31 Days of Missional Living: Community is Good for the Soul (Day 22)

Courtesy of my Friendly Neighbor

We've talked about fulfilling the Great Commission and reaching out to our neighbors. We've talked about loving our cities and creating margin. It's true that we seek to live missionally out of obedience. But God knew something about His creation when He said it was not good for man to be alone.

Tonight my neighbor (not a Christ follower) brought me homemade pumpkin cupcakes with spiced butter-cream frosting. For no reason. Tonight I also had dinner with friends. They made enough for me to take leftovers home to my sick husband. Now I'm watching their son while they're at small group. We do this every Monday night (minus Jason being sick).

The past several months have been hard for us financially and personally. We have received home cooked meals, grocery money, gift cards, and many other expressions of love. When we moved in June we had more help than we could have imagined. About a month ago when we decided we wanted to host a Colombian orphan in December (more on that later) we raised the support needed in less than twenty-four hours. And last week when one of the girls at our third place got engaged she gave me a gift. Go figure.

You see community matters. We need each other. The best meal, coffee, or desert is best when shared with others. We need each other to celebrate with. We need each other to mourn with. Sure we live as missionaries in our communities out of obedience to God. But the cultivation of community that comes with missional living is it's own reward.

Community is good for the soul.