Favorite Cookies
This is a picture of my favorite cookies. You may be looking at the plate thinking, "Hey, there are a variety of cookies there, which ones?" To be honest, I have no idea what those cookies taste like. The left ones look like a peanut butter, then a wafery cookie with chocolate and nuts, I'm not sure. I am on a low carb diet, so I generally don't eat dessert anyway.So why are these my favorite cookies? Because Alice puts them out. Because of the group of people who will be sitting around these tables in those blue chairs in a matter of minutes after I took this picture. Every Thursday through the school year, a group of pastors in my community sit around cookies and coffee for an hour and talk. That's it. Just talk.We do not do a Bible study. We pray only a little at the end. But we sit around a table and share our lives, fully transparent with others who walk a similar road to ours. This week we talked about our emotional and mental health in the wake of yet another pastor taking his own life. What are the ways we can care for ourselves. Even more, how can we care for one another?The cool thing is, we were already doing so. Just this one hour of togetherness makes a world of difference. This was our first week back, and it was so good to be together.Ecclesiastes is a pretty cynical book. Taking shots at the assurance of Proverbs with shells of reality. There are some real bright spots as the preacher searches for meaning in the vapor. One of those is in chapter 4.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV
I am thankful I am not alone. I have a great team at my church. I have a loving family. I have this group of pastors who care for one another. Yet I am the type of man who thrives on solitude and independence. I could easily prefer to be alone or be satisfied with just my family and a few close friends. So why should I do more?For myself, the reasons are many. This group of pastors support me and encourage me in ways no other group in my life can. It is only in my church where I can work together day in and day out for the forward movement of the gospel (Which by far happens best in community, but that's another post). And on and on I could go.Along a different track, there is another important reason. Especially for those of us who already feel well supported. Take thirty seconds and make a list of the people you know who feel alone, isolated, or in need of community (not who are...who feel).If you couldn't name at least five, you probably don't know enough people. Consider for a moment, there are people who need you. You may not feel you need more people, but people need you. Your church, your community, the kids in the elementary school down the street, the teenager with few or no loving adults in their lives, the lonely, the isolated, and the list goes on.Someone out there needs you to set out a plate of cookies.