House Group

This is originally to be found on Greta's Blog

At our church we have these things called housegroups. They are basically a small group of people that get together about once a week and do various things. Our group has shared our life stories and now we are watching a series about the bible that takes us through the actual places where biblical events take place, amazingly NOT boring and each time I watch one I am astounded at the depth of the bible and how much there is to learn from it. Anyway, tonight after we got home from housegroup which my kids by the way LOVE, I was thinking about how opposite it is from the way that the world tells us we should live.

Let me explain what I mean. I think the world tells us to be self-sufficient, strong, independent and self-made. What we do in housegroup is become vulnerable, ask for prayer and help, share burdens, become intimate, create bonds and become other centered, we also laugh tons. When I get sad or angry I tend to isolate, numb myself with television and books, become quiet. Here is the thing about doing that, it prolongs the pain I am going through and harms my relationships with the people I love and care about. Housegroup is a hard place to hide out in and I love that. I am not saying that housegroup is all peaches and roses, it can be difficult. Fitting together a dozen different personalities not to mention their offspring can be quite tricky, feelings get hurt, communication through email can become quite ridiculous, misunderstandings abound- you get the picture. However I truly believe that God likes it like that. He wants us to learn, work through problems, grow and be challenged to call upon him. Me, alone watching Law and Order does not help me grow. Me in a room full of people does. I like living differently than the world tells me I should and I love raising my children to learn about living with people not just next door to them.

-Greta Coalier