18 July 2013

belong

how to gain community


I'm linking up for five minute friday.

She sat on the outskirts of the room, waiting for an invitation into the conversations. She watched as friends laughed with friends, boys looked at girls, girls glanced away. She listened as their laughter got louder, their words got brighter, and she remained on the edge.

She went again, another night, and found the same thing happening.

She would come. Nobody would notice. She would observe. Nobody would notice. She would go home.

Eventually, she tired of the waiting. She tired of the sitting on the side, the listening and not joining, and she listened to her heart.

She stepped in.

She interrupted the conversations with words of her own.

She told her own stories, her own jokes.

She watched herself be welcomed in.

For years, she had stood on the outskirts, through school, through college, through all sorts of seasons. She's stood on the edge, waiting for her invitation in.

The invitation never came.

Until she invited herself.

Suddenly she found herself busy, loved, adored, exhausted, and exhilarated.

She realized that each of the ones inside had at one time been on the outside, got tired, and stepped in.

She recognized that this is community.

Stepping right in.