The message at church today was about community. Specifically, we looked at Paul's community when he was writing to the Philippians, and his close friendships with Timothy and Epaphroditus. But if that means nothing to you - as it would have meant nothing to me before this morning - just know that we talked about community.I did a lot of thinking about the different communities of which I am a part. There is, probably of biggest impact these days, my community at Christian School. It's a good community for me - a place where I am supported, but also challenged.
I have friends who struggle and grow along with me, and I have mentors who help me through those struggles and times of growth.I have my community of friends from my University days, including Tpiglette and J. This community rarely gathers in large groups these days, but I enjoy quiet brunches, lunches, dinners, and/or coffee dates with folks whenever I can. These are also the people I can be most often found chatting with online during the day, since unlike the folks at Christian School, I don't see them in person on a regular basis.
And then there's the blogosphere. We - bloggers in general - talk a lot about our online community of writers and readers. I most often see discussions like this regarding specific blogger communities, like the "mommybloggers," or the "20something bloggers" or the "food bloggers," etc. (I put those in quotes, btw, because not everyone agrees with those sorts of labels, but it is definitely externally applied, if not internally agreed upon.) But I don't clearly fit into a particular community of bloggers (which means if I have to self-categorize, I go to the catch-all label of "life blogger"). 
Yet I still think I have an online community of some sort - I'm just not entirely sure who's a part of it.So I have some questions for you, my six loyal readers:
Are you a part of my community?
Am I a part of your community?
Are we both a part of someone else's community?
Or am I entirely wrong and I don't actually have an online community?
8 comments:
Of course you're part of a community! No matter how small! I, too, sometimes wonder where I fit in this blog world, since my blog is just about my thoughts or adventures. But there are a lot of us, we just have find eachother.
:-)
Yay, you're still alive! Yes is my answer to the first three questions, and a definitive no to the fourth. Community isn't always about consistency, but about having people around you can count on when you're here.
I don't necessarily think I fall into a 'catagory', but since you are on my favorite list on my tool bar, I'd say you are in my community!! Does that help?
And you look fabulous, by the way...
Esme
yes, a community - we seek each other out, we offer support (solicited and unsolicited), we get together when we're within physical closeness, and we relate to one another as individuals and largely (as a group).
Yep. A community.
The not-niche blogs. Yeah, that's definitely a community all it's own.
Definitely in my community! And thrilled to have you in it!
Community--check!
I agree with Megan and BetteJo. Who knows what we are...but we're here! And we're reading and posting and commenting and cheering for each other.
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