Give Something, Take Something

A few weeks ago, my friend, Kristin, and I took a walk.  With her twin girls in the stroller, we walked up and down the hills of her neighborhood, talking about the peaks and valleys in our lives, and leaning into the support of a sisterhood that has been built through extraordinary and everyday moments. Over several miles, she offered up her struggles, I asked her advice.  I recounted the battles I fought with my teens, and she laid out her sleepless nights with two new babies.  There were no parenting experts present, no world problems solved.  Just inhales and exhales-- breathing in fresh air and perspective and encouragement, breathing out frustration and struggle and feeling stuck.  Just walking. Just talking. Just breathing.

Down the street from my house, in a new housing development, the builders put up a free little library. Free little libraries are popping up in neighborhoods across the country, and they are designed as places where people can drop off books they are done reading and pick up new ones they haven't read before.  The book you take is yours; or you can bring it back for others to pick up later.

The other day, I watched a lady walk up to the free library on the corner, and spend a few minutes looking through the titles, and pick out just what she needed.  She didn't bring anything with her this time.  She just came to the library seeking something, and left with just what she needed.

This whole exchange only took minutes, but reminded me so much of my walk and talk with Kristin. Our community is just like that little library.  Our community is full of people who have advice, expertise, perspective, resources, and encouragement to share.  We also bring our own stories into our community and leave them there for anyone who made need to hear them, may find solace from shared experiences.  Sometimes we are the ones who contribute something to our community-- we make a meal, or watch a baby, make a target run, lean into our friend who is suffering from postpartum depression, or offer up how we made it through a rocky point in our marriage.  In other seasons, we come to the community, peering into this circle of trusted friends and family, seeking something we desperately need, and it is there.

Like that little library on the corner, your community is waiting for you.  Bring what you have.  It is just what someone else needs.  Lean-in and ask for what you seek.  Someone will meet your need.