- Phillip Yancy, What's So Amazing About Grace, the chapter on how to enjoy grace without abusing it.
- The Last Addiction, author's name and subtitle will be added @ a future post
- Steve Brown's teaching this week on prayer in his current series Welcome to the Family
And a few words about me and the issue of "best friends." As I was growing up in rural SE Pennsylvania, it was my fervent prayer that a family with a girl would move into our neighborhood. Eagle Manor was one of those subdivisions that was developed by a man who had 2 house plans -- almost identical except for the number of bedrooms. About half the lots were developed before he paused to take a breath, and so my brothers and all the other neighborhood kids (mostly boys) would ride their bikes over the "dirt mountains" left by construction crews, while I either tagged along or took the dog for long walks through the cornfields and woods surrounding us. There were 2 girls that were a year or 2 younger than me, and for awhile we played together, the three of us, but when three became a crowd, I was the one who left. The upside was that I had little competition when it came to babysitting jobs, the downside is that I learned to be more comfortable with books and my diaries than with girls my age.
When I went to the consolidated jr. high, I expanded my circle of friend to girls who lived further away, but somehow seemed to be the 3rd person out again. The summer between my 8th and 9th grade year, my Mom grew tired of my feelings getting repeatedly hurt, and counselled me strongly to reach out and find new friends. I took her advice and read every article I could find in Seventeen magazine about how to start conversations and meet new people. On the first day of 9th grade, God put 2 new friends in my path, and gave me the courage to talk to them after we got dressed in our hideous PE uniforms. Those years of late jr. high and earlyHS forged strong friendships that still survive to this day. Somewhere in my Sr. year, after we had moved to a small NW Ohio town, I realized that the ups and downs of relationships can destry your equilibrium if you let it. I decided not to let my day be destroyed if someone did or didn't say hi to me, sit by me, or wait for me between classes. I began to seek and find the contentment that comes from knowing the deep abiding love of God.
Fast Forward 20-odd years to my days of teaching preschool, and I hear "Are you my best friend?" "No S--- is my best friend." "Teacher, M--- doesn't want to be my best friend!" Exasperated, I make a lesson out of it--"I don't want anybody to say best friend in this classroom. Who is the only person who never does anyting wrong?" As if on cue, they chorus, "JESUS!" "Yes," I say. "He is the BEST friend, and because of that we can ALL be friends."
It seemed so easy when I was standing with a bunch of 4 year olds who seemed to know the answers. But as I try to navigate this complicated world of women's friendships, I sometimes marvel at how hard we make it. Several analogies come to mind -- the dance of friendships, stepping on one another's toes and backing off. Kids these days often talk about their personal space as a "bubble," and the image of blowing bubbles in the summertime comes to mind. Sometimes whole group of bubbles form a clump, and sometimes just a few join together, but with a line of boundary making it obvious that there are two, not one. Sometimes a smaller one attaches to a larger. As I follow this analogy, I think of God breathing his breath into us, and us floating along on our way ... the analogy only takes us so far...
Grace, relationships and other addictions, and our #1 best friend. My prayer these days goes something like this, "Lord, make me want you more than anything else -- more than a morning of sleeping in, more than a the finest chocolate, more than the pats on the back by my collegues, even more than the warm fuzzies I feel when I notice the blessings of working in a Chrstian school. Because, doggone it Lord, these people you've surrounded me with can take the joy right out of serving you. Stink." And again, I hear Him say, "Come, my dear child, and rest with me. Give it up, it's ok. Just want me, and the serving will follow. Just let me fill you to overflowing, and my joy will bubble up and spill over you all. Just let me love you the most, because I know you the best. Let me remind you that though I own the universe, I knit you together, I know your deepest longings, and I find great delight when you open them to me, for I am quite fond of you."
At least that's what I think He says, it sounds like Him. I'm learning to listen.
