Re-imagining connection in a time of non-negotiable distance

Intro + invitation to a new devotional/meditation series, 3.17.20

I spent last week on the North Shore with my family for Spring break. Lots of outdoor time, very few people, very little screen time, expansive water, deep rumbling sounds of wind and rocks and waves. It is a place I could spend hours and hours watching, even in the biting cold, and feel so content.

I stood in the playing sun, my face and hands numb from the gusts off the cold lake. I could hardly bear to leave.

We returned home to Minneapolis to find newly-announced guidelines, newly-imposed restrictions, closed schools.

Suddenly, a whole new reality. Suddenly, the wide-open space closes in.

Many of my family and dearest friends are in other states, other countries. We send messages, interact on Facebook, talk on the phone, see each other occasionally on screens. We say things like, Wait. What day is it where you are? When we are very lucky, we get to hug in person, sit down to a meal, feel the irreplaceable communion of proximity.

Right now, to be honest, it isn’t the distance itself that chafes, but the fact that it is forced. Like the closeness I now have with my immediate family in our small bungalow, this isn’t really the kind of nearness we…