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Today marks one year since I moved to Bloomington. Like many big life changes, I remember it quite clearly: from a conversation with a friend in my aunt's pool the might before to the hauling in of the five boxes of books that I deemed important enough to bring along. I like the hard work, physical toil, and fresh start of moving, and I look forward to doing it again next month (without the bane of having to reestablish myself in community).

This evening I've been considering some of the things I've learned since I moved here. I've been affected by so many people and experiences that it's hard to know where to begin, even in thought. But here's a bit of what I've learned and how.

• Community is the heart of life. The first week I lived here, I had no TV, internet access, cell phone minutes, or local friends. I didn't handle it well, even with the fifteen or so books I borrowed to pass the time. A week after I moved in I went to ECC and literally threw myself at a group of people my age after the second service, saying something like "Hi, I'm new here and I'm looking for friends." (The girl to whom I said that will be my roommate next year...I guess it worked!) I came to mark time by church, Renovo, Connexion, and my classes...and I still have a vivid memory of the first time I was invited to someone's house for games and hanging out.
  

Now, I'm definitely a person who needs her alone time: an entire day with people is generally more than I prefer. But not only have I learned how important relationships are to my personal "life abundantly," I've also seen how central this is to the entirety of humankind. God Himself is community: relationships are an inherent part of the Three-in-One. We are made in that image, and the goal of human relationships is imitation of the intrinsic, completely united love of God. And that goes for all kinds of relationships: certainly marriage and family, but also with friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and that guy on the street corner who hits on all the girls that walk by.

• We're all the same. I think I learned this lesson best through Renovo, where I served lunch and built relationships with homeless and otherwise needy folk last year. At first I was frightened about having to make conversation at a lunch table with people that are so very different from me. What is there to talk about that wouldn't feel like lording it over them with all of my money and nice clothes and climate-controlled apartment? But then I learned that talking with these strangers was more about listening than talking, and as I heard their stories I began to see how very much we have in common. We're all just folks. If my life took a different turn, if circumstances were slightly different in my past, I would be exactly where they are today. And vice versa, for them. Our sins are the same (in thought if not in deed), our needs are the same (family, food, shelter, Jesus), and we have the same emotions, trials, and hopes. In the story of the gospel, all of us play the same role: wretched sinner, offered grace. And God's providence is not more or less miraculous for any of us--it just so happens that those of us with money are generally less thankful for it.

I've learned something else, too, about us all being the same. We feel isolated and shamed by our sins. They are to be hidden, fought against, fled from. But in reality, when we confess our sins to God, he treats us as lovingly as he did the prodigal son. And when we confess our sins to each other, we almost always find a similar compassion, love, mercy, and grace, plus tangible help and accountability as we seek to change. It's not always this ideal, but when we bring our struggles in the open, we get help fighting them. And often we find out we're not the only ones with that particular battle. Especially in the context of Christian community, it's like we're set up to heal each other--the body of Christ. We're all the same.

• God. I think I've learned Him better this year. I've encountered him as my Rock: the only one there for me through it all, my only hiding place when things get awful. I've encountered him as my Love: the only one whose affection is unceasing, the one whose pleasure brings me the greatest delight. I've known him as my Father: He whose arms never let me fall and whose faithful heartbeat soothes me when I'm wild with fear, sadness, excitement, or delight. I'm continually overwhelmed by He the Creator. I have possibly experienced Him as Savior more this year than ever before...and I hope that I know Him--and follow Him--as Lord more now than a year ago.
  

I've learned about God this year, certainly. At church, Connexion, c-group, in the Bible, in books, in discussions. But in the last year I have prayed that my capacity to know Him would be enlarged. And I think that prayer has been answered, at least a little.

I'll end here, though my contemplations continue about service, ministry, friendship, who I am in Christ and in the world, my past, and my future. These here are the things I've learned that it's easiest to talk about, to air publicly. It comes across like a bed of roses, and it hasn't been, but it's been a good year. I'm on-my-knees thankful for it. Thank you to those of you in Bloomington who have become my reason to stick around for another year. And thank you to those of you back home, who are believing God for my future and reassuring me that you're there for me despite the distance. I love you all.

To God be the glory.