There is something romantic, adventurous, and appealing about living on an island without a bridge. I’m not suggesting that it is universally appealing, but there are quite a few folks who are really drawn to the idea of escaping the mainland for the road less travelled, so to speak. They start out as visitors, and upon return to their homes, they can’t get the idea out of their minds that they were meant to live on an island. The idea becomes a plan, and if the pieces fall into place, they put their belongings on a truck, put the truck on a barge, and they move to our little slice of heaven to become a part of our community.
What those of us who live here understand is that there is an enormous difference between visiting here and living here, especially if you are still working to support your family (however large that family may be). There are challenges to life on a bridgeless island that aren’t a part of living on the mainland, challenges that don’t become apparent for months until you have to schedule doctors’ visits and get work done on your house. The greatest hurdles are those unanticipated issues that must be dealt with quickly, because our logistical system was not designed for urgency. The end result is that those of us who have been here a long time know that a sizeable percentage of those who move here won’t stay very long, and that can have an impact on the formation of relationships.
Relationships take time and effort to establish, and all of us live under the constraints of 24-hour days filled with obligations and responsibilities. That means that we tend to be cautious about how we invest the time that is available, and if we think that someone new might only be here for a short time, it is easy to rationalize not investing in them. But I have been enormously blessed by relationships with people who were here for only a few years, sharing laughter and tears, breaking bread together, working alongside each other, and living life together. Would I have preferred if those people had stayed here? Of course. But my life is richer because of the time that they were here, and I am grateful. And besides, my life doesn’t end at the shoreline of our island, and I know how to get in touch with them.
None of us has the ability to see the future, and because of that, we cannot know how long someone will be in our life. We cannot even know if we will be the one to leave, as tomorrow is promised to no one. We also cannot know if the person who just moved to our community was sent here by God to be a blessing to us and others. The only way to find out is to open our hearts and be willing to invest our time in people. If they are only here for a brief season, and you share life and laughs together, you are still better off for their time here. But if they stay, and you develop a life-long friendship, then you have been truly blessed beyond measure. So go ahead and extend a hand of neighborly love to the newcomers, and see what God has in store.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron