Being together.
9/11 brought us together. It made us love complete strangers and talk... REALLY talk.
The terror brought us together.
Tornados bring us together. Relief workers from different cities, work side-by-side and rest on cots next to each other.
The devastation brings us together.
Intensive Care Unit waiting rooms bring us together. Strangers share snacks, words of encouragement, and parking passes.
The same worries & exhaustion bring us together.
On the other hand, what brings us together when there are good times?: our favorite sports' teams, Super Bowl, Cochella, 4th of July, fundraisers.
Now the hardest question: what brings us together when we don't have anything in common with someone; someone who looks different than us, talks different than us, acts different than us?
Better yet, let's ask ourselves: what brings us together with unlikeable people who are "difficult" to be around.
To answer this, let's start with looking at a bridge.
A bridge is an objective object. It is there for a purpose to connect two objects (Object A and Object B) together. The two objects are connected only by that bridge.
Now, putting a bridge down requires safety. If the other object is unstable, the bridge will not work. Plus, it is not the job of Object A to make Object B stable.
God never calls us to be doormats, letting others abuse us. So when you start to lay your bridge to the other side, test it out. If the other side is unstable, quit your bridge-building. It won't be a safe connection anyways.
Most of the time, though, when you lay your bridge, you find out that the other side is more similar to you than you would have ever realized had you stayed looking at them from afar.
Building a bridge with someone who is different than us requires something that can be scary: it requires us to be vulnerable and authentic. And being this, in turn, opens us up to being hurt or taken advantage of.
But! There is a much greater chance that it opens us up to making real authentic relationships that enrich our lives... thus, making our island just one island in an ever-growing widening expanse that when viewed from above shows what we all crave which is Community.
So, let's not wait for tragedies, illness or suffering, sports teams, concerts, or fundraisers to make bridges...
Our world is just too small for us to be our own island.
As always, Look with Intention
XO, Jen