The discipline of community

Some time ago I had reason to intervene in an argument between two members of the Credo Community. They were outside of Credo at the time, so it was a little harder to contain, but basically one was calling attention to a flaw which he saw in the other. At the time I remember asking the person whether he himself was without flaws, to which he answered honestly, no. I then challenged him with a statement that seemed simple enough at the time, but has since haunted me with its truth. "Could it be, that the reason you are arguing with Joe, is not because of anything he does, but because his doing it reminds you of something in yourself that you don't like?"

Well, that put a quick end to the argument, along with any conversation which may have followed, as we all then stood in stunned silence...

I recalled this instance recently, in light of myself and my own frustrations within community:

I came to the realisation that, inevitably people will annoy me, particularly if I am around them, and they around me, for any period of time. However, if I recognise, that the thing I am annoyed about in them, exists within me too, (that in fact I am just as annoying to them as they are to me), and that they exercise grace and acceptance daily towards me. Then, I too, should persist in my efforts to exercise grace and acceptance daily towards them, even when I am tempted to argue or try to gain the upper-hand.

I guess in this way, we are learning the discipline of community, or what the bible would call "bearing with one another in love".

But it's bloody hard work in reality!

Mehrin.