Moving a Piano and Christian Community

My family recently inherited my grandmother’s piano. It is an upright piano and, based on how much it weighs, could also double in use as a boat anchor. Moving the piano from her house to our own took the combined efforts of about seven people, a metal ramp, a wooden moving dolly, an enclosed trailer, and a healthy heap of mental strain and concern. However, through our combined efforts and ideas, the instrument made it safely from its 30+ mile journey into our home. 

This experience caused me to reflect on how important it is to have community in our lives. If I had tried to move this piano by myself, I most likely would’ve been flattened like a pancake—that is, if I managed to move it at all! If my immediate family had tried to move it by ourselves, this would have been an impossible task. We did not have the tools, equipment, or sheer strength necessary. Yet through the combined efforts of our valued friends, this weighty (pun intended) task was accomplished, and we can now enjoy playing this instrument and making musical memories for many years to come. 

Friend, in a similar way, we should not try to go through life alone. Christian community is essential in the Christian life. The two cannot be separated. You cannot bear the burdens of this life alone, nor are you meant to. You need Godly friends and family that you can call on in your time of need, whether you need comfort in tragedy, a fellow rejoicer in times of great joy, or even assistance with moving a large object. 

I write this as someone whose personality and personal tendencies tend to lead me away from leaning on community. I am an introvert and tend to enjoy spending time by myself, pursuing my hobbies and interests. However, I also know that if I neglected spending time with and appreciating the wonderful people God has placed in my life, it would be to my own disadvantage. I will forever be grateful for the Godly friendships God has blessed me with that I do not deserve, and for the close bonds I experience with family who have always been there for me. 

This can be hard to find, however. Maybe you read this as someone who does not have close family or experiences difficulty in making friends. Although it may be out of your comfort zone, I want to encourage you to seek these relationships! Work to find a community of fellow believers to surround yourself with. If you don’t have a healthy church you are an active part of, you must find one! If you know one of your coworkers is a fellow believer, maybe invite them to your home, or go to lunch with them one day on your break. Try to find the people you can do life with, because God did not design us to go through it on our own. Most importantly, pray that the Lord will bring these people into your life. If you seek and desire this with a pure heart and allow the Lord to change you into a person people desire to be in community with, He will honor and grant these requests according to His will. 

You are not an island. As someone who recognizes how desperately I need community and sanctifying relationships in my own life, I want to encourage you to be grateful for those relationships. Prioritize friendship, and be the friend, son, daughter, brother, sister, or whoever you need to be for others. Reflect Christ to them as they likewise display His character to you. Finally, if you don’t have companions, pray that the Lord will bring them to you and take the opportunities for fellowship that you find. May we be a people who love others well and help them along, even as they help us. 

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9–12