#belonging — Public Fediverse posts

WE'RE BACK!!!🤍

MEET OUR GUEST FOR EPISODE 16 — ADRIAAN VAN KLINKEN

What happens when we place gender, sex, sexuality and spirituality under the same microscope?

This is a conversation about faith, identity, difference, sexuality and the spaces where they collide — but also about the possibility of creating something more inclusive, compassionate and liberating.

Episode 16 drops Friday, 11 September 2026🎙️

#Belonging #Belonginghappy #Theology #Queerspirituality #LGBTQ+Podcast

The Beauty of “Incompetence”

As a pastor—and in many other roles—I have often felt underqualified, overwhelmed, awkward, and incompetent. Perhaps you have had similar experiences.

Those feelings can quickly become spiritually corrosive. Insecurity turns into bitterness. A lack of recognition feels like disrespect. Another person’s success awakens jealousy. Discouragement becomes depression, and honest self-awareness hardens into relentless self-criticism.

Eventually, fear can keep us from releasing the very gifts God has entrusted to us.

Yet Scripture offers a surprising vision of our inadequacy: weakness is not merely an obstacle God must overcome. It can become the very place where God’s grace is most clearly revealed.

Paul pleaded for his “thorn” to be removed, but Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God did not tell Paul that his weakness was imaginary. Nor did God promise that faithful people would always feel capable. Instead, God promised that divine strength could inhabit human frailty.

This is the beauty of incompetence—not that incompetence itself is virtuous, or that we should resist learning and growth, but that our limitations can free us from the illusion of self-sufficiency. We do not need to be everything. We were never meant to be everything.

The image of the body of Christ makes this especially clear. An eye cannot resent the hand for being able to grasp. A hand cannot despise the foot because it travels farther. Nor can one part say to another, “I don’t need you.” Every member is limited, and every member is necessary. Our limitations are part of what draws us into dependence upon one another.

Sometimes I feel incompetent because I am comparing my gift with someone else’s. At other times, I may genuinely be trying to perform a role for which another member of the body is better equipped. In either case, the answer is not self-hatred. It is humility: understanding my place, recognizing the gifts of others, learning where growth is needed, and allowing Christ to coordinate his body.

My weakness does not excuse irresponsibility. I should still prepare, learn, seek counsel, repent when necessary, and develop the gifts I have been given. But faithful preparation is different from trying to prove my worth. I do not serve so that I can become valuable. I serve because, in Christ, I am already loved—and because grace has given me something particular to contribute.

Perhaps the gifts buried beneath our self-criticism are not waiting for us to become impressive. Perhaps they are waiting for us to trust God enough to offer them imperfectly.

God has always worked through unlikely people: Moses, who protested that he could not speak well; Gideon, who considered himself the least; Jeremiah, who believed he was too young; Peter, who repeatedly misunderstood and failed Christ’s teachings; and Paul, whose ministry displayed both remarkable power and profound weakness. Each of these people’s usefulness did not rest on personal adequacy but on God’s presence.

The church does not need us to become flawless. It needs us to be available—honest about our weaknesses, willing to grow, ready to receive help, and courageous enough to offer what God has placed within us.

I may sometimes feel underqualified, overwhelmed, or awkward. But that does not mean that I am therefore unusable. My limitations can become an invitation: to rely on grace, to honor the rest of Christ’s body, and to discover that God’s power is often most beautiful where and when human strength runs out.

You notice you're part of a harmony when another voice enters and everything rearranges.

Further reading: https://emotusoperandi.medium.com/your-self-care-action-items-f1c98bcedca6

#RMaurice #LifeboatAcademy #StayHuman #Belonging #Practice

You notice you're part of a harmony when another voice enters and everything rearranges.

Further reading: https://emotusoperandi.medium.com/your-self-care-action-items-f1c98bcedca6

#RMaurice #LifeboatAcademy #StayHuman #Belonging #Practice

You notice you're part of a harmony when another voice enters and everything rearranges.

Further reading: https://emotusoperandi.medium.com/your-self-care-action-items-f1c98bcedca6

#RMaurice #LifeboatAcademy #StayHuman #Belonging #Practice

You notice you're part of a harmony when another voice enters and everything rearranges.

Further reading: https://emotusoperandi.medium.com/your-self-care-action-items-f1c98bcedca6

#RMaurice #LifeboatAcademy #StayHuman #Belonging #Practice

A BetTER Day

Independence has its day,
when o’er the skies fireworks display,
and dependence, too, is good,
as every tender spirit should

learn the grace of being held,
when pride is hushed, and fear is quelled.
But methinks we need another name,
a deeper word, a wider frame.

It happens after we let one IN,
past the surface, past the skin,
past the guarded gates we keep,
past the places where hurt runs deep.

In the space before DEPEND,
we see the other as vital friend,
all as branches from one tree,
as the grains of sand receive the sea.

Then add three letters, soft but true,
TER arrives and makes it new.
Not just me and not just thee,
but something born between the three.

In-TER-dependence names the art
of hand in hand and heart to heart,
while I am I, and you are you,
something sacred binds us too.

Independence stands alone,
dependence leans on flesh and bone,
but interdependence humbly sings:
we rise by sharing roots and wings.

July 4, 2015 (updated June 2026)

A Decade Abroad: The Shifting Sands of Belonging for a Former Expat

A 31-year-old who moved to Tokyo at 22 to cope with depression now feels displaced after a decade abroad. What does this mean for long-term expats?

#ExpatLife, #TokyoLiving, #MentalHealth, #Belonging, #CulturalIdentity

https://newsletter.tf/expat-in-tokyo-for-10-years-feels-lost/

After living in Japan for 10 years, a former expat now feels a strong sense of displacement. This is a common issue for many long-term residents abroad.

#ExpatLife, #TokyoLiving, #MentalHealth, #Belonging, #CulturalIdentity
https://newsletter.tf/expat-in-tokyo-for-10-years-feels-lost/

A quotation from Hannah Arendt

The disturbing factor in the success of totalitarianism is rather the true selflessness of its adherents: it may be understandable that a Nazi or Bolshevik will not be shaken in his conviction by crimes against people who do not belong to the movement or are even hostile to it; but the amazing fact is that neither is he likely to waver when the monster begins to devour its own children, and not even if he becomes a victim of persecution himself, if he is framed and condemned, if he is purged from the party and sent to a forced-labor or concentration camp. On the contrary, to the wonder of the whole civilized world, he may even be willing to help in his own prosecution and frame his own death sentence if only his status as a member of the movement is not touched.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)

More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/42025/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #arendt #hannaharendt #belonging #fanatic #fanaticism #identity #loyalty #movement #partisan #selfdestruction #selfpreservation #selflessness #totalitarianism #tribalism #zealotry

Equality gives everyone shoes.
Equity makes sure they fit.
Belonging lets you rock your Crocs without drama 😂💚

Systemic change starts with comfort + respect ✊🏽
Not conformity. Not performance. Not silence.

#Equity #Belonging #SystemicChange #LiberationNotTolerance #CommunityJustice #RadicalEmpathy #InclusionMatters #SocialJusticeMeme #PoliticalEducation

👇 Tell me: what’s YOUR “shoe” in life you wish people understood? 🗣️

#StudentRetention: Fostering Peer Relationships Through a Brief Experimental Intervention [the Closeness-Induction task which involves pairing up students to interview each other with a set of increasingly personal questions]
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344790140_Student_Retention_Fostering_Peer_Relationships_Through_a_Brief_Experimental_Intervention
See also: Implementing the Fast Friends Procedure to Build Camaraderie in a Remote Synchronous #Teaching Setting
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00986283211065746
#StudentSuccess #CollegeSuccess #Belonging #Retention

I invite you to subscribe to my #GlobalConversations YouTube channel where I post recordings of my conversations with #equity practitioners. So far I have posted on topics related to #inclusiveleadership #culturalintelligence and #GlobalEDI. https://youtube.com/@urbanequity416 #EDI #equity #inclusion #belonging #justice

Is it me, but have people returned to Twitter? It seems that I don't see too many people on this site outside of academia. #equity #inclusion #belonging #organizationalchange #culturalintelligence #culturalhumility

Many of my followers will notice I don't toot much about urban planning and I'm ok with that.

This is a fresh account and will have new discussions about, in no particular order, #orgchange #equityandinclusion #belonging #globalmajority #wine #craftbeer #bourbon #inclusiveleadership and #culturalintelligence.

At some point in 2023, I want to be #ProSci certified and in 2024 trained in #CQ. The latter can happen sooner if someone pays for it.

A friend of mine tagged me on a recent #LinkedIn post about White-identifying #EDI practitioners not doing enough as opposed to us who are from the #GlobalMajority. We have been doing this work for a while now and it never seems to be enough to #organizational leaders. Something has to give. If you haven't seen the post, here it is.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/saleha-khan-5b12263_dei-gaslighting-toxicpositivity-activity-7009226295511322624-tYdP

#DEI #DEIB #equity #inclusion #justice #belonging #inclusiveleadership #leadership #culturalintelligence #transformationalleadership

I love this response to anything.

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy #Hispanic
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

#SterlinHarjo #ReservationDogs #FreshAir #TerryGross #interview #NativeRepresentation #Indigenous #MixedIdentity #ThirdCulture #Belonging #Home #Hawaii #Asian #PacificIslander

I can't wait to get these going next month. I know you can't wait either. #GlobalConversations #EDI #belonging #inclusion #cq #culturalintelligence #inclusiveleadership

Are we gonna bring back #FollowFriday again? I know it's Saturday, but here are my suggested follows so far

@sheilarfoster
@marsharamroop
@c1typlann3r

#citybuilding #equity #inclusion #belonging #cq #EDI #DEI #DEIB #culturalintelligence #GlobalDEI

Has anyone every heard of Massacre de Thiaroye? This happened in France.

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy #Hispanic
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

I’ve been doing some thinking. The holiday season can be difficult for a lot of people. It’s early, but be honest, how do you feel today? I’ll post mine in the reply.
#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy #Hispanic
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

I love this quote!

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy #Hispanic
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

Did you know this? Yesterday was the National Day of Mourning for #Indigenous People

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #indigenousPeople #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

Where are my mixed ethnicity/heritage #GlobalMajority people at? We need to have a conversation about your lived experiences navigating work and personal lives.

#equityandinclusion #EquityDeserving #EDI #DEI #belonging #organisationalchange #organizationalchange #CQ #culturalintelligence #culturalhumility

#TopicOfConversation So many of our systems are filled with systemic racism. Can you share racism you faced or saw in health care. How did you handle it?

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #indigenousPeople #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

When I post, not when I reply, these are the hashtags I use. Some have more usage than others. I created my own #TopicOfConversation
#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #indigenousPeople #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #Belonging

Thank you to everyone that participated and shared in today’s #TopicOfConversation about Sundown Towns. Great conversation today.

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFediverse #BlackFedi
#BlackAcademics #BlackDiaspora #BIPoc #black #blacklivesmatter #blackisbeautiful #diversity #DiversityEquityInclusion #dei #mastodon #racism #antiracist #asian #indigenous #indigenousPeople #mena #history #native #PursueBlackJoy
#a11y #accessibility #inclusive #belonging

I'm gonna throw some hashtags to gain some traction with new and existing users.

#diversity #diversité #inclusion #equity #équité #antiblackracism #antiasianracism #decolonisation #decolonization #organizationalchange #orgchange #culturalintelligence #CQ #belonging #leadership #inclusiveleadership #Raptors #wethenorth #TFCLive #billsmafia #ktbffh #finoallafine #Cdnpoli #onpoli #fitnessat50 #fitnessover50 #emea #apac #latam #EDI #DEI #DEIB #GlobalDEI #culturalhumility #urbanplanning

On #Love, and #Belonging:

To BELONG - to someone, somewhere - is what each of us humans longs for.
We have the need to carry MEANING. To MATTER to someone.
What is love? Love is TO BE KNOWN, truly known - by an other.
Love is the choice of an other, to embrace you, and invite you to make yourself known. This choice can only be made, and found, in a healthy and safe environment - in RELATIONSHIP: in a strong and solid bonded connection.

#WhatIsLove #ThisIsLove #LongingForLove #Relationship