In talking with my friend Konnie this last week, she told me she was jealous. I was shocked at her directness and asked her what ever did she mean? I mean, Konnie is rocking her life and is a gifted and lovely mama in a very active season of life. Konnie and I don’t chat on a weekly basis; but I was refreshed by her directness and was curious why she would say this because, well, sometimes I don’t always think the most positive thoughts about my life and the activities that surround me. She went on to say I post lots of pictures with my girls (my Friday Night Lights) just doing life together, and she wishes she could be with us. I told Konnie I would love to have her join us. She then encouraged me with sharing part of her amazing story. She went onto say that she knew it wasn’t her season to be there, but she definitely knew it was mine with my oldest moving to Nashville and my youngest in China.
Have I told the story here of how the very week Victoria got on a plane to go to China to teach English, sixteen young women showed up at my house that Friday night for a Bible study? Well, it was the most amazing co-ordination of time and schedules and people to bless my heart and the sixteen young ladies have affectionately become known to me as my Friday Night Lights. Within a year and a half, my two beloved daughters had moved far away from home. To say there was a void is an understatement. I was missing the relationships I had with them, the late night talks on my bed and sunshine filled walks and outings and the laughter when they would try to help me decipher modern day song lyrics and late lunches together and sharing recipes and making and baking and thrifting and… I missed them. I missed the silliness and the seriousness of being in fellowship and community with my daughters. Now I am not saying that these young women that waltzed into my life seven months ago have replaced my daughters, but I am saying they have not only filled a void, but they have also made life fun. I am at times shaking my head in disbelief at the fun activities they have invited me to do together from Indian Cooking School to a Dinosaur birthday party to pool and hot tub sitting to organizing closets to impromptu lunch dates and late night conversations. They extend invitations for hikes and color runs and yoga on the dock and all sorts of adventurous activities. The youngest in this group is 25 and most of the darlin’ young ladies are in their 30’s, but there is no limit on age or fun. They have stretched my boundaries and included me in their lives. They have shown up at yoga class and made funny faces at the window, have helped me with my personal work and projects, asked me to drive them to the hospital for tests, and I’ve stood with two of them in the emergency room and with one at the funeral home. I have cried and prayed with these young women. Life. Like my own beloved daughters, we are doing life together; the highs and the lows.
So back to my story with my friend Konnie, with a side of a story… I am a picture taker. From the time I got a Pentax K1000 in high school and would do photoshoots with my friend Anna, to submitting pictures to the county fair, I have always enjoyed photography. I am a fan of non-posed photos, the life in the moment photos. I love to capture expressions of joy. I enjoy taking pictures and I post numerous pictures on Instagram. The Salesman will joke and say, “If there is no picture, did it really happen?” Oh, how we laugh! Of course, there is a picture! So, Konnie sees all the fun pictures on Instagram and says she is jealous. All this to say, it made me think of the one picture I took this Friday night when the girls, otherwise known as my Friday Night Lights, were at the house. We kicked off our new season with food and fellowship. When I stepped out of the living room to adjust the air conditioner, I snapped one picture. It was the only picture I took the entire evening. And by the time I snapped this picture, one of the young ladies had already slid out of her recliner and onto a cozier nest of blankets on the floor. Another young lady was stretched out flat on the floor. I just love when they get cozy and comfortable here whether it be on the floor or looking for the honey for their tea themselves in the kitchen cabinets. They are all signs of feeling at home and warm my heart. It made me glad that I don’t have any one friend pictured in this photograph because you can picture yourself here – we would love you to join us.
We are not an exclusive group. If you are looking for or wanting to be part of a community, come join us.
You are loved.
You are wanted.
You are welcome.
Don’t we all want to feel loved, wanted, and welcome? I know I do. I am turned off to cliques. The friends I have range from 7 – 90’s. Yes, it delights my heart to say that I was invited to two (non-relatives) children’s parties. I’ve planned some fun parties for my friends; but what joy to be invited to children’s parties or an elderly person’s party.
The milestone has just passed of my dear grandmother’s 94th birthday. On this day when my darling daughters and I would normally make and take a meal to her home to enjoy, my china is still in the cupboard; but I can only imagine the party my grandmother is having in heaven.
Whoever you are, wherever you are, I want you to know:
You are loved.
You are wanted.
You are welcome.
The only picture I took was the view of the living room from a distance in black and white mode with no particular face fully pictured. Your presence could make a black and white event an in living color evening. Granted, I am a private person, and for the handful of you reading this on a day when I am missing my own beloved daughters and grandmother, I want you to know:
You are loved.
You are wanted.
You are welcome.
My grandma used to say:
“Everybody needs somebody.”
Life is not exclusive, but inclusive. Join a group. Or start a group. Open your heart, and your home to others. You could be the somebody for someone. Get involved. Don’t look at activity from a distance and wish you could be there. I realize not all of you are in my area, but there are groups that would be glad to have you join them. Or you could start a group. Communicate like Konnie, express your heart, hear the invitation to do life with people. There is great joy to be found in community. I pray that wherever you are, you join in a local community of people and live in the joy of loving on and serving others. I can tell you from experience, there is no joy in being selfish or exclusive. The very experiences you have gone through could be the exact encouragement that another sister needs.
There is much joy to be found in giving and sharing. Find it, sister. You have gifts in you that other people need. Don’t hold yourself at a distance or look at others having fun and wish you could be there.
Communicate and share your heart
Others need you to play your part.
You are loved.
You are wanted.
You are welcome.
