“Thirty Seconds on Thursday”

How did you awaken to this day, Friend?

Was there a song in your ❤️, a pep in your step, enough coffee beans to make your favorite drink, just enough honey in the jar to sweeten your bagel … were the birds chirping, the highways wide and uneventful, the blue skies hovering overhead, and all your left-turns were available at first attempt?

Or was it otherwise … you can fill in the blanks with all the messy details if that was your experience. And please know that I’m praying for you today.

I want to just take a moment to pause and say thank you to all my besties ~ my ride-or-die girls ~ my adult BFFs. For all the life we’ve done together and to reach out through the airwaves and smack a kiss on your forehead and wrap my arms around you tightly. I could not have done it without you. And I am so thankful to GOD that He allowed me into your space.

It’s so important for us to find our people ~ our tribe ~ our community. And that’s not to say that everyone remains with us for the entire lifespan of our chronological timeline on earth. Some friends will enter our path and we may walk a long journey together, but life happens and GOD has other plans and separate roads for each of us to take. That doesn’t diminish the impact or devalue the treasure of experiences we had together.

And then there are those precious ones who seem to be sewn into our own skin and we find ourselves just growing older (not old) attached at the hip. You’re not afraid to show up for her without make-up and your hair a hot mess. If she called you in the middle of the night, you’d get in your car and pick her up to take her to a place of calm from her storm. These are the ones that we are willing to hear the truth from no matter how hard it is. These are the ones that we are willing to risk our very friendship for the sake of speaking truth to their face when they can’t tell they’re living life with jaded lenses. You know who these are for you ~ at least I hope you do.

Jesus modeled having community with His twelve closest friends. He showed us that it’s equally important to have those deep and heavy moments reserved for the most intimate and trustworthy of the bunch, and He chose three from the twelve. No one felt less than nor did they compare their place in His love.

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.” Genesis 2:18 GNT

We were designed for community.

And while technology is a phenomenal blessing for connectivity across the time zones and oceans, it’s far too easy to remain isolated behind a screen. It simply does not satisfy the longing that each one of us has for other humans, and especially other believers.

An electronic device is incapable of offering a shoulder to lean on or a tissue to wipe away the tears during a painful conversation. Video calls are awesome, but are far from the gift of being able to hug the one going through the darkest times of her life.

²Help carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 GNT

On this Thirty Seconds Thursday, I want us to visualize the faces and verbalize the names of those wonderful and amazing people in our lives that have come to mind. Whether they are from times past or currently with us, let us thank GOD for the blessing of their presence, what it meant in our lives when they stepped into our paths, and ask the Lord to pour out His grace, mercy, love, and kindness all over them.

And then do something unexpected and send then a text, make the phone call, send an e-card to let them know they were prayed over and thought of.