Being Part Of A Community
By: Tayler Doiron | Director of Marketing & Communications
What is the one thing you need to change most about yourself?
Pastor Mark asked this question this week and if you’re anything like me, your mind focused in on one specific thing. Now with it being the new year, I’ve already been thinking and dreaming about my goals and how I want to better myself. So when he asked, “What is one thing you need to change most about yourself?” my mind had already been made up: eliminate my excuses and invest in my relationships.
Eliminate My Excuses
Hi, my name is Tayler, and I am a workaholic. Okay maybe that isn’t entirely true, but I do find that a lot of times what holds me back from having intentional and meaningful relationships is the statement “I’m too busy”.
Hey, we are all probably busy and we always will be! How much we have going on isn’t going to change but what can change are our priorities.
What is the thing that fills you up? What’s the thing the Lord has given you that makes you better and adds true richness to your life? Those things are the ones that need to become your top priority.
This does NOT mean that the work doesn’t get done. I actually find that when I’m spending time with my family and with people who want to see me at my best, I am WAY more successful at work…and I even enjoy it a lot more. You have people surrounding you that can celebrate your achievements and lift you up when you need some extra strength.
“When you get to the top of Everest you don’t want to take a selfie, you want to take a group picture.”
Invest In My Relationships
Today, it is so easy to make a quick connection, but so difficult to cultivate that into a deep friendship. Social media and constant communication is at our fingertips, and yet it actually seems more difficult to invest in our relationships and create ones that will last. So how can you take that step to find those friendships that, as Pastor Mark said, will be at “your wed side, your bed side, & your dead side”.
Step 1: Eliminate those excuses.
Step 2: Set aside time daily to spend with the Lord. You may wonder how this will equal being better connected, but when I started spending time with Him daily, I began to ask Him to help me identify those friendships and bring the people into my life that I needed. I started to see these friendships revealing themselves to me, and I know it was only by His grace.
Step 3: Join A Small Group. Sure this one is optional but also COMPLETELY LIFE CHANGING.
The connections that my husband and I have been able to build in our small group have been incredible. We’ve been growing in our walks with the Lord and we have a team of people that we know are praying for us, encouraging us, and wanting to see our marriage flourish. Having this group over really is one of the highlights of our week. If you want to know more about small groups and maybe even join one click here!
Step 4: Give time to those relationships and spend time praying for them. Allow the Lord to work in them and you’ll start to see the impact that you’ll have on each other.
I believe that one of the most important ways that we all could grow and become “changemakers” this year is to grow in our friendships. Our relationships have a greater impact on our life than almost anything else, and because of that, it is so important to invest in encouraging, God centered relationships and find those people that will stand by you through thick and thin.
My prayer for us this week, is that the Lord will begin to reveal those friendships to us. That He will give us the boldness to reach out and take those steps to invest in the relationships that He has for us. I pray that He would work in those friendships and that they could be used to bring Him glory.
“The Lone Wolf dies but the pack survives.” – Pastor Mark Lee
With love,
Tayler Doiron