Huggers! Bring on the Hugs!
If anything bothered me during the Covid pandemic, it was that we couldn’t reach out and touch someone, which for me, a hugger, is heartrending. Even handshakes were unacceptable. Though we still respect where someone may be regarding close contact, I am still campaigning for us to be huggers and if not in the usual way, at least in the heart-way!
I know that caution is still needed as many people continue to wear masks. For whatever reason. I respect them and withhold my usual contact, but I can still hug them with a smile, and a kind word.
I saw this little girl’s video on my news feed. She is standing at the end of her pew, reaching out to give each one a hug. She was a producer of automatic smiles from each person as they reached out to receive her hug that boosted their spirits.
That’s the way I roll, too! I am a hugger by nature. I can’t help myself. I get introduced to someone and as they reach out to shake hands, I reach out my arms and declare: “I’m a hugger!” I can’t think of any time I’ve been refused that return hug.
I know that hugs boost feel-good hormones. Maybe, I’m not quite as open to a stranger that is holding up a sign that says, “FREE HUGS.” But I think I have a built-in sensor that tells me, “That person needs a hug, at least a kind-word hug.”
That’s why I embrace my Greeter/Usher position at my church. By now, if people have come my way very often, they’ll do the reaching out and give me a hug. I love that. Give and it shall be given.
Have you ever spontaneously hugged someone when their despair and distress was so intense that it seemed cruel not to reach out to them? We hoped that they might derive some relief or comfort from an embrace. When I was the hugger, it was those times that the huggee hugged me back for dear life.
Maybe hugging isn’t your bent, so in case you are about to end reading this blog, let me share a few options. There is the Side hug (hugging around the waist), the Bear hug (the full-on hug) and there is the hug that isn’t the draw-them-in-for-a-hug kind but is a “hug” with words of a smile, encouragement, and support.
I am campaigning for huggers. Period. The most important role we can play in this world is to let people know that we love them with God’s love. I am sincerely into the “God kind-of-love-hugs” or even a simple pat on the back with purposeful intention that brings God’s love into the equation. It is literally a heart-to-heart experience.
It is worth being a risk taker to give a hug today. It just may brighten someone’s world and help them feel loved and worthwhile – and if not for them – it’s worth it for us to give “FREE HUGS” because we need that hug ourselves.
The heart of compassion, the warmth of a touch, the closeness of a hug is what this hurting world needs. May we be those who are intentional, like that little girl, to be God’s huggers! We are chips off the ole’ block — and our BLOCK gave to us BIG TIME. Huggers, let’s unite! Let’s be purpose-filled givers of God’s love!
“Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14