Hey! Welcome back friends. I hope you are all doing well this fine Tuesday. This month we are talking about the Royal Treatment. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Tracy’s post, you are missing out. Take a minute to go check out the awesome message she shared from Esther. You will get a surprise post from Jen sometime soon, and an extra special guest next week, so keep checking back! I pray that God will bring you joy this week, and that the words shared in this community will be encouraging to your hearts.
Lately, I find myself thinking a lot about community. I am going to take a wild guess and say it is because this is week 9 or so of the stay-at-home order and actual face-to-face community is something my heart craves daily. I have Zoomed, FaceTimed, texted, and called, but just nothing is quite like 3 dimensional friendship. As in-person community has dwindled, and I have had to learn new ways to communicate, and become a lot more intentional in my relationships, I have been reminded just how much my friends help straighten my crown.
The Crown
While I do have a crown, this is not me claiming that I am Princess of Genovia, or anything of the sort. In fact, when we started bouncing ideas back and forth for this month’s topic, the word “princess” was said a few more times than I would have liked to hear. I cringed every time. I’m not a fan. There is something about being “God’s princess” that does not resonate with me. It feels too froo froo, too fairy-tale, too fake. Maybe it is the desire to be strong and independent, and I can’t quite reconcile the two.
The reality, though, is they can be reconciled. My God, my Heavenly Father, is also the King of Kings. He is full of majesty. He reigns over all the earth, and He also calls me His daughter. I may not be an actual princess, but I am something better – I am a chosen, beloved, daughter of THE King.
Royal Community
It doesn’t take a lot of digging to find mentions of community in the bible. In fact, it may take more digging to find absence of community. When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the greatest commandment in Matthew 22, His first answer was Love the Lord your God. The second? Love your neighbor as yourself. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors. We are made to live in community. We see one of the reasons why in Romans 12.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Romans 12:4-5
We all belong to each other, many parts of the same body. As someone recovering from being pretty sick, I have to say, when one part of the body is sick, the whole body struggles. My legs were healthy and capable, but I couldn’t keep going on long walks because other parts of my body were sick and my legs can’t act independently. The same is true for believers. We are part of one body, and need to come alongside one another and encourage healing where healing is needed. All with grace and truth.
The Importance of Truth-Tellers
Healing doesn’t often happen in just any relationship. I have a few friends that instantly know when I am struggling. Whether it is from distraction, disappointment, anger, hurt, or something else, they know me. They know my heart well enough to see, and they have built the trust with me enough to speak life and truth back to me in those moments.
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” -Romans 12:9-10
In case I haven’t said it quite enough yet, we were not made to do life alone. I know when things start to get messy, it can feel a lot easier to disconnect from those friends who know us the most, those who share the truth with grace whether it is what we want to hear or not. The ones who really love us. However, those are the people we need in our lives. They are our truth-tellers. They are the friends that remind us that we are the daughter of the King of Kings, that He loves us, and that there is never a point where we have screwed up so badly our crown can’t be put back on.
I encourage you to hold tight to the truth-tellers in your life. The friends who will help straighten your crown when it is a bit crooked. If you don’t have this kind of community, I pray that as you initiate that vulnerability and truth with your friends, that God will cultivate an environment for your friendships to deepen, and flourish.
Join us in the comments below, or on Facebook and let us know what you God has been teaching you in this time of distanced community.
