Community Life

This community is a funny place. After four months here one would think it would be old news, but often I feel like I’m just now settling in.  There are certainly drawbacks to living in a community of 400 crew, but the benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh them.

I’ve been reflecting on it as I’ve just celebrated my birthday. I honestly didn’t think I would be made to feel so special and loved by this community I’ve lived in so short a time.  My close friends, my African family, decorated my door (the traditional way of greeting someone on the morning of their birthday), sat with me at dinner and even wore the party hats I had received from home, and baked me the most beautiful cake I’ve seen in years. In the evening, after community meeting, they watched as I opened presents and we laughed together as we all shared cake and wind-up-toy races (my bets were always on Achoo, the wind up toy crab).

It’s easy to feel a little lost in the crowd on this ship. Of course there are friends around on any given day, but at times I can wander from dining hall to midships to deck 8 completely anonymous.  Or so I thought.  The other day on my birthday I was greeted by birthday wishes and blessings everywhere I went.  Heartfelt hugs, sincere inquiries as to how my day was, and even a few “How old are you today? Really?! You don’t look it!” I suppose one is to take that as a compliment? My favorite comment of the day was when one of our translators said “I pray God grants you the desires of your heart” but my friend Maggie heard “I pray God makes your grandchildren smart”! I mean, I know I’m old, but I’m hardly thinking about grandchildren.

 At times it’s maddening to live in a steel fish tank. There is nowhere to go to get away from the noise, of people or the workings of the engines.  You can hide in your room, but with a generator next door and a roommate (lovely as she is) above, it is neither private nor silent.  Happy, excited, frustrated, upset, desperate to the point of tears; this community sees me in all my ups and downs.  It would be difficult to keep a façade, so I don’t try.  I am who I am, dealing with my stuff, in this community.  But the beautiful thing is, I have never felt judged for it. So I’m grumpy one day.  People understand, they’ve been there too.  Another day I’m excited and can’t wipe the grin off my face.  Friends want to know why but respect my privacy if I’d rather not share.  I am accepted here, and it is wonderful.

 My favorite is community meeting every Thursday night. The room is filled with people of every age, ethnicity and spanning the doctrinal spectrum.  Yet we all gather to worship together, to attest to what God is doing, to thank Him for His faithfulness and to once again acknowledge as a community that it is not us, but Christ in us, that makes any difference whatsoever in this country.  Looking around at the community of faith on those nights brings tears to my eyes. We are all “damaged” in one way or another, no one person getting it right all the time.  Together, though, God has made a light in the darkness, a testimony not only to the outside world, but to each other as well.

 Living in community is not always fun. It is challenging, and stretching, and at times, like 7am breakfast, I wish the other 399 who live here would go away. But it is a good place to live. It is healthy, and though I can at times only grudgingly admit, it is beautiful.