Leadership Thought: Let's Go on a Hug Hunt.

Dear Friends,

Last night at our small group meeting, I suggested we end our time together with one of my favorite closings- a group hug. 

All of us gathered in a circle, arms clasped around one another, and we squeezed together as tightly as we could as we thanked God for our time together while acknowledging the importance of our being there for one another.

In a wonderful little book  When Will I Stop Hurting by June Cerza Kolf,  she quotes Kathleen Keating who says "Touch is not only nice. It's needed. Scientific research supports the theory that stimulation by touch is absolutely necessary for our physical as well. as our emotional wellbeing." 

I am a hugger, and I fully appreciate the value of a hug. In fact, I have even been known to even tell a friend, "I need a hug."

I still remember a nurse in a church I served teaching our staff a lesson on the different forms of hugging, and I have been a hugger ever since.

I read an amazing story about a set of twins who were only a few days old. I quote, “One of them had been born with a serious heart condition and wasn’t expected to live. A few days went by, and one baby’s health continued to deteriorate; she was close to death. A hospital nurse asked if she could go against hospital policy and put the babies in the same incubator together, rather than in individual incubators. It was a big ordeal, but finally the doctor consented to allow the twins to be placed side by side in the same incubator, just as they had been in their mother’s womb.”

“Somehow the healthy baby managed to reach over and put his arm around his little sick sister. Before long, and for no apparent reason, her heart began to stabilize and heal. Her blood pressure went up to normal. Her temperature soon followed suit. Little by little she got better and today they are both perfectly healthy children. A newspaper caught wind of the story and photographed the twins while still in the incubator, embraced in a hug. They ran the photo with the caption, ‘The Rescuing Hug’” Your Best Life Now, Joel Osteen, p 224.

As a pastor I have learned that a tender hug at just the right time, and in the right circumstances, given in the right spirit can communicate a message more significant than words could ever express.

We all could use a hug in times of need. We are like the little boy who came up to his coach after dropping a key pass during the game and asked, “Coach, do you think you could give me another hug?”

Would it be that all of us would choose to go on regular 'hug hunts’? 

Arms were meant for hugging, but if you are still uncomfortable with this expression of warmth and affection, let me suggest a socially acceptable alternative. Just pick up some paper and a pen and send your hugs through the mail?

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom