Community

I got to go home last weekend, and since it is my favorite season, fall, and the weather was perfect, my family and I went hiking. What I love about hiking, outside of the views it provides, is the sweet time I get to process my thoughts in the beauty of creation. The picture you see at left is one I got to take on that hike, once I looked back over the picture something hit me. The difference in the trees and their process of losing their leaves. You might be think, obviously Blair, trees loose their leaves at different times, it's not the revolutionary of an idea. But something hit me for the first time unlike ever before. As we walk through different seasons in this life, so do other people, again not that revolutionary of an idea, but as we do, so do these trees. AS some are still in full bloom, leaves golden and beautifully painting the mountain scape, to others with just a few leaves still holding on, and lastly the ones that are barren standing almost void of any life. That started me thinking, what a sweet picture of the community we get to experience. Because the Lord places people in you life who aren't always at the exact same place as you, and what a blessing for that. Because when I am at my barest, I know that I have people in my life full of joy, hope, and perspective, and vice versa. And that is the beauty of community, the Lord places people to walk through life alongside and share in this journey. As I walk alongside them in their seasons that look so different than mine, I know that they do the same. We stand together, connected in the deepest way, at our roots because of our love of Christ. WE are not alone, nor do we have to pretend to be. Our community is a gift, and though it changes as we walk through life, there is always someone there to share life with different perspective, to share in our joy and suffering. What a BLESSING!!!!