Freshman Reflections From Belmont UniversitySample

Day 12 – Community In the Peanuts comic strip, Linus once admitted, “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.” Most of us say that we love community, but we know from experience that the closer you get to others, the more the sparks can fly. In the Old Testament, Proverbs 27:17, it says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” The outcome sounds ideal: being sharp and useful. But the process of sharpening means there will be a lot of friction and heat and noise! It would be easy to avoid the friction of relationships and hot topics of discussion by simply keeping to oneself. The chance to interact in truly meaningful ways with roommates and classmates and members of the wider campus community always entails risk. In the hyper-connected world of social media, it is quite easy to stay linked with multitudes of people we know superficially, instead of entering into deep, new relationships with those who are really here. You may have a host of friends on Facebook and in the worlds of Instagram and Twitter and texting, but may also find that being connected 24/7 offers much less than being part of a genuine, in-person community. The answer to superficial relationships is to make intentional efforts to find real community. In one of the earliest letters to some of the very first Christians, the Apostle Paul writes that we are “members of one body.” We are not designed by God to be disconnected individuals. Spiritual Life Assistants, student organizations and all those new people on your hall are eager to make connections. Intentionally reaching out and showing up to connect with others is the key first step to building relationships, and the first semester opportunities are endless. We are created to live in mutually self-giving relationships with others—relationships that move from mere self-expression and self-fulfillment toward mutual love. Those of us who have been at Belmont a long time have discovered that this happens most fully when we “let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” (Colossians 3:16). Your time at Belmont is the chance to find authentic community, rooted and grounded in the love of God and of others. DR. TODD LAKE Vice President of Spiritual Development