You, know, it’s a basic need to yearn for community and a sense of belonging. It isn’t always a “Mayberry” kind of thing. Even people in big cities find a place of their own – New Yorkers are from Queens or the Village, people in Atlanta live in Midtown or Little Five. It’s just instinct to find your tribe. And your tribe is where you find home.
My tribe is a little more Mayberry than Midtown. Let me introduce you to my town, Temple, Georgia, population 4,287. West of Atlanta and just 19 miles from the Alabama state line, Temple started out a railroad town, settled in 1882 along the Georgia Pacific railroad being built between Atlanta and Birmingham. Named for Major Robert H. Temple, chief engineer of the railroad, the town was chartered in 1883. And I call this place home.
Now, that is what you can Google about Temple. But I think you know that words on a screen can’t really represent “home”. What you can’t find on the internet is the spirit of this community, a spirit that can be found in thousands of other places that people call home. Yes, you will find crime, discontent, and poverty because that is the nature of our world. But you also find people who jump in to help their neighbors during tough times, contribute to their community by serving through local government, churches and civic organizations, or jump to volunteer at schools, garden clubs – the list is endless.
This is COMMUNITY and as I share about MY town, I hope you see the good all around you in YOUR town. And y’all…it’s real hard to appreciate your community without truly becoming part of it. So find your tribe, then find your place in it!
