Networking

I can't help being excited every time I am able to make something delicious from the food in our backyard. Recently, I made my own Pesto sauce, from basil we grew in our garden. I am going to make a couple more batches of it. My new meal for the week is going to be chicken pesto pizza on Saturday night. I started a tradition a few months back that we make homemade pizza on Saturdays as a family. It's been a hit so far, and it makes one less night that I have to plan a meal for. Although, I haven't been too creative with the toppings yet. So this week, with my freshly made pesto, we are going to try something different.

One thing that was necessary in order to make basil was a food processor. I, of course, do not own one of these, but my mother in law does. :) It has been a huge blessing for me to use my in-laws as a resource. I thought about the idea of networking to describe the usefulness of having community or family around us. We are continually going to the in-laws to borrow something for a while, instead of just going and buying it. It is a creative way to be frugal in a materialistic world... sharing. Also, after living in a community before we moved out here where it was really easy and so neat to borrow things from all our friends, it just seems like it 'puts to right' the way life should be experienced. Having a network of people surrounding us to help each other out. I looked up the definition of networking, just for fun, and it says,

'the informal sharing of information among individuals linked by a common interest.'

And a network is, 'any combination of intersecting lines, etc.'

I thought both these definitions could speak clearly of the beautiful design of the church and the body of Christ. We are a network, a group of individuals that are living with the same desire to love and serve one another. What else are we called to do but intersect with one another to provide a haven for the lost and a hospitable place for the world we reach out to. Each of us does this in a different way to a different kind of people, but knowing that we are aiming for one goal together, to give glory to our God in Heaven, we are doing it together in the footsteps of Christ.