A sense of community

I love my house. I love my neighbors. I love my neighborhood. I’ve always enjoyed being home, but the satisfaction I feel when I’m home with my husband, at our house on Lincoln Rd, is different than anything I’ve felt before. The other night it dawned on me why that is. It’s because of community.

It seems rare when people wrap their arms around their new neighbors and treat them as part of the family. That’s how it’s been for me and Mark. We are the “new kids on the block”, though we’ve now lived in our home for a year and a half. On one side of us is a family that runs the farm surrounding our land, on the other side is the daughter of the woman who owns the farm, and her family. Across the street is a horse barn.

Often when we’re out in the yard or walking around the fields – our neighbors are very generous in letting us roam as we please – we stop and talk for a half hour, an hour, or even two hours. And I look forward to it. I want to see my neighbors and talk to them. I want to hear all about the farming, the kids, the home renovations. I want to tag team our attack on the rotten box elder beetles that threaten to take over our homes.

Belonging is a terrific feeling. And my neighbors have made Mark and I feel like we belong. I thank God that he opened up this home to us. Community doesn’t just happen anymore.

It seems like community used to be more important years ago than it is today. In part, it is a reflection of different people groups, I guess. When I was younger and living near the Tug Hill Plateau, our church family looked after us. If my dad was gone for a week, gentlemen from the church would stop in to make sure we had enough wood for our wood burning stove, to see if there was anything we needed. Our neighbors, even though they weren’t right next door, cared enough to involve themselves with our lives, to look after us. And the favor was returned.

I wonder why more people don’t take the time to develop a community with the people around them. Are people’s lives so busy, so important, that they can’t be worried about what’s happening with someone else – good or bad? Sadly, this sense of community seems to be lacking even in churches and families.

So my glimpse of God today has come in the form of the community he has blessed me with. Once in a while we’re given a peak at life as it ought to be, not how it is. It’s when we see what ought to be that we see the reflection of God Himself, stamping his imprint on the world around us.

Someday, when I’m on the other side of the yard, welcoming the newly married couple next door, I hope I show them the same sense of community that my neighbors have taught me. I believe this brings glory to God and joy to our hearts.