#1. Its normal. If you expect to join a community because you want to be excited every moment or get where the action is or be inspired, then you have another think coming. Don't get me wrong these things do happen in community, but they are meshed in with a slew of normal and quite boring days where you wake up going "what am I doing here and is it making any difference whatsoever?". Normal doesn't mean ineffective... it just mean you are normal!

#2. You can't reach all those lofty goals you set in one day. If you join a community expecting to instantly start achieving all those goals of 'reaching the lost', 'being actively involved in justice', 'having night long prayer sessions', or 'meeting all your neighbors' you are going to be sorely disappointed. there is a reason they say being in a community is a lifestyle commitment... its because it often takes a LIFE TIME to invest in theses very simple goals. The important thing to realize is not to get discouraged when you realize how many goals you haven't accomplished but to be inspired by the small ones that you have!

#3. No one is perfect. If you think joining a community means that all the people will completely 'get you' or all 'understand' community the way you do, then think again. Communication and relationship building is one of the longest processes I have ever experienced and it takes living 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with a person before you will even BEGIN to scratch the surface of understanding who the people in your community are and what makes their hearts tick. Often what you experience first will be peoples flaws and failures. This doesn't mean that your community is failing. Far from it. When the flaws start coming out consider it pure joy that your community is in fact getting to the heart to the matter. Peoples hearts are generally wrapped around by lots of layers flaws in an effort to protect themselves from experience certain types of pain again... thats ok! Seeing pain and walking with someone who is hurting and or hurting themselves is a process of building up not tearing down. Also being in a community doesn't mean fixing broken peoples problems... it just means being with them... through everything. It means giving them the space to figure out how to be about healing and all you have to do it be there... don't try and fix people or you will get in the way of what community is about.

Remembering these things helps me daily live in the beautiful and highly messed up community I am a part of!