I needed a recipe for quick pumpkin muffins and went straight to Pinterest – a lady I don’t know in a place I’ve never heard of gave me a great recipe!

I needed an idea for a homemade ornament exchange and I went straight to Pinterest. A lady I don’t know in a place I can’t recall walked me through the process of adding beads to clips and making adorable angels.

I needed an idea for displaying Christmas cards – big enough to hold each one I receive but not so big and bulky that it is messy or distracting. I went straight to Pinterest and a lady I don’t know in a town I couldn’t name shared how she covered foam board and used straight pins. WAH LAH.

I never felt truly needy in the first 30 years of my life; if anything, I felt invincible and, well, awesome. Over the past 10 years reality has sunk in deep and I have been overcome by my neediness. Whether it is as silly as a recipe or something more serious, I am not enough.

It’s interesting, though, that so many of my needs can seemingly be met online. I have been unable to get the downstairs tub really clean and just this week I was trying a concoction I read about on Pinterest. People, it was working and it was easy and I was marveling. Then this thought actually crossed my mind, “Pinterest is like the Body of Christ for homemakers!” I had a need and Michelle from Alabama pinned this mixture of vinegar and Dawn and told me how wonderful it was and I took that input and it changed my life!

I admit I thought the concept was pretty fantastic originally and that I was just so clever to compare Pinterest to the Church, but over the next couple days I became sad. If I could contemplate the internet as a means for meeting the needs in my life than I am certain others have done the same. With sermons online, scripture online, and websites with hints  for every trial one faces daily, it may seem silly to GO to church and BE with God’s people.

Hebrews 10:25 came to mind, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” This is a verse that I loved in college because, as an extrovert, it thrilled me that the Lord wanted us to be with people! I may have even used it (incorrectly, of course) to justify skipping homework to be with friends. Now I listen to it and hear words of challenge; it’s like the Lord knew that the internet, media/entertainment, and busyness would tempt people toward seclusion.

So, Thursday night we were presented with parenting concerns for a specific child and I was faced with a choice: Google it or “meet together” to “be encouraged by another”.  I chose to send an email and a woman I know from the church met me on the playground after carpool yesterday. While the children played I asked for parenting input and her reply was timely, wise, and laced with laughter (no ads, pop-ups, or need to avert my eyes).  And the vulnerability one might expect to feel when revealing their neediness to another . . . it wasn’t even an issue. It turns out Sisters who have raised children and seen their own needs are slow to judge and quick to love and can instruct me in ways Google can’t.

Ooooh – now just think of how awesome it would be to meet together with six to ten friends and share our favorite finds on Pinterest! The best of both worlds?