Online Communities

My friend Kim posted this today about whether the relationships formed through online dialogue are "real." I think she makes some great points.

I have this to add: I am currently re-reading a book by John and Stasi Eldredge called "Captivating." Here's an excerpt I think applies:

"For many centuries women lived in close fellowship with other women - gathering at the well, down by the river,m preparing meals - many occasions for femininity to just sort of naturally pass from older women to younger women. Our intuition, our keen eye for relationship, our ability to grasp matters of the heart made any sort of formal "passage" into femininity unnecessary. Nowadays those opportuntities are nearly gone. When we meet as women, it tends to be in high-stress situations - corporate meetings with deadlines, ministry meetings with agendas, PTA meetings with concerns. The home is the only place left for this vital transmission of feminine identity."

I submit that the internet has become another place for this "vital transmission." We can learn how to cook, how to take care of children, how to manage our households, how to clean, how to love our husbands, how to love our God, and any number of other things from watching other women. When we blog, we give a little glimpse into our private lives that I think have become a little TOO private in our society. We need to know that others have struggles, and they need to know the same about us. When we have other capable, loving women we are learning from we are able to be confident in our methods.

This is a post for another day, but I also see it as proof that humans were created for relationship. If we don't have them, we FIND them. In whatever way necessary!