Friends
the REST of the week #147
It’s the rest of the week. How about looking for a friend?
This morning I sat behind Alonso, captivated by his play with plastic sea creatures just like the ones my boys used to play with during meetings when they had to sit in one place (sort of).
He held the tiger shark in one hand and sifted through the other fish looking for one that would be an “amigo”. The hammerhead shark was brought eye to eye with the tiger shark… “no amigo.” This was repeated over and over and I wanted to be a small child myself, crawl under the pew, and chat with him about what exactly constituted an amigo in his animal world.
Thankfully, right when he was becoming bored and restless, Luna appeared, and the sea creature game resumed. They were delighted to see each other and play.
Alonso’s mom told me later that her son had just advanced to the next age group in the church’s kid’s classes and the transition had been softened by his friend Luna who also moved up—their birthdays are only one day apart, it turns out.
“I’m so glad Luna came,” she said.
And I got to thinking—there are all kinds of friends and friendship means many things to many people—and maybe one way to rest is to reach out to someone or open up to receive a friendly gesture.
This is my last newsletter from North Carolina. We are moving overseas and will be visiting family over the next month to say our good-byes.
I started this newsletter here and it has been a tremendous blessing for me—helping me to write something at least once a week—a consistency I’d never had before with writing. And when I sit down to write, I think of those of you who read this—those I’ve known for years and those I’ve recently met—and I feel like you are my friends.
Even though I’ve done my share of complaining about social media and the superficial way we toss around words like “friend” and “love”, there is a place to just let go, laugh, and engage with someone at whatever level of friendship presents itself, with joy and delight.
Like Luna and Alonso.
I have told so many people I will miss them, that I will hold them in my heart—and this has enlarged my heart in the best of ways.
Thank you for joining me here. It’s nice to know that I will take you with me.
May your rest be sweet.
Alicia