One by one, my friends from home are slowly parting to their different schools around the country. I’ve been looking back on this summer and seeing how incredibly important each one of my friends have been to me.
They are a safe community: where I can come and share my struggles and things that I just couldn’t share at school.
They are a tough community: helping me to understand how and when I have hurt or wronged them and how I can be a better friend to them.
They are a thoughtful community: sparking conversations and pulling open doors inside of my brain that I may not have even known were there.
They are an inviting community: inclusive, whether we’re going to free yoga on Saturday or eating frozen yogurt.
They are an encouraging community: telling me not to give up and telling me that I belong and I am enough wherever I am.
They are a teaching community: sharing their desire to know more about God, and their knowledge of Him already.
They are a loving community, even when loving someone else is the hardest thing to do.
They see me when I’m sad, happy, angry, rebellious, joyful, suffering, and they just love me as I am.
These are my friends. These are my sisters. 
CJH 