Life Together

People are created for community. Community is a structure created by God, yet it always amazes me how much I need it. In Genesis, it says that it's not good for man to be alone. The Psalms say “how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” Jesus longed for his disciples to be near to him in his last hours. God created a woman for Adam. People are so critical in one another's lives. They are wonderful for encouragement, for accountability, for learning, and for just being there.
Despite my introverted personality and need for time by myself, I also need people. I am not meant to live alone. For example, my roommate was gone 46 hours this weekend. Only 46, and I nearly went crazy. It is interesting to find out new things about yourself. Or rediscover things you might have forgotten. I have recently realized that although I like time by myself, I need people nearby. I just need to know that they are there. If I want to read a book, I tend to read with someone else close by. I don't want them talking to me. I just want their presence. I had a friend spend the night on Friday, and she worked on homework the entire time. We didn't exchange many words, but just knowing she was there was enough for me.
Having people around reminds me about my time at the Focus on the Family Institute. You should look into it. Really. The community there is unlike I've ever experienced. Even in high school and that was hard core too. I don't think I'll experience that sort of community again until heaven, but who knows.
Want to learn more about community? Reading the Bible is a good start. Stories like Jonathan and David, the disciples and Jesus, the early church in Acts. They're great. You could also read “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Now don't get me wrong. Living with others is hard. Really hard. It strips you of your pride, it causes you to give of yourself in ways you may or may not enjoy, you have to learn to be flexible, you have to learn how to communicate and adapt to various communication styles, and I could on...
But it's also wonderful. You receive so much joy from living with others, your burdens can be shared and your joys can be shared. Burdens being shared causes them to be lighter and joys being shared multiplies. God works in your life to purge you of your pride, and you see him mold and shape the lives of others. You realize that God has undeservedly blessed you with the people in your life, and you catch a glimpse of eternity. Again the list could go on...
The lowest points of my life have been when my friends have walked out. I can't even begin to describe the hurt and the darkness, but the highest points of my life have been when I have had others surrounding me and we were just “doing life” together. During both times one of my favorite songs would be “Life Together” by Geoff Moore and the Distance. The lyrics say it all.
If you're not living with others or at least have a group of friends to be a sort of family, I encourage you to join a Bible study, an accountability group, or even to go out and make some friends. It'll be worth it, because you were made for it.
C.S. Lewis says it well: “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
I'll leave you with a bit of Bonhoeffer: “Let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.
The measure with which God bestows the gift of visible community is varied. The Christian in exile is comforted by a brief visit of a Christian brother, a prayer together and a brother's blessing; indeed, he is strengthened by a letter written by the hand of a Christian. The greetings in the letters written with Paul's own hand were doubtless tokens of such community. Others are given the gift of common worship on Sundays. Still others have the privilege of living a Christian life in the fellowship of their families... Among earnest Christians in the Church today there is a growing desire to meet together with other Christians in the rest periods of their work for common life under the Word. Communal life is again being recognized by Christians today as the grace that it is, as the extraordinary, the “roses and lilies” of the Christian life.” (“Life Together” pg. 20-21)