Community

I was away last Sunday with ten others for a pre-teen girls' retreat. Most of the girls I've known for awhile, and it's been quite a joy to watch them grow. The women on the leadership team have also been friends for a number of years. We had a great weekend together.

Throughout those days, I kept thinking of this passage in Philippians 1:

"[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.... And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -- to the glory and praise of God."

A sense of community developed while we were away. We played together, ate together, talked together, rested together, laughed together. We had fun, and we had some serious conversations, too. We all need relationships like that, and times like that.

If you sense that in your own life, I'd encourage you to take a step toward making it a reality. Invite someone to your home for dinner. If you're a parent, find another parent and take your kids to the park for a picnic, or even the playland at a fast food restaurant. Become involved in a class or other small group. It's worth it!