I’m still working on setting goals for this year. One category of my life that I’m trying to work on is my community involvement. The reason I moved here was to become a part of the community that I was serving. Kinship, as Gregory Boyle would put it. Now, I do work and go to church in my neighborhood, as well as mentor several area teen girls, but I want to expand my network and really get to know my neighbors who are not attending my church or not affiliated with my work or volunteer organizations. A couple ways I’ve considered doing this are through attending neighborhood association meetings and attending the weekly coffee hour hosted by a community housing group.
Tonight I went to help out at a local high school for a Financing College event, but I ended up sitting around for an hour with nothing to do. Right before I was getting ready to leave, another volunteer started talking to me and asked if I had a long drive home. I told her that I live in the neighborhood, and it turns out that she’s one of my neighbors! She immediately invited me to the next neighborhood association meeting and got my contact info so that I could be added to the email list.
I left work today feeling discouraged with how little I accomplished, but I arrived home feeling so encouraged and blessed. I believe that 2012 is going to be a really good year.
