Community

i surprised my mom for mother's day last Sunday. this is what i did:

first of all, i wrote her a card telling her one of the things she has taught me. she has taught me so much about how to be accepting of every kind of person. i also made her a picture frame and put a photo inside that was taken last summer of us and my father. on the way home i stopped and got her a bouquet of lillies as well.

when i got home to Charlottesville, i put the flowers, card, and bag on the front stoop and knocked on the door very loudly. i ran to the back door quickly and waited for my mom in the kitchen. after she came back that way from answering the door, i could see that she had her present in her hand and so i yelled, "happy mother's day! i love you!"

we then spent most of the day together just sitting around watching TV and talking about life. afterwards we went out for a family dinner. i really miss these moments with my mom.

recently i have been realizing my next lesson: Community with others is important.

when i first moved up here to Reston, i was ready to be on my own. i was excited to start over, make new friends, build new relationships within my ministry, and thrive in change.

i always embrace change [for the most part]. i tend to like to change things up often. change is good, in my mind.

so that's where i was. i couldn't wait to get my own place and live on my own for a while.

but since then, and through my mother's day experience with my mom, i've realized that community is key. not finding friends my own age, or getting involved in a small group of ladies, or having Tommy around all the time. what is key in my life [what has been and will continue to be] is that i have community with believers.

it doesn't matter how many close friends i have or how many small groups i am involved in, how much time i get to see my mom, or how many kids i interact with every week. what matters is that i have community with believers, where i worship with them, rejoice with them, and suffer with them. having this kind of community with other believers is what has made my move so easy and so exciting.

Colossians 3:16 says to "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in al wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

yes, we need to be in the Word, reading it and letting the Words we read effect our actions, but through this we should be led to community with one another.

we interact with God personally so that we can teach one another. we interact with God personally so that we can admonish one another. we interact with God personally so that we can worship in song with one another. we interact with God personally so that we can give thanks to Him.

seems to me that the major point in all this is this: we interact with God personally so that we can have community with one another.

so in conclusion, don't think you can do this on your own. we need God, first and foremost in our lives, but we also need each other. this is how God thrives among us!