hurricane force storm system (called a ‘derecho‘) sweep through our area Friday, June 29th, that knocked out power for tens of thousands of people locally and hundreds of thousands statewide and beyond. So many families are struggling to find cool places to rest, fresh water to drink and a way to cook food to eat. We were blessed with having power restored on Saturday, so we ended up with six families here on the farm. This made us realize how our independence is a chosen curse. Maybe not for our nation but for us as individuals. No matter how prepared or self-reliant we may be, at any moment our resources that we are relying on could be destroyed. Then what do we do? Think about this – if we rebuild interdependence into our communities and neighborhoods then maybe we could all have what we need. If I lose my garden crops but have water, maybe my neighbors have crops but no water – and we could depend on each other. If we chose to pop our bubbles that we live in and connect with those in our communities we can build a safety net and be resilient in times of trouble. The alternative is to stay in our own rugged individualism, keep our ‘independence‘ and risk not only being without things we need in crisis but also without relational connections that keep us going in crisis and in our everyday lives. May GOD give us the grace to move from independence to interdependence – that we may see our need for one another.]]>
