Community

Community - Webster defines it as " a body of people with something in common, e.g. neighborhood, religion, etc.". What does community mean to you???? Are you in community with your neighbors??? Do you even know your neighbors??? For some of us, it may be difficult to know our neighbors strictly due to distance factors (i.e., your closest neighbor may be 5-10 miles away). This topic of community has been a popular one as of late in church as well as in my high school church group on Sunday nights.

God calls us to be in community with one another. For me, I have found it easier to be in community with other Christians simply because we basically operate under the same belief system and we live our lives according to what God calls us to do. I have often felt out of place at times in public because my views have changed over the last few years and things that didn't seem to bother me as much before really bother me a great deal now. I find myself no longer watching certain television shows because they have become too "racey" (why is it that it is now the norm for women to be wearing low cut tops where far too much skin is exposed???) or the language is somewhat offensive. Now before you start calling me a PRUDE, I just believe with all of my heart that our society sends the wrong messages to our youth. It's perfectly O.K. for females to dress provocatively, no one bats an eye lash when vulgar language is used (in fact, when it is pointed out that someone is swearing, the individual isn't even aware of it because it has become part of their everyday vernacular), there is nothing wrong with meeting someone for the first time at a party or social gathering and ending up in bed with him or her a few hours later. I'm kind of going off on a tangeant but I do believe it is related to this whole idea of community.

Growing up in "the bubble" of a Wisconsin suburb that shall remain nameless, I knew everyone in my neighborhood by name. It was very rare that I didn't know someone that lived down the street from us. I liked that. I liked the fact that I could walk or ride my bike down the street and be able to say "Hi" to my neighbor and address him or her by name. Where have those days gone??? Maybe I'm just living in a fantasy world and I long for the way things used to be. You could keep your doors unlocked, you actually answered the doorbell when it rang because it was usually a neighbor stopping by to say "Hi", not someone trying to solicit something or trying to get you to answer some random survey, gun shots were not the norm, drive-by-shootings were unheard of.

How do we get back that sense of community??? Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and make initial contact with the neighbors that just moved in across the street?? Do you stop and take the time to say "Hi" to your neighbor outside doing yard work or do you simply pull into your driveway and shut the garage door as quickly as you can because you have "things" to do. Don't we all have things to do???

Maybe it's time we get back to the old-fashioned idea of community because the way I see it, the community that we're building today is not one that I'm too excited to be a part of. What happened to "Love thy neighbor as thyself?" I think that idea of love is a foreign concept to many which is a sad commentary in the 21st century.

Now before you start thinking that I'm being a total "Negative Nelly", this blog has morphed itself into something that the author did not originally intend it to be. This is MY blog so I get to say whatever I want to say on it, right?? I did want to talk about community and the things that it can represent to others and how we can reach out to others to make them a part of something bigger and better. I know that I can try to impact my community in a positive way just as everyone in this world can. We are all blessed with many different attributes that can be utilized for the greater good. What can you do??? We can try and do what the song says by "reaching out and touching someone's hand" because they could probably use your help. A simple smile from someone who truly cares about them as a person can go a long way! It can't hurt to try, right????