Community

Rob stated in a post last week that "...we have been rescued not for ourselves, but for others." He and I have been having a lot of conversations recently about what true community looks like, and I think this statement ties in very closely with that. We've been talking about the idea that true community is when I am more concerned with the other individuals involved than with myself. True community is seeking someone else's best above my own preferences. And their "best" isn't necessarily equated with me being "nice" to them. It is sometimes saying what they need to hear, even when that is not what they want to hear. It is sometimes making the choice that they do not want me to make, knowing that it will be more beneficial for them in the end than what they are asking of me. And sometimes it's being a friend to someone I would not naturally be inclined to be friends with. It's the idea that the community is about something bigger and more important than just me. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To quote the movie Everything is Illuminated, "It is not here for us; we are here for it." (Granted, the quote is in reference to a burried wedding band, but you get the idea.) Anyway, these are incomplete thoughts for now. This is just what has been on my mind lately.

What does community mean to you?