

In our family, we have been thinking a lot about community. What it means to have a community, to be a part of one, to develop one. Yesterday we were invited to join the Linn-Benton County Baha'is for their reflection meeting as they came together and consulted on precisely this. Except that they are very far ahead of us, and they are looking at questions such as how do we expand our community and help each other in our daily lives more effectively? There were families who had taken in fragile youth and helped them on their way with grace and purpose. Youth who organised the junior youth in their neighborhoods and schools, junior youth who helped with children. It was a beautiful thing to see. Everyone focused and intent on how they could be of better service to those around them, how to continue to expand these circles of friends and families to support the larger community as a whole. It's not as if anyone had all the answers-- this was clearly a process that everyone from the grandmothers to the babies is participating in and dedicated to. And what I found most heartening is that this isn't about proclaiming some agenda; this is about providing people with the warmth and strength to do what they need to do for themselves.



I kept thinking again and again about what it means to be a Baha'i. Truly, it means to love humanity and to strive to be of service to those around you. To continually direct those around you towards the good, the true, the whole. And this will not look the same for everyone. Baha'u'llah did not come only for Baha'is; this is about seeing where people are at, where they need to go, and trying to get there together.



I am not very good at expressing these things. They are incredibly deep and difficult on one level, yet almost laughably simple on another.

But. I am grateful to have connected with these people. My children came away full of spark and energy and eagerness to look for ways to serve those around them. Asher thought a lot about what it means to be a good friend and a positive influence to those around him-- a skill his sisters excel at, and one that he is beginning to identify with as part of who he is and how he is.



Lately, i have been wondering about this space and how I use it. Most of the blogs I read seem to focus more and more on the safe and insular (pretty products, recipes, what the baby did today). And I am not really satisfied with that. Perhaps it is a character flaw of mine-- I have never been one to leave well enough alone; I always want to dig a bit deeper, push that boundary a bit further.



So all of this to say, I may be experimenting a bit here. It is not my agenda to offend or to push my views, But I do want to think deeply, really address what is going on around me. Because this world is often a horrible place to be, and I am thrusting my children right out into the thick of it, expecting them to be actively engaged in it, and equally actively influencing it. Sometimes this is terrifying and I wonder what I am even thinking. But mostly this is good and right, and I have so much to learn. I hope that I am not the only one...