Value of Community

By Tressa Czysz

Sometimes I try to do things all on my own. And by sometimes I mean most of the time. Thankfully, that's not the way that life is meant to be lived, and we are surrounded by people who pick us up when we're down, cheer us on when we succeed, and hand us a magnifying glass when we are squinting to read the fine print.

[Side note: I started writing this back in the fall, but never finished it, and am returning to it now. Hopefully, having just finished our 6th month of the program, I have insights and reflections that are even richer now that I have a little more experience as a Fellow.]

And the beauty of it all is that we're each very different, which makes it even more incredible the way that we work together and cover each other's weaknesses with our strengths. During our first full week we were at the Center for Creative Leadership for a three day orientation full of personality tests and team building. I am in awe of how intricately God has designed our class of fellows to complement each other and ultimately to bring glory to His Name through all that we do and accomplish together.

One interesting way that we got to see our personalities and strengths play out was by returning to Breakout Greensboro for another escape room challenge. Even more importantly than personality and strengths, in my opinion, was that we got to see how much we had grown together as a group and trusted each other. When someone found a clue, we gave them our attention and worked through it; this time around was much more of a team effort. We have certainly grown together through stories and hard times in our lives, but we have also had opportunities to celebrate together, and what a sweet gift that is!

As the end of the Fellows year is drawing closer and closer each day, I am saddened that our little family will never be exactly how it is in this season, but I am grateful for this experience and for the wonderful people that I have gotten to live in community with. And I'm grateful even more for the people that I have gotten to meet through or even outside of the program who I can already tell will also be dear friends for the years to come. 

May we never forget the value of community and friendship and sharing our lives with others!