The Dream Community Often Kills

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. - Galatians 6:9

Paul knows that living in honest community is hard work. Whether it’s a group of friends, your family, or a bible study you’re in, it’s easy to become weary of it, to give up the real work of loving people. Who in your community tires you out?

It can be easier to dream of a more ideal community - one that is solely life-giving. Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to this (he was the German pastor who built radical Christian communities across his country while Hitler ruled, and he was eventually executed by the Nazis). He writes to his friends:

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” 
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

Where are your dreams of a ‘better’ community actually harming your attempts at living in one? Who are the real people in front of you this day that God is inviting you to love well? Ask for strength to do so.