Community? No Thanks.

Community?  No thanks.

This year, I’ve heard a lot about living in community.  And you know what?  I greatly dislike it.   And I sure as heck am not going to miss this whole “living in community” thing.

 I’m not going to miss traveling with 36 other people.

Or setting aside a plate of food for the one person who decided to sleep through dinner.

Or sharing a bathroom with 17 other people. 

Or never ever being able to be alone…
 
But there are a few things I’m going to miss about living with all these wonderful people…

I’m going to miss making ridiculous Walter references with my teammates. 

And getting random snickers bars from one of my teammates just because they went to the store.

And having people around who are always on the lookout for the things I’m trying to find.

And our random team REAL hangout sessions. 

But most of all, I’m going to miss always having people around who will talk about the bible with me.   

No matter what time of day, or what passage I read, there is always someone around for me to talk to.  Whether I have a question or am just excited about something God said, there is always someone around willing to listen.  The questions I have either lead to answers or interesting discussions and my excitement just gets spread around. 

And everyone else does the same thing.  I love randomly being asked biblical questions and having people come up to me after they read Revelation because they know how much I love that book and will always discuss it.  I even love when someone is reading through Leviticus and tells me a ridiculous law they found. 
I can’t wait to go home to my own room and my own full sized bed and to have a kitchen full of utensils that I can use to cook for 1 or 2 or 3 or any number less than 15.  But as I’m gaining the freedom to be alone as I chose and share the company that I chose, I’m losing the freedom to talk to everyone around me about the bible and have them excitedly talk back. 

So even though this whole “living in community” thing isn’t my favorite, there are aspects I’m always going to value and always going to miss.