The details aren't important. But the fact is that I acted without considering how my decision would impact her and our longstanding valued relationship.
We emailed back and forth. With eyes welling up, I apologized and asked for her forgiveness and asked what I could do to make up for the hurtful misunderstanding. Quickly, all became well.
Because, as ever, she was warm and gracious and kind.
Like Jesus.
But the unfortunate incident made me consider how we inadvertently wound each other in these Christ-centered blogging circles we run around in which are typically defined by encouragement, inspiration, and grace.
Yes, we've worked hard at building our online presence, one post, one comment, one interaction at a time. Kindred spirit relationships have blossomed that are based on common faith and world views, trust and respect.
But what we share over our screens is not like our real life relationships where we can sit with one another, look in each other's eyes, talk uncertainties through face to face, and share a hug.
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Like many of you, I'm guessing, I've been hurt here and there over the years. There've been steady commenters who've vanished from this little community even as I continued seeing them out and about on the sites of others. My efforts to keep connected were ignored.
I've felt invisible. Excluded. Abandoned. Kinda like 8th grade, all over again.
With reluctance, I've moved on, wishing these former connections well in my heart, sometimes praying that God would prosper the work of their hands even though we'd, for some reason, parted ways.
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So ... how have you worked through misunderstandings, conflict, or the waning of a blogging relationship? I don't remember reading about this before and I'm so very interested in the wisdom of your experiences.
Linda
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Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
