Intentional Community
I'm finally getting back into the swing of writing again, and it's been refreshing. It's been a chance to breathe. It's been a chance to collect my thoughts and to choose how I'm wanting the year to look. With the start of a new year, almost a whole month in, I loved that the word for Five Minute Friday was intentional.
Ready? 3... 2... 1... Go!
When I think about being intentional, one of the first things that comes to my mind is the people that I surround myself with. Relationships.
I was listening to Shawn Bolz, and he said, "We need the people of God in order to do the dream of God." Which, at the very core of it, means that we need each other. We need community.
It is so important that we're being intentional in our relationships: reaching out, reaching up, allowing ourselves to be fully known with each other and with God.
One of the Bible verses that comes to mind is Philippains 3:12-14 (MSG). "I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back."
We need the people of God in order to do the dream of God. In our lives, we need each other to run the race well. I'm teaching on this a lot with my kids at church, and it's been beautiful to see the reactions when the students realize that life is meant to be lived together. We struggle and learn and live together.
As we step into 2018, it is my prayer that we remember to allow ourselves to be vulnerable--that we remember that we need each other. That it's okay to fall into the arms of friends and family as we fall forward into the grace of a loving God.
I'm going to close this post with a short excerpt from a book I'm beginning to write, called When Hearts Ache.
This is an anthem for the loneliest hearts. For the tired and down trodden. You are not alone. I'll keep saying this until it gets stuck in your head like a broken record- you are not alone. I'm writing this for myself as much as anyone else.
We are not alone: it's the one thing I'm sure of. Let's ride forth together in this dark night, holding onto each other like so many memories. We are not alone. May this phrase get stuck in your heart. May these words help your heart build a home.
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Between the Shadow and the Soul: Blogging through the journey.