Communicating Matters

Have you ever shared your heart only to find that no one seemed to care? Bloggers are great risk takers. The same is true of people who share their innermost feelings in E-mails. It is not easy to expose fears and weaknesses, but we do it anyway.

I remember in junior high school, trying for the first time to really communicate what I thought and felt. I would turn in an English paper or poem and wait in fear until it was graded and returned. It was such a relief to have it back in my possession.

We don't get to take back blogs or E-mails and keep them safe. They remain hanging out in the open, flapping in the breeze, being looked at, being criticized, being ignored more likely. But the one who put it out doesn't forget. We continue to look for feedback, to wonder if anyone cares.
It is easier to just read what others write and even to respond compassionately within ourselves, but if we don't comment or writeback, the writer doesn't know. I remember being reminded by my sons that it took courage for their wives to share their lives with me inE-mails and that they needed to know what I thought about what they had written. I am grateful for those reminders and have tried to bemore faithful in responding. I am sure I have at times under responded or missed giving feedback entirely. I'm sorry. Forgive me.

Responding to blogs is more optional because they aren't specifically addressed. But comments do make a difference to bloggers. I want to commend those of you who regularly and naturally "let your lightshine" and also those who "reflect the light of others," suns and moons both.
To all of us, I submit a reminder that it might be a good thing to go through our Emails and look for ones that are hanging out all by themselves waiting for a response.

Jane Babcock