Amidst what many are calling a loneliness epidemic, Lisa and I somehow stumbled into a friendship group that has changed our lives. It feels like an accidental grace, but with hope of passing a similar grace onto others I'm planning to devote some 2025 blog entries to reclaiming friendship.
While COVID-19 is mostly behind us, its wake left a deep imprint of social isolation and loneliness. It's also prompting numerous studies examining these effects. Over the course of this blog series, I’ll share some of these findings, but here’s the core takeaway:
Loneliness is destructive. It's time to return to friendship.
Some of you already have. If you have a story to share, I’d love to hear it—whether by email or in the comments section below.
Wrapping Up 2024
Before diving further into this year’s topic, let me tie up a loose end from 2024. I promised to let you know when An Invitation to Slow would be widely available—so consider this your notification!
Paperback: Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and more.
Audiobook: There’s a current special at ONE Audiobooks.
Hardcover: Beautiful but pricier, with longer shipping times.
Ebook: The best price I’ve seen is here.
For local friends, Lisa and I would love to see you at a book reading at Chapters Books and Coffee this Wednesday. Details are below.

About the Scones
At the bottom of the event announcement, you’ll see that Brenda, the former owner of Newberg Bakery, plans to bring treats. I’m not entirely sure why she volunteered, but it likely has something to do with her big heart.
Every Sunday, Brenda bakes scones for our small country church. I suspect there’s a neural pathway in the human brain that links spiritual experiences with delicious food, and Brenda’s Sunday scones offer compelling evidence for it.
She and her husband, Scott, exemplify generosity and sometimes allow us to return it. Last month, Scott and I shared an adventure, moving a Murphy Bed from a fifth-floor apartment to his garage. It involved good conversation, a few laughs, a bit of muscle straining, and possibly a small scratch in the elevator.
A Circle of Grace
Lisa and I often marvel at our good fortune in building friendships that have become so essential to our lives. I think of lunch with Bill last week, bi-weekly coffee conversations with Paul and breakfasts with Winston, our monthly reading group, summer pickleball, conversations around the dining table or Solo Stove, apple cider pressing, game nights, and other moments of connection.
Our friends often joke about the deluge of text messages we send and receive—news events, funny stories, prayer requests. But beneath the jokes, we all know: we don’t really mind. Those chiming phones and growing notification badges are just reminders of the connections we’ve built.
How did we get so lucky in an increasingly lonely world?
Big Hearts
This blog series won’t be a "how-to" guide like How to Win Friends and Influence People. I don’t have systematic insights to offer. What I do have are suspicions—inklings about how friendship takes root and grows.
Here’s my first: look for people with big hearts, and strive to be one yourself.
Research consistently shows that generosity promotes health, well-being, and connection. The person who brings scones to church without expecting compensation, whose spouse runs the microphone, distributes community books, and collects the offering—those are the people with big hearts. They help us all grow ours a little bigger.

Let's Do This
As my Home Depot buckets remind me: Let’s do this. Let’s step out of this loneliness epidemic by learning how to be good friends again.
Happy New Year, friends. Let’s make 2025 a year of connection and grace.
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