“A person’s life is like a TV show. I’m the star of The Will Show, and the Will Show is not an ensemble drama.” — Quote from Will, one of the main characters in About a Boy
This post is loosely related to the last one. Have you ever seen the movie, About a Boy? It is one of my favorites. The story is about, well, a boy, named Marcus. He is nerdy and “poor” and lives with his single mom in a suburban environment in England. He finds himself wishing for friends, and through an unlikely connection, he meets and becomes friends with an adult man, Will, who is single and lives by the philosophy that all men are islands. By the end of the movie, both Will and Marcus both discover that life is better when lived in community. As Marcus comments, “Couples need back-up.”
I am thinking a lot about what living in community means. The fact is, with 4 kids in a city with no family, community is very important to us. We count on the help of others every week to make our lives work. That being said, it isn’t easy to do this. Sometimes it feels like we are needy–like we are the only ones who have to make that phone call to ask someone to pick up one of the kids because we can’t get across town in time. I would like to feel more like we can live in community where there is give and take, where people feel comfortable calling me to ask for help more often. Sometimes I think people don’t call us because we are known to be busy, but I also want to be known to be generous and accommodating and helpful when it is within my power to do so.
I started this post on Saturday of last weekend, and interestingly, our pastor preached a sermon on Sunday about the community of believers in the Book of Acts. My husband also preached a sermon where he talked about community. Hmmm . . . coincidence? I don’t think so. I think we all long for more relational lives of meaningful interaction with others. But in our society, it is difficult to bring about.
In About a Boy, Marcus sensed what he wanted/needed, and he started to pursue it until his life looked more like what he longed for. Real life, unfortunately, is not as neatly constructed as movies or over in a couple short hours. So we have to work at things for the long haul. Now I am challenged as to how best to pursue community in my own life without turning others off in the process.