How Building Community is Like Walking on Water

I feel that the message to the Lord lately can be summed up in a passage I read in the scriptures this morning:

Will ye persist in turning your backs upon the poor and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?

I don't feel I can take a lot of time to do this, but I have had some pretty life-changing thoughts in the past few days and want to capture them as quickly as I can, so please forgive any un-clarity in writing (like that made-up word I just used :)...).

Where to begin...

A dear friend recommended a book, "More Than Happy: the Secret to Amish Parenting," that has been quickly become one of my few all-time classics.  So many truths.  One thing the author points out as being a key ingredient to the peace and content that the Amish feel is their "connectedness." (That should be a word.)  She says it stems from the idea that every decision is made with the mind-set: how will this affect the well-being of our family?  Pretty powerful.  It is made on an individual level and as parents and I have pondered about the impact this mind-set would have on our society.

Imagine if, on an individual level, people made decisions for themselves based upon the premise: is this for the best of society? I am not talking about the government making that decision for individuals, but an individual recognizing their performance, their actions have an impact on society on the whole and how are they going to govern themselves accordingly.

Back to the smaller scale, how can our actions best bless our community, and in turn our family?  A family is more health-fully raised in a community that supports it.  To do that, you need to build and support the community. The benefits of this mind-set are best captured in the every day application you read about in this book among the Amish.  Each child knows that they are loved, cherished, protected and blessed by their community through the connectedness, the service, the intent to interact and bless that is exemplified among the Amish in the book.  They would be the first to admit that they are not perfect (in fact they would be horrified that anyone would think that they would pretend to be perfect!).  Yet, they live in a supported community that brings this peace and joy and happiness...this more than happiness through their connectedness and focus on what is best for the family unit.

I tend to draw back "protectively" or selfishly from over-commitment socially.  I think each person must make their own call on what is best for them.  But for myself, I have felt that I need to share my substance-- my children, my family, our resources, the peace that is within our home and our hearts,--with others.  The more I have thought about this, the more I have realized that this will also create that community. It is worth the dinners, the messes, the increased numbers to connect with people, have them connect with my children, work together, clean together, pray together, fail together, cry together and build anew together.

This idea has always been very overwhelming to me. I love the peace and quiet of my home and the overall kindness and stability that reigns in our tiny walls.  As I sit down and plan my day in the morning, I almost always pray that the Lord will guide me where I need to go, where I need to serve, and the Lord does...only I haven't recognized it up until now.

Those "interruptions," changes of schedules, last minute arrangements that I have so balked against in the past are actually the Lord steering me where He wants me to serve and to be.  Of course at the beginning of the day I will not always have a clear picture of what His will is for me...so He works with me throughout the day with nudges, requests, "catastrophes," etc. I wonder if I would panic if the Lord showed me what he actually wanted me to do during the day :).

Deep breath.  Pray and seek for the peace of the Spirit.  Eyes on the Savior.  Act.

I love the gaze of the Savior in this portrayal of Peter walking on water. I have envisioned Christ gazing at me as I struggle to come to Him and not be overwhelmed or tossed about by the storms around me or the depths below me..."Don't doubt," I hear him say. "Keep coming, Mary.  You know it will work out as it always has when you trust me, follow me.  Wherefore couldst thou doubt?"