Shared Connections
January 2, 2026 - Shared Connections
Highs lows and god moments
Intro question: What are your top giving and receiving love languages? (physical touch, gift giving, acts of service, quality time, and words of affirmation)
Copious amounts of free time is not always beneficial for people, but my time in Juneau has reminded me to reconnect with my family, my friends, the earth, and myself. Being around nature and rediscovering the depth of my relationships, I realized how much I enjoy giving gifts as a way of expressing my love. I missed writing notes, or making little forts for sprites in the woods, or picking up a small trinket in the store for someone specific. I love making my presence known and letting others know I feel their existence through little gifts. In Michigan, I felt so caught up in one life, one person, one sport, one community, and my own self that I forgot about cultivating the depth in other relationships in my life.
And then I went to Spain for ultimate frisbee.
It was 23 random girls from around the country, most of whom not only knew each other, but had been playing together since elementary school. To say the least, I felt a little behind the curve in the friendship department. But then I met Clil. Clil kept carrots in her pockets and was never caught wearing shoes unless she was on the field. One of the first days, after a long practice in 100 degree heat, we collapsed outside a grocery store, sunburnt, sweaty, and exhausted from the trip. We sat in silence, munching on our individual treats of a whole head of red cabbage for her and nectarines for me. I had heard Clil profess her love of nectarines earlier, so I turned to offer her a bite. But when I looked up, her arm was already outstretched with the cabbage head in hand. She looked at me and simply said, “You mentioned you liked red cabbage.” I was overcome with how much a simple gift of offering up a bite made me feel incredibly loved and welcomed. That trip reinstated in me what it felt like to find joy in loving a plethora of others again through my gifts.
I haven’t actually read read much of the Bible, but over the years, there’s one story that never ceases to fill me with this overwhelming sense of what it means to express love. This is the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume and using her own hair to wipe the excess away. You can almost feel Mary’s love in the passage, given not for recognition, but because she physically could not contain her love for Jesus and had to act upon it. The sincerity in the act, the spontaneity of not caring how expensive the perfume was, how dirty her hair was going to get, loving so deeply and without restraint, has stuck with me.
To allow yourself to love the people present around you is a unique, momentary gift. Love is about staying in connection, whether through touch, acknowledgment, shared time, or small, thoughtful acts. For me, love lives in the tangible: food happily shared, a gift chosen with intention, or a handwritten note simply saying, “I see you. I acknowledge who you are to me.” This kind of love is vulnerable and hits you at spontaneous moments when it feels so powerful you are driven to act upon it.
Ending questions: What do you wish you were able to give more time to in your life? What do you wish had less value in your life? What is one moment where you have felt washed over by love?
Closing Prayer:
Open our hearts, O Lord, to allow the love
Flowing in our world to grab ahold of us
And shake us into action
Amen