Friends
I think I work fairly hard at friendships because I value them. I try and call and connect and even fly out to visit my friends afar to keep in touch. This is one of my dear friends Susan. I was looking for a fall picture for my other blog and came across this picture from last year. It was taken last October. I was working about 50 hours a week with photography, my dad had passed away unexpectedly 2 months prior, I was a "stay at home mom" trying to help the kids with school and grieving, and I was exhausted. I desperately needed to rest. Every time I visit Susan I feel like I am on a mini retreat, it's a sanctuary of friendship, fun and and the beauty of the North East. I slow down enough to hear the voice of God. I am a little teary writing this. One thing Susan has gotten good at is taking away the distractions of life, the material stuff that nags at me here and nagged at her here, she has figured out how to remove and it feels so good. I live so close to our neighbors that they can comment on my stages of pregnancy by glancing into my kitchen window. The huge trees that surround her home close us in and I feel like I have the space to breath. The North East has become an escape for me, a refuge, a place I go to rejuvenate and refocus. Pieces of my heart are spread across the country and I long to visit my friends.
Philippians 1:3-11
Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.
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