Community-Build it and Grow

Community is essential for my growth and development. Community is my life-line. Community keeps me balanced, focused, on track and able to conquer my fears and achieve my dreams. Establishing a community can take time or it can happen fast-out of desperation. The people that I draw into my inner circle have earned the right to breathe life into me. Developing community takes time, intentionality and effort. Trustworthiness, honesty, authenticity, faithfulness and enthusiasm are character traits that are important to me as I build my community.

When I was first married, my husband and I were both in school so our community developed fairly easily with classmates and church friends, but then we began to move around a lot because my hubby was in the Navy. Developing a community was imperative because we had small children by then and I needed the support since my husbands hours were ridiculously long. I desperately needed my love cup filled to overflowing so that I could be a good mom and a blessing to him when he returned from work especially after his 36 hour shifts. I quickly started searching for like-minded gals from church and wives of my husband’s colleagues that needed friends like I did. I reached out and invited them into my life. We started play groups and babysitting co-ops. We organized tennis dates and park days. We bought season passes to the zoo and Sea World and went once a week on a field trip with the kids.  As we spent time together sharing life, our struggles, our joys and our frustrations, our community grew into a sisterhood of bonded friends. None of us would have survived those years without that community of friends.

During the years that I had school aged daughters, there was always so much going on. Community grew naturally as we participated in activities in our community. My friends were the ladies I sat by during sporting events, those I worked with on committees and those I prayed with in my Moms-In-Touch groups. Community grew out of our involvement in our church and for me specifically as I became invested in the women’s ministry. Now that my kids are grown and I am an empty nester, I have that same desperate need for community that I did as we moved around when the girls were young. My husband continues to have a demanding schedule and I have more flexibility than ever before. I do not have the child centered activities that naturally brought groups of women together and allowed me to easily develop community. I have to be intentional like never before in order to build community. I remind myself daily that all the interesting things I involve myself in and all the projects I put time into become life-giving and community building if I take the extra time to invest in the people I am working alongside. Sometimes that means putting aside my agenda, letting my “to-do” list go for the afternoon and settling into a long conversation with someone who is hurting. Active listening, prayer and giving wise counsel and investing in the hearts of those gals I spend time with brings me joy and a return for my investment 100 fold.

Building a Community is worth the effort.
Think about the character qualities that are important to you in a friend.
Look for people who are working alongside you in different activities that share your passions.
Be the kind of friend you are looking for to others.
Pray for the people you are becoming friends with.
Be willing to open your heart and be authentic.
Serve together as you develop community.

When I asked my daughters about what community means to them or the benefits of community they shared…..RACHEL-Learning important parenting tips. My sister and I had a wonderful conversation the other day. We were sharing back and forth, offering advice, when she gave me a wonderful…no, LIFE CHANGING idea on how to be more present. To read about this idea click here. Community really means- other people to pour into and fill you back up. Like with my fit4mom group……JESS-Community for me is people to do life with, people to be with even when you are not ok, and they love you anyway and stand by you in support! Community is built around friends that are like family. Being there for others……..BETHANY-To have a sense of family and belonging. To enjoy doing life together. Building joy filled communities. Letting people love you and you pouring out love on others. Community lets you feel like you are loved right where you are as you are even when you have room to grow you are all in it together. Learning from each other and different things in life. It’s a blessing to love other people and have people bless you….BEKAH-“Community has been imperative to my life especially in the last few years! Having friends who have really understood the process of having a spouse in medical school has made all the difference for me to get through each day and especially the more difficult days! Apart from that, my community of family and sisters support and encourage me daily as well as inspire me and help me to be the best version of myself!”

I participate in an online community called “If Equip” (check it out by clicking on the If Equip) and this was the encouragement for the day…..”Today, we remember the importance of community. We are placed in our cities and churches and schools and workplaces and neighborhoods for a reason and God can use those places to grow us. We all have different, specific communities that God has placed us in for a reason. Be present in those places, because you have the chance to live like Jesus in each and every one of them, even if you feel like you’d never make a difference. Embrace the communities that God has planted you in. He is able to move in even the smallest acts of obedience in your contexts.”

“COUNT OTHERS AS MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN YOURSELF” Philippians 2:3

I love community because I am energized by others. I love building community because it gives me a safety net for my life. I trust my close friends to be my accountability buddies and they have access to my heart. I want them to encourage me and challenge me to be the best person I can be.

I challenge you to take the time to BUILD community and GROW!

Encouragement is a gift that shares your heart with someone’s soul!!!