isolation or interaction

Years ago our oldest daughter went on a summer youth group missions trip to Ecuador.  One of her observations was that, despite total poverty, the people had a lot of joy and were enjoying life.  It occurred to me this morning that, although we have much more wealth, we may not experience as much joy in "the land of the free".  I think one reason is that we live largely in isolation.  We often reside in neighborhoods where we spend most of our time in comfortable homes separated by manicured yards from neighbors.  Our ties to the world come from cars that carry us in comfortable isolation to warehouse-like stores where we pass others we don't know as we buy familiar items and stand anonymously in checkout lines.  We also drive to our jobs where we interact primarily with a handful of very familiar people, but not as friends so much as coworkers.  Fortunately in our church we have built deeper relationships into our structure with small groups that meet in our homes, where we can actually know one another beyond exchanges about the weather.  I think it's interesting that the latest trend in community development is comprehensive design that integrates stores, services and residences in close proximity.  With all our advances and wealth, we have managed to deprive ourselves of one of the riches resources of life:  each other!   Acts 20:32"Now I'm turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends."   blessings, Rob Smith