People never forget being in a band.People never forget being in a choir.People never forget being in an orchestra.You never forget the music, friendships, feelings, concerts, laughter, emotions, or the sense of belonging.There's nothing like making music with other...
On Pentecost the real miraclewas not the momentary wonderof people speaking languagesthey hadn't been taught,but the lasting miracleof people making connectionsdespite all their separations,discovering how they were alikedespite apparent differences,knowing...
The opposite of belonging is fitting in.Because fitting in is assessing a groupof people and changing who you are. But true belonging never asks us to change who we are. It demands we be who we are.
Growth is painful.Change is painful.But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don't belong.
When productivity is our main way of overcoming self-doubt, we are extremely vulnerable to rejection and criticism and prone to inner anxiety and depression. Productivity can never give the deep sense of belonging we crave. The more we produce, the more we realize...
If we are faithful to Jesus, we will also be faithful to one another. We belong to one another. [Anyone who dedicates himself or herself to Jesus] will be united with other believers, and they will become so united that they are like one body. In the human body, if...
Some people want to belong without belonging. They are the ones whose obituaries read, "Dorothy was a lifelong member of St. John's Church"--except that no one at St. John's can ever remember meeting her, although ninety-three-year-old Mrs. Smith thinks that maybe...
To belong is a vital need based in the spiritual nature of the human being. Contempt spits on this pathetically deep need. And, like anger, contempt does not have to be acted out in special ways to be evil. It is inherently poisonous. Just by being what it is, it is...
Belonging is belonging to yourself first, speaking your truth, telling your story, and never betraying yourself for other people.