You can think of a community as a kind of garden. If it’s well tended, it’s fruitful and nourishing. But if it’s ignored and neglected, it fails to provide what is necessary for growth and happiness.

So how do we tend this garden we call community? How do we cultivate it so that it enriches the lives of those who live within it? How do we make sure it’s well fed, watered and weeded?

The way to cultivate community involves the same approach you take to a garden: commitment, attention and responsiveness.

First, we must make a commitment. We have to decide how important it is to put our plans into action and follow through.

Once we decide to make the commitment, we need to focus our attention on the various elements of our community – the people, the resources and the time required to accomplish the necessary tasks.

Once we understand the needs of our community we need to act — we need to consistently apply what we know.

What makes this undertaking both challenging and fulfilling is that we must do this together, in concert with others. It takes a community to make a community. It takes a group of people who are committed, attentive and responsive. Finding those people is the first step. Staying connected to them is an ongoing adventure.

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