Esther is in her second year on the team, and runs our pre- and post-mission days with staff and students to help the mission spirit continue in schools long after mission week is over. She first met Sion Youth as a D Weekend participant aged 11, and went on to attend our Summer Camps before joining the team after university.
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‘Community life is both the best and the hardest thing I’ve ever done!’
I heard this from a couple of existing community members, in whole-hearted agreement with each other, around a week after I moved into community last year. Having sailed through 7 whirlwind days of getting to know my new brothers and sisters, hearing about the excitement I had to look forward to on mission, and settling in to my new home (all of which I absolutely loved!), I couldn’t understand what they meant.
“This is amazing!” I thought. “Maybe they found it difficult somehow, but this is going to be the best year of my life – I’m not sure how it could also be the hardest!”
What I failed to grasp back then was that the beauty and joy of community life are often found in overcoming challenges. When you live with 13 other people, each of whom have distinct ideas and opinions about how life should or would work best, and none of whom you’ve chosen yourself, you have to adapt pretty quickly. You have to face newly discovered and often uncomfortable aspects of your own character on a regular basis, you have to admit your faults and apologise – a LOT! – and you have to learn to accept people as they are, because that’s the only way you can receive the gift they can be in your life. In community life there’s no escape from difficulties which may arise: you simply have to keep going, keep praying, and keep finding ways to overcome them.
But if you’re truly open to the gift of community, you also can’t help but find yourself growing in virtue, humility, patience, gentleness, kindness, understanding, and above all love! For all our faults and failures, we all have a common goal: Jesus. Realising that enables each of us to see the bigger reality of our life together rather than getting caught up in the small details and struggles of each day.
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