A Few Random Thoughts

This week, quite often I have found it difficult to focus on whatever I happen to be working on.  Sadly, that has even applied to my blog entries this week.  So today, I'm just going with it, and so we have a few random thoughts.  Feel free to react, to criticize, or to jump on board with the scatteredness!

• I've been thinking a lot about appreciation.  I think most of us have a tendency to feel under-appreciated at times.  We would really like someone to notice what we are doing and to tell us that they appreciate us and that we are doing a good job.  Truthfully, I think that our society doesn't do a good job encouraging people to be sincerely appreciative of others, and that takes a great toll on us, especially when it goes on for a long time.
• I've also been thinking about what it means to be a community, especially a community of faith.  It seems to me that most of us tend to think of our faith communities as basic social gatherings that may occasionally throw something religious in.  But as I have been reading about what all a community can be, I have come to see that the faith community is a place to share burdens, to be encouraged and strengthened, and to be there for the others in the community more than to be there to get something out of it.  

These are the two primary things that have been floating around in my head, and about which I have been trying to figure things out.  Really, I have been much more concerned with the practical application of these things.  How can I teach others to be more forward with their appreciation for others?  How can I not only teach others about what a true community looks like, but actually guide them in taking steps to truly living it out?  I recognize that these things may not solve many problems, but I do tend to think that, if we have a safe haven where these kind of things are reality, it would go a long way toward battling against the hopelessness and uselessness that so many people seem to be going through these days.