I am at a point in my life where I crave community; a gathering together with my Sisters and friends in the Gospel outside of our Sunday worship. Relationships outside of friendly banter in the halls on Sunday. For an introvert, homebody like myself, that is an incredible feat. I have been making more of an effort to put myself out there and get involved in group gatherings. Every single time I second guess my resolve. I think, "I'd love to just stay home" or "No one will miss me", "What do I have to contribute?", or "It's just one more thing"...
When these thoughts creep into my mind, I strengthen my resolve to go. I don't think Satan wants me there because he is trying really hard to keep me from attending. He doesn't want my heart and spirit edified through these amazing women. He wants me to stay home, be lazy and just give up. And you know what? I don't want to please that guy...and you know what else? Even when I have to force myself to participate, I have never regretted it. I never regret participating.
Matthew 18:19-20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
What do you do to add more community to your life?
I'm such a happy hermit in life. I could stay hidden for days and weeks, but I know that's not healthy for me. Like you, church fills so many of those needs for me.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to this, it takes a lot sometimes for me to get the courage to go to an activity especially.....ALONE.... ahhh! gasp!!
ReplyDeleteRecently I've been really relishing in my family and friendships. I totally understand this feeling of community you're craving. Andrea @ be-quoted.com visiting from SITS.
ReplyDeleteOh so me. I'm a homebody and have to force myself out to meet new people.
ReplyDeleteMy girls spend a lot of hours in dance and I found that being in the same places at the same time as the same other moms, and waiting for hours on end during practices with other moms actually gave me an opportunity to get to know other these women on a level I would never have otherwise had the opportunity. Luckily, I have a lot in common with many of them. It just takes time and lots of small talk over hours and days and months and even years to develop these relationships to a point where we started getting together outside of the studio, too. It is harder to develop these relationships with women who work because they just aren't there as much, but they also seem to be wonderful women.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, how do people normally find this time to be thrown together with other people to get to know them? Maybe serving on a pta committee (not my thing) or serving in a calling together? Being an introvert myself, I have had to really go out of my way (for me) with people in my ward by asking if I can just come over and visit for lunch with certain women who I felt more of a connection with. Kind of like unassigned visiting teaching. Without a message. At first I felt awkward, but then I realized that I was making friends. People are just busy. It isn't that they don't want friendship. There are still many days I would rather hole up inside my house and get something done. I could probably spend literally a year doing nothing but getting things cleaned and organized, scanned in etc. I prefer to shop and plan by myself as well. One woman in our ward has been great about getting together lunch groups or going out for a girls' night dinner once every few months. That has been fantastic. I too often rely on other people to orchestrate these things and invite me and need to be better about doing it myself. But the friendships I have been able to develop with other women are priceless. I just have to make the effort.