Sabbath Devotional :: Belonging

I was listening to an episode of a podcast recently and they were discussing the topic of belonging in that particular episode. One of the podcast hosts remarked that the experience of feeling left out was the “shadow side” of having community or wanting to be a part of a community. This description really resonated with me and made a lot of sense in understanding a universal human emotion. As the podcast hosts and guests discussed this topic they noted the distinctions between belonging versus fitting in. They articulated that fitting in is when we change things about ourselves in order to try to fit in with the people around us. In contrast, we feel true belonging when we are loved and accepted for who we truly are.

This episode really resonated with me as I have been feeling the loss of the community I had cultivated and built over the time that I lived in Utah since college. In July I moved to Philadelphia and started grad school. Many of my classmates are starting grad school straight out of their undergrad, whereas I am coming back to school after about a decade since I graduated from college. I really like my program and my classmates, but I often find myself feeling a little isolated or unable to relate to others around me to the same degree I had in my previous stage of life and community.

In the last several months I have been very grateful for my ward in Philadelphia and for the kindness and welcoming I have felt as a member of the ward. It might be a little cliché, but I have been pondering on the differences between these two experiences where I am the newcomer, so to speak. I think the key difference that I am experiencing is a result of the Savior’s charge for us to love one another, to love our neighbor. The gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to practice true belonging; we are all members of the body of Christ. In MWEG we often talk about community, and I am grateful for the communion and association I have with the other amazing women who are a part of this organization. From these recent experiences, I have been feeling a re-energization to follow the Savior’s charge to love others and show kindness to them and I am grateful for the poignant reminders that I belong and that I can be a person who can help other people around me to feel that they belong.