We are coming out of the greatest health crisis in our lifetimes. And people are experiencing their first hugs in over a year.
For some people, the past year has been a time of great trial and loss.
Their health has been permanently affected. And they will be reminded with every breath about 2020 for the rest of their lives.
Many have lost loved ones. Some more than one. We hear numbers like half a million reported in the news, but for our friends, it’s a mother or grandad or friend they will never see again or laugh with.
For frontline healthcare heroes, it’s been a landmark year. Each of us who doesn’t do that kind of work needs to say “thank you”. Our friend Missy is a nurse in North Carolina and she told us a year ago we would all know at least one person who would die from this scourge. I thought she was exaggerating. I was wrong. I know three. God bless you Missy . . . and thank you for being honest with us.
For some, this past year has been a year of more closeness with family. A time to unexpectedly reenergize relationships. To read more. Cook more. Walk more. Have more quiet time. Spend more time with God. And, of course, to work from home. Although for others, it’s been a painfully lonely time.
But now, everything is changing again. Things are opening up, weddings and graduations are happening in person, crowds are returning to concerts and sporting events, although gradually and at different paces in different parts of the country.
how can you be the first hugs to your listener
Our part in this? Hope. Encouragement. Blessing.
If they’re ready and you’re ready, who needs their first hug in a year? It’s been so, so long. Let’s encourage our listeners to reach out personally or verbally to those they haven’t seen in a year. At church. Or in their family. Or at work.
Here’s what all of this means for your on-air messaging:
- Talk more about how things are opening up.
- Talk more about the opportunity to bless and love (hug) those you have not seen face-to-face in a year or more. Who do you need to reach out to?
- Talk about continuing to respect that not everyone will feel safe at the same time and part of our loving well means respecting that.
- Talk about the experience being harder for some, easier for others. And how it has changed things for everyone.
Our ministry is personal, even intimate. Let’s take advantage of that and use that to remind people of God and give them their first hug in a year. Want to read more? Read last month’s blog SHALL WE LAUGH.
