In the last 2 weeks I've lost 2 people who were, in truth, tangential to my life, but I found myself belonging as part of their legacies. I went to their respective visitations and funerals, and was embraced and accepted, even though I feared being ostracized. "You didn't really know him." "You haven't been around her in years." These were my fears. What I got instead was total acceptance and appreciation from the others struggling with their own loss. And I got the opportunity to allow myself to grieve in my own way for my losses.
A sense of belonging is essential for living. We are meant to live in community -- not in a vacuum. What that community looks like is different for everyone, but the one common denominator is other people. I can't be a community of one. By definition a community is a group. To be in community is to belong.
linking up with Five Minute Friday
