Community, a pep-talk for myself

I love the idea of community. I love to see the body of Christ at work in the world. I love living with people, eating with people, having deep discussions with people, serving people, loving people. I think Jesus loves it too. He reminded us to relate to one another as brothers and neighbors. To be generous, forgiving, hospitable, compassionate, kind, gentle, honest, and above all, loving. This is so earnestly contested by our enemy, the devil. When we take our eyes off Jesus we are prone to becoming selfish, vengeful, easily angered, lazy, and proud.

I took a walk this evening to talk to Jesus - I started thinking about community. I passed a lot of houses, several people, but didn't know any of them, and didn't speak to any of them. How sad. Instead of thinking, "How can I serve that person?" I was thinking, "I hope they keep their dog away from me" and "Wow, that family with the four kids with backpacks are sure getting home late." I need to be so much more conscientious about sharing God's love with others. And I know this is not something I can do on my own, but only in His power, with His love.

My room at Grandmom's is ready. I don't know why I am feeling anxious about moving. Maybe because I've settled into a routine with Micah, Blake, and Anderson at their house and don't want to uproot and learn a new way of doing things, relating to people, etc. Or maybe because this step toward community (different from what I'm now experiencing) is fiercely contested in the spiritual realm. I believe that it is our responsibility to care for our grandparents' generation. Grandmom is a widow - I should be thrilled to be so privileged to help look after her! Serving widows and orphans, all in the same day! God's highest calling to us as Christians! "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27 Keeping myself from being polluted by the world's striving to be wealthy, well-known, beautiful, independent.

We have every resource and opportunity to be strong in community - houses close together, technology that keeps us in constant communication and saves us the time that used to be spent on personal chores (preparing food, washing clothes/dishes, cleaning, going places)...and yet, the easier it seems to have time to spend with one another, the more things we find to fill that space in our lives. Tonight I'm going to focus on things that help build community (writing encouraging notes to friends, spending time with my Creator) rather than the things that so easily distract me from what is important to God.

Thanks for listening. I needed that.