Someone in Charleston did a lesson at church with this title and it really did strike a cord with me. So of course I had to write a post about it.
I think we can get confuse with To Be Included VS To Belong.
To Be Included-
- 1have as a part, be made up out of
- 2. consider as part of something
- 3. add as part of something else; put in as part of a set, group, or category
- 4. allow participation in or the right to be part of; permit to exercise the rights, functions, and responsibilities of
To me, this means there is an obligation rather it be from ourselves or from the ones we are participating with.
To Belong
- is the strong desire to form relationships and belong to groups
- Have the right personal or social qualities to be a member of a particular group
- To be rightly placed
I remember when the girls were in elementary school it was a rule that all the kids had to be invited to a birthday party if invitations were given out in class. So you could include everyone from the class in the party but would the boys feel like they belong at a Barbie-themed party.
So it is more important to feel like you belong than to feel included. We all have a longing desire deep in our soul to just belong. To feel we can let our hair down, be ourselves and just feel at home where we are.
To GOD Be The GLORY. Take Care. Much Love
