Last week my whole squad arrived in Thailand after a very long time on various modes of transportation. Our double-decker bus pulled up to the seven story coffee shop where we found out we would all be living for the next month.
Holla!
Immediately we were overwhelmed by how incredible the living situation for this month turned out to be:
1. We don’t have to sleep in tents this month.
2. Did I mention we live above a coffee shop (complete with spiral stair case!).
3. We live together, all 48 of us. Best sleepover ever.
So we would wake up and exercise, eat, giggle, worship, pray, and learn about Thai culture together. I loved waking up to all these amazing friends in Thailand. We all realized that we finally made it. We are on the race after months of preparation. People were constantly asking if you had a group to run with or if you wanted to do Insanity. I love walking to the roof and seeing at least 5 squadmates getting into the Word and pressing into the Lord.
It is so encouraging to live in community.
For the first week.
But as I have come to find out, community comes at a price.
As a squad we also share bathrooms, toilet paper, showers, shampoo, space, food, laundry, Wi-Fi, rooms, fans, water…absolutely everything. Also, you can’t hide from your issues with anyone because you see these people everywhere. The people around you have the ability to hold you accountable with things that you might not want to be held accountable for. Dealing with myself when I’m tired and hungry is a big deal but try living in a room with 5 other girls who are also exhausted and starving. I’m tired of having to wait in line for a shower especially after I wake up early to run. And honestly whispering at 9:00pm because another team is already in bed for ministry at 6am gets annoying.
It’s easy to justify our little annoyances with each other. It’s easy to play the victim card.
But thats not what Godly community looks like.
It looks more like sharing your last bit of toilet paper even when you don’t know what you will end up using, confronting that person, taking responsibility for your own actions and attitude, working with each other, giving each other “space” (which really just means letting them have ipod time while in the same room with five other people), sharing food that you love, doing laundry, not taking the seat right in front of the fan, giving up the beanbag chair, cleaning up after each other, sharing pineapple, giving up snacks, and sleep.
Sacrificing little so that everyone can have more.
It’s give and take, it’s not fair all the time, and I don’t think it was ever intended to be.
But it is good. It is right. It is a learning experience.
I’d say worth it.
