Forget Cliques. Real Community, It's Under Our Very Noses

 

I learned a long, long time ago not to complain about not having what I think are 'friends'.

Often I remind myself of this in what could be lonely minutes the girls are away, Jem is at work and I sit in this weird but off-the-wall gorgeous season of life, living in the beautiful Forest here.  As beautiful as the Forest Cathedral is, I have found the people in various communities as a whole to be hard as nails.  But.  It's everywhere really, the concrete jungle of the burbs is no better, people are prejudiced these days all across the board, many women are just plain envious.  It's been that way since the beginning of time.  Think Eve and her nature.  It's everywhere, and it always has been.  I remember times as a filled-out little girl in ballet, dancing a solo, other moms snubbing my mom, angry that my mom's brunette baby had a solo.  Yep, it's always been there.  The earlier we learn to contend with jealousy and envy the better.  My ballet teacher back then told my mom so.  (She was right.)

I'm so thankful my mother was independent in this respect.  A content woman, both my mom and dad were content.  Our sweet old fashioned and modest home was paid for, car and truck were paid for and we used them in peace, out of debt.  Our sensible vehicles were paid for with cash and driven til they could be driven no more and that was good.  We didn't buy new vehicles just because we needed a change.  How shallow would that have been?  Why would I want my identity to be in a vehicle?  Good food and generosity coupled with love were mostly served.   To heck with the rest.  My parents would be the first to help the needy because they could.  Very rarely was my mom blabbing on the phone, I never heard my mom calling a friend to gossip.  Ever.  She minded her own business.   Yes she did.

I could go on and on dear readers but I think you get the picture...Many of us see the smallness even here in blogging.

Last Sunday I sat in a precious church where old fashioned hymns are sang and great sermons are preached but there was a problem.  All over the little church, minutes before the service, there were groups of several blabbing among themselves, in one case, the symptom of gossiping was there.  They were so into their little worlds that not only did they not bother to look up at us, but there were also several other isolated women as well also feeling the chill from the open-doored frigidaires throughout.  We see the same scenario in many institutions these days.  We must remember this is how Jesus was also treated.

You know what?  Next time this happens I will remove my backside from the pew and go to the other few that are also alone surviving the chill and I will introduce myself.  Perhaps I will be accepted, perhaps I will not.   My husband tells me we have a 'look' they don't like unless they are truly Christians, perhaps from that glorious WWII generation or perhaps a true Christ follower with babes at home.  It's kind of funny, in the burbs we were looked upon as too homie.  In the the wee towns and villages we are pegged city-people or outsiders.  I half-laugh...shaking my head.

I read the article linked at the bottom of the page this morning and it hits the spot of temptation in so many, and it's this very attitude that makes us miss the real sweethearts out there.   The lovelies...

Close your eyes, open them, our blessings are under our nose.  Look at our children, whether they are one day old whether they are thirty-one...Are we able to cook family dinners and bless our homes?  Let's thank God for it.  Thank God for quiet times. : ) Would we want any other?

 

Other forgotten places where sweethearts dwell?

For me, the nursing home visitation is soon, ....  thank you Jesus for those beautiful lovelies.  Yes indeed.  True roses in this plastic world...Don't forget the grocery store..many hidden gems (saints) roam there too just waiting for a smile and a kind, heartfelt, hello.  You would be surprised what can bleed out of precious saints wounds...We hold the healing balm.  In healing others, many times, our wounds are healed.

 


Following is the article link over at Ann Voskamp's blog, get yourself some coffee and enjoy,  maybe there is someone who needs a hello?  Maybe the real roses are under your very nose, in your own home?

How to Get Over Cliques and Get Real Community


"The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it."  ~C.S. Lewis  Memorial Lecture at King's College, University of London. 1944

Black and White Photography by Robert Stock