Community

As an introvert, to be honest, sometimes the word community makes me shudder.

Growing up in a small town, community often meant that everyone knew who your Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa and second cousin once removed was, and that meant that you were easily identified.  It also meant that everyone knew your business... even sometimes business that you didn't know about, if you get what I mean.

That, my friend, is not community.  As I've been a part of Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible studies, I have seen community in action.  I've never met these ladies... but I love them. I pray for them.  For some of them, I know their struggles, and have provided support through encouraging words.  For others, I read their words on a website and laugh in agreement... because they must have read my mind. It's uncanny how God can bring together so many vastly different people, and make it work.

That's how it should be in real-life community, too.  We should love, encourage, and support each other.  I was witness to this community when my Grandma passed away in January. Grandma was a true prayer warrior, and the testament she left was evident in the days following her death.  So many facebook posts about her... and she had no clue what facebook was.  The night of visitation, people just kept coming in... and they had personal stories to share.  The funeral was packed out.  We had food delivered and money donated to her church... but most of all, we had love.  Prayers.  People willing to support us and mourn with us.  People who laughed as we shared our stories of her.  People who continue, five months later, to share their condolences. 

Community is about support. Love. Edification.  I don't know about y'all, but I sure need a safe place where I can be accepted.

And I love when I can tie things together.  Yesterday, I was reading in Max Lucado's Applause of Heaven.  He was talking about peace, and he said, "To make peace, in Scripture, is to bring community."  My friend Heather King echoed this in her book, which I read shortly after the line in Applause of Heaven (Here is my disclaimer... I'm a book nerd, and often read several books at once, which is another reason why this P31 OBS community rocks. They totally get me.).  "Paul wrote, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:18).  Peaceful relationships in this world aren't always possible and that's the ugly truth.  But we need to do everything we can to cultivate peace, even in disputed territories where landmines of personal opinion dot the fields."

Community can be messy, because it is full of human beings, forgiven and given grace but still sometimes not acting like it. As a member of a community, we are only responsible for our own actions.  Loving.  Supporting. Encouraging.  Not judging. 

Won't you join me in this online community? It's not too late to sign up.  We'll be starting Limitless Life on May 25th.  Check it out!