this is derek…
lately community life has been pretty tough for me. i have had the hardest time not having a bad attitude and staying encouraged. i have wanted to give up quite frequently on various aspects of dathouse and our community life… not because i think it is necessarily best, but because i feel like i can’t continue in moments and sometimes days.
i honestly believe we have something rather special. somedays i am not sure if what we are and have is as special as what we talk about being or hope to be, but i feel those hopes mean something about our hearts and that somehow we will progress in those dreams and ideas.
for those of you who know little about dathouse i will explain some things about our daily life and things that we value. first of all we value having time to spend with people. time to meet, get to know, and even help our neighbors. we believe that life immersed in relationships and spending time having those relationships is a huge calling.
this value of having time for people causes us to also value a life of simplicity as well… so that we have time for others. very few of us work more than 20 hours a week at a paying job. we don’t need the money cause we are simple and need the time. we also don’t over involve ourselves in entertainment and things that would take all of our time.
sometimes being simple also causes us to share more. we value sharing not just because it is a must at times, but because we think it is beautiful and wise. one of the main things that we share is our homes. a lot of us live together in different homes throughout the area, this brings so much freedom and flexibility to our lives to love, minister, and honestly just enjoy life more.
sharing our homes is also wonderful for another thing we value highly and that is community. by community i mean doing life together. we are a family of sorts. we hold each other accountable, encourage one another, share the weight of tasks and responsibilities. we are intentional about working together and being together… it makes life a lot of fun! we work doing a lot of things together sometimes for us and our needs, but also for others. catch this… we could easily work full time jobs and pay to have these things done for us and others, but personally i love doing the work with my fellow ministers. there is something so joyful about it.
we also, like any family…. annoy, mistreat, embitter, frustrate, and just plain let one another down. some of these things have had me wanting to give up and to remove myself. i would appreciate prayers from anyone. prayers of strength, peace, joy, and wisdom. prayers of a renewing and refreshing of my mind and attitudes. some of my frustrations are from things not turning out how i thought they would and how we had planned. i am mostly ok with that, but the result of some specific things means i am over busy and have to work solo or not at all sometimes. i enjoy hard work but being over busy and that effecting my relationships is not ok… so i am stuck waiting to see how god will provide…. and i am not sure how much to take on and for how long. i personally also struggle with allowing my inner stress to be taken out on people i love and do not want to hurt.
so…. i am telling you i love this wonderful, very hard way of life. and that i feel like giving up, but know that would be foolish. god thank you for your love and continue to help us.
