five-year-old, four-year-old, and a potty-training two-year-old. I’m having to homeschool my oldest kids with zero warning or preparation. I’m trying to continue doing my job, but it’s late at night when I’m able to get to it. A part of me wants to just tuck my head in and push through these next few (maybe more) weeks. 

It’s hard. It’s sad. It’s so lonely. 

I was running through some social media ideas with Mark Rudd earlier today about how we as a church family can feel connected while we are separated. I mean, how do we foster authentic community during a global pandemic?

 Mark told me about some insight he had while reading Philippians. It struck him how Paul was separated from his own church family. He probably felt sad and lonely and isolated too. During a time of separation, Paul wrote letters. These letters had many different ministerial purposes, and I am no Bible Scholar, but I believe Paul desired (among other things) to touch base with his church family, engage with his church family, and encourage his church family. 

In this time that we, the People of Mars Hill, are feeling a little sad and lonely and probably pretty isolated, let’s all take the time to touch base, engage, and encourage each other. 

One way we can do this is through a new social media series we’re hosting called “Letters While Separated.” Each day, we’d like to post a letter from one of our church members. Tell us what your days at home are like. Tell us what you are finding to be challenging about this time and also what you are finding to be a blessing about this time. Add a picture or two if you’d like. Just be sure to touch base with your church family through this, just like Paul did. (Parents- please encourage your kids, no matter the age, to do this. We’d love to read a letter from their perspective!). 

We’ve been thrown into a “new normal” where we are working from home in make-shift offices, educating our children, hoarding toilet paper, sewing masks to donate to hospitals, grocery shopping in stores with empty shelves, worrying how long we will even have a paycheck,  running in place for exercise while popcorn pops in the microwave, FaceTiming friends who live two houses down the street, and hoping our parents don’t get sick.

It’s hard. 

It’s sad.

It’s lonely.

It’s unnecessary. Tucking our heads under and pushing through is done at the expense of what could be some really sweet times of growth in our church community. In these overwhelming moments, let’s not miss this. 

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Submit your letter and pictures to tricia@pomh.org. Be sure to include your first name (we will not use your full name), how this pandemic has affected your everyday life, things that have been hard for you, and things that you have enjoyed from this time. Include scripture and other resources that have helped you. 

Letters will be edited for formatting purposes. 

Parents, if your young child submits a letter, please include their age. If you choose to include a photo, please choose one that doesn’t show their face. Some ideas might be to show them doing their schoolwork, examples of a craft they made, or action shots of them playing. 

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Letters While Separated: Weekly Compilation

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Youth Winter Retreat: RECAP