military lessons on community [part two]

This is our second post on the topic of community and how the military and Christian communities are similar (or, how they could be). You can check out our first post on community.

deliberately grow friendship. Because you're probably hundreds/thousands of miles away from your family and potentially new to this whole thing (and, even if you aren't, it's nice to have someone else along for the adventure), it's important to have close friends you can count on, whether it's a phone call to make sure you're all right when your spouse is in the field, or picking up your child from school because you don't feel well, or just listening when you're going through a rough time and the enemy is attacking you from all sides.

Building that sort of relationship requires intention and purpose--inviting people to church or dinner or a coffee shop or your house. It means sharing our stories and praying that we can influence our brothers and sisters positively on their journeys. What if you don't think you can/want to set aside time for that?

If you're a blogger, this might mean praying before you post, as Keri Williams wrote recently. Or praying before you comment--what words would really encourage and inspire the blogger whose heart you just read?

Maybe it means sending a text, card, or email, just to let someone know you're thinking of her.

On a secular level, close friends are like second family. On a Godly level, believers are family. Regardless of how close you are.

we have an appreciation of (the lack of) time. Because we know that when you look around the church (or the home life group, or what have you), it's not going to look the same a year (or even a month) from now, I think we understand that you have to cut to the important stuff. Quickly. Ditch the small talk and forget the petty stuff. But as believers, we sometimes act like we'll all be around forever--we can take as much time as we want getting to know people. And God.

I have two super-close friends whom I consider family. I might not be able to tell you their favorite colors or biggest pet peeves, but I can tell you that we would drop (and have) whatever we were doing in order to help each other, whether that means taking care of a dog for a week, picking up a child from school, watching a child overnight, checking in on a house for a week, or accompanying one of us to a doctor appointment. I also think having a common bond factors into this--we understand that our spouses' military commitments sometimes mean that our schedules change at the last minute, and as believers, we trust each other.

How many friends have you known for longer than seven to nine months? Would you be willing to stop what you're doing to help them?