When we first walked in, we had walls built up around us. Walls that hid our pasts, our desires, and our fears. We were overwhelmed with conversations, with forced smiles painted on our face which masked everyone’s nerves.

When we entered this new place, we were afraid of the unknown. We were not sure who to trust or what anybody stood for. We didn’t know the true depth of everyone around us.

When we started talking, we realized there is more than just surface level conversations with each other. That we all had a passion for something in life. Whether it was our future career or our relationships we treasured, everyone is daily striving for something.

When we started trusting each other, we saw that everyone is battling some sort of fight. Whether it was an internal struggle, that couldn’t be detected from the outside looking in, we knew that we had their backs and they had ours for whatever battle we may face tomorrow.

This was the start to our walls being broken down. Letting our guard down, slowly but surely.

Life is not always easy but it is easier with a community around you. Whether it is a close knit group of friends or sorority full of sisters, we all need that community to help us get through life. When we are without a community life can knock us down, and it can be hard to try to get back on our feet again.

In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, it talks about this whole idea of two being better than one. For if one falls, the other can lift him up. And if two lie down together, they can keep one another warm, because how can we keep warm alone? God is not exactly talking about physically falling down or keeping one another warm. He is using these as an example to help paint us a mental picture of the fact it is not good to go through life alone, without a community to keep you grounded, accountable, and help you when times are rough. In verse 12 it says, “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” In this, God is stating it is good to have support and not to go through our life battles on our own. And not only to have a community around you but also to be that for others as well. We are stronger together than we will ever be alone. Therefore, we need to stand firm as a whole.

We all face our own daily battles. And at times we feel as though no one else has gone through what we are going through in that moment, therefore we are alone without anyone to understand us. But a lot of the times that is not always true. We often find ourselves so worried about who to trust and who not to, that we create walls around us that are hard to be knocked down. But when we begin to break them down, we start to see that others have been through similar struggles and that everyone indeed is fighting some sort of their own battle.

It is not a bad thing to let others in. It may be hard at times to do so because we feel as though we are weak or broken, but it actually takes quite A bit of strength and courage to let those around you in and are being willing to open up.

We all are in need of a community. A group of friends, sisters, or roommates to help us through life. God didn’t create man to struggle with life hardships alone. He created us to love on, Pray with, and support one another.

Though we started with walls built up around us, and full of fear, we don’t have to always stay that way and be afraid to let those around us in. Sometimes opening up with one another is the perfect way to feel connected and realize that we are all more alike than we think.

So don’t walk through life alone. Find a community or group of friends to have your back and support you no matter how hard life may get.

It won’t be easy all the time. You may have battles with one another, struggles that will make you want to give up, or internal hardships, but don’t let the devil thrive in those situations. Work through the struggles and know that God is more. And I pray that with the community you have around you, that you may see that through.

Just because we walked in with walls around us, doesn’t mean we have to leave the same way.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

¹⁰ For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

¹¹ Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

¹² And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.