A Whirlwind Trip And The Importance of Friendship

I have two sisters.

I have one brother, too, but...as Joshua would say..."Imnottalkingaboutthatrightnow."

My sister, Leanne, has 4 beautiful, smart and talented children. 1 boy and 3 girls. So far, the older 3 each have beautiful voices, and are attracted to the fine arts of singing, dancing and acting. And they are all 3 really GOOD!

The youngest girl...I don't know if fine arts are gonna be in her blood. She's over a head taller than everyone in her class, even though she's the youngest one in there (she skipped a grade). She seems attracted to volleyball and basketball AS WELL SHE SHOULD BE. I mean, she's athletic, but even if she wasn't, JUST STAND UP BY THE NET. Or, UNDER THE BASKET.

Hello?

Because you know who would've killed for her height?

Any of my 3 boys.

And she's 11.

Anyway, we have come to choir and madrigal performances and plays for the older two kids when we can. It's been hard to always find a time when we can go. Last week, the middle daughter, Lily, was going to be in the musical, Shrek. Holly and I made plans to run down to Texas to watch her. We got up early on Friday morning and bugged out-of-town. I was really glad Holly came with me, because I wasn't wanting to drive down there by myself. We made it to Leanne's house by mid-afternoon. We were able to rest for a couple of hours and have a quick bite of dinner...then we headed to the play.

The play was in Ft. Worth with the Kids Who Care group. The show was phenomenal. Seriously. Especially for a group of kids to pull off. 99 kids, to be exact. Lily said that some of the main roles were held by actors who were more experienced...college-age and older...but the rest of the parts were held by the amateurs. It was so good!

After the show, we came home and visited for an hour or so, and then Holly and I went to bed. We were up and out-of-town before 8 a.m. We had NO problems on the way home...no bad weather to speak of, thank goodness. I was trying to get home early because I was helping with a post-wedding shower. We pulled into town. I dropped Holly at her house and went immediately to the store to get the items for my vegetable tray that I was supposed to make.

I got everything prepared and packed up, and I climbed back into my vehicle and drove the 45 minutes to the shower.

The shower was a lot of fun. Got to see some of our "old" friends from Little Rock. The young couple...the groom was the son of some of our best friends...had been married just 4 weeks, so it was great to shower them with gifts and blessings.

I looked at them as they were opening their gifts. They were so young and cute. They looked like they could be on a poster or something. Just precious! They were being all tender and sweet with each other.

None of the, "I SAID, can you bring me my PURSE...GEEZ!"stuff. (Ha)

I looked around the room at our friends. I was overwhelmed by how God has allowed their lives to intertwine with ours...and with the legacy they are leaving for all of us. All of our friends...all supporting these two young loves.

Years ago, we were just like them: full of anticipation and innocence and love. And now? Well, we still have some of that anticipation and we still have the love...but we aren't innocent by any stretch of the imagination. All of us are Christians, all church members. Some serve in leadership positions in their churches, and others work behind the scenes. And yet, we've all seen hurt and loss and struggle and pain and fear.

Being a Christian does not mean a life of ease, or protection from hardships.

Some have faced evil, either in their own lives or in the lives of their families. Some have had their kids turn away from them...or from their friends...or from God. Some have seen drug and alcohol addiction. Others have seen their children in jail.

All of us have said things and heard things and done things that we never would've imagined in our younger days. We have gone from changing our children's diapers to, in some cases, changing our parent's diapers. We have had our children move out...only to have them move back in. Or we've moved a parent in with us. We've had things happen to us that we don't understand.

We've all felt heartbreak like we never thought we could, and we have all also seen redemption, forgiveness...and change.

Now, "they say" we have wisdom, you know...because we're older. Oh, not all of us...and not all the time. Sometimes we just don't learn from our mistakes, but most of the time we do.

Most of us have poured our lives into our spouses and kids...into our relationship to the Lord...into ministry...into our neighborhoods...into the lives of others. Most of us are serving the Lord, each in different and unique ways. We are happy. We are tired.

In some ways, we are empty...but we are mostly full.

Because we have One constant: Jesus. As I looked around the room, I realized that none of us would be where we are without our relationship to Him. Yes, we are all a little battered, a little beaten...a little worn. But we're still kickin'...patched up time after time, willing to be used for His service until we are finished with this earthly life.

And we are blessed, because even tho we have seen some hard and trying times, we have also seen many times of great joy. And even tho we have all grown up from the wide-eyed innocents we used to be...and even tho some have moved away from each other, times like this bring us right back to where we were all those years ago...when the foundation was built.

We have been knit together by the blood of Christ.

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12