There’s this terrible notion going around in today’s culture that we can do life on our own.
I’m not talking about our social lives where we have plenty of entertainment and leisure distraction that lead us to believe we’re doing life with people. I’m talking about encouragement, deep connection and real friendship.
Do you have these in your life?
Do you have rich relationships that allow you to be fully known, or do facades, walls and protective boundaries keep you from going deep?
A few years ago I asked myself what kind of friend I really wanted to be. I no longer wanted to be someone who always had to be having fun. I didn’t want to get together with my friends and only have a good time. And I certainly didn’t want to ignore the hardships people around me were facing.
What is friendship if not to be there through the hard times?
But here’s the hardest part of it all.
It’s easy to say you want deep community surrounding you when the going gets tough, but it’s an entirely different thing to be deep community that chooses to surround people when the going gets tough.
Deep community requires vulnerability even when you don’t feel like it.
Deep community involves schedule shuffling and inconvenience.
Deep community is a slow process of steady growth and unpredictable change.
But the only way to move from an individual and isolated mentality into a community-minded one is by intentionally stepping into trust and friendship. Which of course starts with Him.
So take a few minutes today to check in with some friends you know (or think) might be going through a rough time.
Trust me, it makes a world of difference.
Yesterday I got an email from a subscriber who encouraged me to keep going. She thanked me for these daily devotions and told me how much the podcast means to her.
She has no idea what that simple little email did for my heart. Thank you Krista.
So go ahead, do something today that might be the simplest thing to you but will mean the world to someone else.
”Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.” Proverbs 13:20 (MSG)
