Community

Currently, I am in the beautiful season of life where I have drivers living in my home who don’t mind going to the store for me. Some people love to shop; I am not some of those people. I would rather do just about anything than go to ANY store ending in “mart”. So, I will get a text message from time to time that says, “Hey Mom, I am headed to the store, need anything?”

Isn’t that so kind of them!?!

And because I try to utilize all the blessings the Lord sends my way, I immediately send them the list which I have been saving awaiting their generous offer of shopping.

This change in shopper has changed up a few things in the household…you know, a different brand of this or that here and there.

He may kill me for this, but I am going to tell a funny little story from my youngest, whom we have decided has the soul of a little old man. I will skip some of the funny details, but apparently one of the switch ups was the toilet paper. One evening, he walks into my room holding a square of toilet paper in each hand, one clearly much thicker than the other.

“Mom, why on earth would you ever buy this (holds us thin square) when this exists in the world (shows me thicker square)?”  

Such an old man, but I appreciate his reprimand...and to be real, he’s not wrong, there is a difference!

And the analogy, although maybe a little taboo, got me thinking.

Sometimes we settle for things that are not as useful when there are some quality products out there worth the extra investment.

There is a buzz word going around lately. Community.

I think after the world of Covid, people began to realize the importance of human interaction. I also believe the false facade of our online “friends” is revealing the deeper, God given, human need of real-life friends; community.

And let’s face it, unless you are a hermit, you probably have some sort of community. You may have colleagues at work you spend most days alongside. Neighbors you wave to on your evening stroll and have an occasional conversation with here or there. Parents of the other kids on your child’s sports teams you devote hours to each week at the ballfields.

Maybe you even have a few arenas where the connection is even more consistent and goes a little deeper? Your life group at church. Places where you know each other’s kids, everyone’s places of employment, and the prayer request you write down each week. All these communities are good and needed.

But what about community that will surround you when your words are few, your heart is broken, and your faith is weak?

There is a story in Exodus 17. Moses is listening to and obeying God, fielding the constant complaints of the Israelites wandering in the desert, and now is having to conquer enemies in war. He is being obedient, but as I’ve recently heard, “life was life-ing”, things were difficult, and there was no sense of reprieve in the near future.

This man of God was weary and rightfully so!

Then God calls him to stand on a mountain and hold his staff in the air. Verse 11 says, “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.”

No pressure Moses but keep your hands up…whew!

I’ve been there. Doing all the things I knew to do in every area, yet weary. And life, well, it just kept “life-ing”. And in my weary state, I made a phone call I will never forget. This call was to my community, my friend who really knew me, loved me, and invested in me. When I called her with weariness and tears in my voice, she felt the pain in a way only those who have been to battle with you before feel. And she said, “Kristen, I will be your Aaron. I know you are tired. I know you cannot hold it all together right now, but I am right here, lifting you up to the Father, and I will keep holding on until the battle is done.” And she kept that promise.

Her prayers for me, constant support, and gift of presence held me close to Jesus.

You see in Exodus, 17:12, we read, “When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.”  And they won the battle.

Do you have an Aaron in your life? Do you have a community that will enter with you into your battle and love you with all they can? It takes an investment to reach this type of intimacy with a brother or sister, but there IS a difference and the deposits of time, energy, and trust is worth it! For all involved.

I think at the time, I was under the impression I was inconveniencing my “Aaron”…putting too much unnecessary stress into her already complicated life, but now I understand that was the farthest thing from the truth.

Recently, a family we love like our own have marched through hell and back. There are so many details I am not ready to share, but the depth of their grief was profound as they walked through the valley of the shadow of death. And because they were ours, because we had invested our lives into their lives, and they had invested into us...because we had such a deep bond of community it was almost like their pain was our pain and Josh and I entered in the best we knew how. We prayed and fasted and we held them up to Father in their weariness. We begged and pleaded with Jesus. We did all we knew to do to create a symphony of prayers rising up before all of Heaven.

And it was the farthest thing from inconvenient I’ve ever had the privilege of doing. It was an honor and a joy to stand in the trenches with them and do all we knew to do…and pray.

Community. It is worth the investment! It is not inconvenient. And it honors the Lord.

You can settle for the cheap, thin version, but in the words of my youngest, “why in the world would you when something like THIS exists in the world?”