Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

No Forwarding Address

Sometimes I wish life had a rewind button so you could go back and do things like delete unkind words or make a better choice when faced with going out for lunch or getting some extra work done at the office.

Then I have to go and listen to a song which contains the following lyrics:

It's time for letting go
All of our 'if onlys'
'Cause we don't have a time machine
And even if we did
Would we really want to use it?
Would we really want to go change everything?
'Cause we are who and where and what we are for now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

*~ "Miracle of the Moment", Steven Curtis Chapman


Yeah, I know -- way to all be encouraged when I felt a really good pout or, at the very least, a good hissy fit coming on.

;-P

But seriously -- I have had friends leave my life either by mutual agreement (spoken or not) or by a unilateral one by myself or them (again, spoken or not) or it was a case of us simply drifting apart as time or 'things' or changes in direction occured. Some I have been okay with. Other times I have fought to keep the friendship going (even pleading for the relationship to remain). Sadly, there are even time where I have been indifferent.

And I could go and change all those things if I successfully built a time machine. If I could, though, would it be the right thing to do?

In Paul's letter to the Roman church, he wrote ". . . all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

All things, eh?

Hmm.

So God can use all my missteps and blunders and use them to work together for good? (Don't forget, though, this only happens when we allow Him to do so. God won't override our free wills.)

It sort of boggles the mind, quite frankly. (Though God is quite good at that, isn't He? I mean, a bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, yet it does!)

So to all the friends I've loved and lost: I'm sorry for where I have done things (intentional or not) to hurt you. I forgive you for the things you've done (intentionally or not) that have hurt me. And if our friendship was only meant to be for a season, then I hope we both received the good God intended for us both to have (even if it looked to be anything but good at the time).

And to my two bestest friends:

Jesus -- You have given me so much and anything I can give You seems so paltry in comparison. And often times, is is paltry and 'meh' and sad. Yet Your love for me doesn't change and it is this love, this goodness, which works in me to change for the better.

My husband -- I'm so glad we started out as friends before we became a couple. I think it was a God-given opportunity for us to build a good foundation. I hope I'm half the support and blessing you are to me. I love you!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Relationships -- Take 'Em or Leave 'Em?

Ah, relationships. By many I am blessed and by some I am absolutely confounded. By some, it is both.

I'm blessed by my relationship with God. Blessed by His love, saving grace, and just by . . . Him! Though I'm confounded by it at times, too. I mean, how does the holy, omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the universe have the time for me? Why does He desire to spend time with me when I muck so many things up? And there are so many things He provides as well. It's mind-blowing, really. And life-altering.

I am blessed by my relationship with my husband. We've been married almost 13 years, have known each other for almost 15 and I know there are still things I don't know about him. This could be mainly because of one of two things: a) He doesn't tell me and b) I don't ask. Ha, ha! But seriously -- he's a treasure. I know I'm not always the best as a wife. Shoot, neither one of us is perfect, but I am amazed and what a good fit we are as a couple.

My familial relations bless/confound me (biological and marital). 'Nuff said there, I think.

Friendships are another tricky thing. There are people you think (either accurately or through some form of denial) you are 'in good standing with' only to find out you're not. Or those you think of as casual acquaintances only to discover in a crunch there's a stronger bond there. Then there are the friendships which have withstood ebbs and flows, fights, periods of silence and what-not and have been full of blessings received and given. What a treat!

No man is an island,
This I know to be true.
For God by His hand
Has given a precious gift through you.