Belonging

Why the constant need to fit in? Why such a desire to feel included in things you may not even want to be a part of simply because you want to be accepted? That's a easy one, and I only figured it out a few years ago. Community. We were created to exist in community. It is not good for man to be alone. True that. What I didn't expect was for this desire to grow as I got older. It seems natural for children. They need play partners. I see it in my kids--they don't like playing alone. Alayna gets so anxious in the time between preschool and when Jeremiah gets home. She wants someone to play with. Of course, I play with her, but she craves people who are like her to play with. Teenagers are the same way. They want to be surrounded with people who have the same interests and it can be devastating for them if they can't fit in to a clique of some sort. In college (or at college age, 18-22), we are discovering and becoming who were are going to be. We form friendships based on ideals and comradeship rather than popularity and interests. But, that need to belong is still so strong. Even now, at 32, my need to be accepted, my desire to be included, drives my behaviors. It motivates me to do things, even things I am not completely comfortable with.

And, that is why I am so thankful to have life in Christ Jesus. My reassurance, my acceptance, comes from Him. So, His desires for me are what motivates me to do things. And He makes me comfortable in situations where I would otherwise not be. And so, I make a effort to be an active participant of a Church. Not a building, but a group of people who are believers, and share in an inheritance that we want to share with others. It fills the need to belong to the greatest degree because it is eternal. And eternity is an awful long time to feel as though you don't belong.