Banana Pancakes – Lizzy Cook

Gathered around the table, coffee in hand, plates full of chocolate chip and banana pancakes, each person said one thing they were thankful for. For me, the answer was easy–community.

The word community has been used so often in my world it seemingly has lost its depth. However, as nostalgia of the past year has begun to set in, I am realizing the words community, body of Christ, and accountability have made newer and deeper carvings in my heart because of this year in the Legacy Fellowship. The people surrounding me when sitting at a dinner table or leading games in Skrazy or setting up dozens of chairs in meeting rooms or cleaning up burned out firepits, have seen me at my lowest and my highest moments. There is something about the closeness of doing life together (which, real talk, is claustrophobic at times) every single day this year that makes the beauty of the Body of Christ so evident.

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”  Proverbs 27:17

Friction and fire happens when iron is rubbing against iron. Friction, fire, and tension happens when humans work together. Why? Because we are not perfect. We disappoint, we fail, we say rude things. When those moments of weakness happen, the moments of the iron chipping away, it is only to make the iron stronger and more durable. It takes the hard and gritty moments, the moments of friction, the hard, honest conversations to build a community like this. It takes sacrifice of time. It takes vulnerability. It takes gospel humility, admitting when you need help and when you need prayer. It is never a glamorous thing. But the result will provide a deeper knowledge and understanding of grace.

My people know when I need help in the midst of a crazy day, they know when I need to be challenged to live above reproach, they know when I need a shoulder to cry on, they know when I simply need to flip my hair and laugh at absolutely nothing.

We only offer grace and love to each other when we mess up because Christ first offered it to us. Because of Jesus Christ, we can experience the joy and life that comes from living in community with one another, just as God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit live in perfect harmony with each other.

The mornings sitting at the breakfast table with your people will be so much sweeter when hearts are full of honesty, gratitude, and grace. Who are those gathered around your breakfast table who sharpen you?