July 2026

In our retirement, we have gained greater appreciation for the communities where we are involved. Here we reflect on some of our life- giving communities.

I first joined Business and Professional Toastmasters Club in 1988. I had no business experience nor was I professional. However, I found there a welcoming community. Actually, much of my life I was a high school World History teacher.

In my off hours I was a 4-H leader, mostly with the senior age members. I helped train them to develop and compete with their projects. Many weekends my 9-seater Suburban hauled 4-H teams around the state to compete in horse judging, sheep judging, method demonstrations, and many citizenship and leadership activities. That was the fun part.

Not so fun – Time after time the disappointed kids returned home with the red 2^nd place ribbon. They wanted blue. So I asked the repeatedly winning Brazos County coach, "What's your edge?" Generous as 4-H leaders usually are, their coach described how the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program taught the 4-H'ers to stand on their feet, to think and speak well. We then organized a YLP for our county kids.

Sixteen of our Business and Professional Club members facilitated the 8- week course for 25 junior and senior members. The finale was presented in the high school auditorium, all youth members had a speaking or leadership role, and it was attended by city dignitaries, school teachers, parents, and invited guests.

Now with speaking experience and courage, not only did our 4-H members win the blue ribbons at judging events, but they successfully qualified for other leadership roles, opportunities, and college scholarships. They became confident in public speaking and presentation skills benefitting them for a lifetime.

I never intended to be a public speaker myself. Toastmasters led me there. It opened windows to see broader possibilities, then doors to paths I never imagined. I found welcoming communities of support while speaking, leading retreats and seminars, advocating for the poor in undeveloped countries, teaching, and ministry activities.

The greatest benefit is the camaraderie and community. Toastmasters has the reputation for transforming lives. Also, church communities, continuing education classes, support groups, nature walkers, and such groups are known to enrich our lives, promote better health, and increase feelings of self-worth.

--Jan

Two years ago, we moved into a senior living community. The marketing folks are careful to call it that: a senior living community, not a senior living facility. That term, however, is more than a marketing ploy.

“Community” has several definitions. It can mean simply “an interacting population of various kinds of individuals …. in a common location.” Well, duh! We’re a bunch of older individuals who live at a common location. And we interact.

But there is a deeper meaning to community: “a state or feeling of caring about and wanting to interact with others in a group.” And that is what we have found here, a true spirit of community, where people (both residents and staff) genuinely care about one another and support one another’s well-being. After our first visit here, Jan said, “I think we’ve found a happy place!” She was right.

To be sure, not everyone agrees on everything. There’s still a fair share of grumbling. But, all in all, we have found not just an apartment to rent but a caring community to belong to.

This is not my only community. There is my church. My monthly poetry group. The Benedictine Oblates. ALIR, an educational program for retired folks. And others.

Who is your community? Where do you find that sense of acceptance and mutual support? And where do you help to form community for others?

Jesus called his followers into a community. Being Christian is a team sport; it is not a solo act. As one of my seminary professors put it years ago, “A religion whose primary theme is love cannot be practiced in isolation.”

We are called to “rejoice with those who rejoice [and] weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). We are to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). We are to be community for one another.

--Bill

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