Community

I have the privilege to participate in multiple communities. I like to think of my grouping of activities as communities. Most of us have them and maybe we don't call them different communities,  but from my side of the keyboard, that's what I call them.

One of the communities that I really enjoy is the small group that I meet with every Thursday evening. It is a faith based community and was created by several returning members and some new members. It's a great mix of young (early 20's all the way up to me, early 50's) and not so young. I think I am the oldest. Some of us have children and there are some who have not yet had the pleasure of children in their lives. We come from diverse backgrounds, most are Canadian born, although two of us are imports. We are in different stages of life based on age, occupation and age of children(or none).

We are working through a study aptly entitled; "Community: your path to progress". We have one more week to go on the study and then we'll celebrate our "progress" on American Thanksgiving. Why do we do all this? The assumption is that we all wish to make spiritual progress, that's why we chose to participate in this type of community. The book proposes that in order to do that we need other people in our lives walking beside us.

I have grown to really appreciate each and every member of our community. I appreciate that every member makes the community a priority and we all share in the hosting and of course the snacks.  Next week is our last "study" and then the celebration. I am planning on something different for next week to encourage the community.

We have suggested that we would like to lead another group in the new year and are looking at a book entitled "Love and Respect" as the basis for the study. We'll see who wants to stay with us come January 2009.