Sometimes when we attempt to build community, we are rewarded with something awesome.
On my recent camping adventure, we had all circled up around the camp fire ring. All of the tents had been taken down and the cars and bus had been packed. Our youth pastor, had given everyone the instructions to find an object that represented something that was special to them about the weekend. The adults participated too.
It was really kind of interesting as everyone shared something, that most everyone came back to either community or water. One of the men stood up with a clear plastic cup of water. He said the cup represented community and the water represented the rain that sometimes falls on community. To demonstrate, he walked around the circle and sprinkled drops on all of us. He went onto say that sometimes rain falls in our lives and we don’t understand why; sometimes it’s light rain and sometimes it pours. But, we can be sure that God has His hand in it and as a community, we have to pull together to get through it. One day we will understand.
How profound. Our church community has really been struggling and what a beautiful concrete picture, he presented for the kids and honestly, even more so, for the adults.
When my own hubby stood up, he had two items, one was an old can he found and one was a small yellow bunch of flowers that one of the high schoolers had given him. The can represented God’s creation and learning to really appreciate it. He encouraged all of our technology addicted kids to get out in it more and appreciate it, and to leave it better than they found it.
The next part really took my breath away. He hates to talk in a group, but he held up the bunch of flowers and told the group that the bunch represented community. He took one and said you never think of one flower as much, but a bunch is eye-catching. They grow together in a bunch and they make the most impact in a bunch, just like community. He drew a round of applause as he sat down.
I made a mental note to ask him about his reflection later. It was just so unlike him.
Later that night, as we were sitting around our own dinner table, our family was taking turns sharing what we liked best about the weekend. We all had different stories. The kids talked about their highs and lows. We all felt like it was our favorite youth trip so far, and then my hubby shared something with us.
He told us that he had picked up the can and had rehearsed in his head what he would say, when the high schooler handed him the bunch of flowers. When he asked her what he was supposed to do with them, she told him she didn’t know. He said that when it was his turn to speak, that he had come up with something about the beauty of flowers, but when he began to speak, something completely different came out.
The kids and I were silent for a moment and I admit that I had chills. The Holy Spirit was clearly at work. The Bible tells us in Corinthians 2:13, “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.”
We had spent that weekend trying to build community among our youth and among the parents and, the Holy Spirit was clearly behind our success. Community is so important to Christians of all ages in all stages of their journey. When we reach out to try to build it, we are often rewarded with something beautiful and sometimes when we talk with each other about our experiences, we can actually see some of the Divine behind the scenes. I have to tell you, it’s pretty awesome!
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂