The Glue

Well, I missed it, but I'm doing it anyway. This week I am thanking the Lord for my girlfriends. In considering who that entails, I feel very blessed. I had the priviledge of spending time with several of those sweet people this week. In a prayer to bless the food, one of those friends said,"Thank you for friends and being the glue that holds us together." She hit the nail on the head.

I am blessed to have two distinct sets of lifelong friends by my side. The first are the girlfriends I grew up with at First Baptist in Abilene. One of them I was in the preschool class together on up (and have the picture to prove it!). The rest came along in middle sschool. Who would have dreamed those nights in the cabin at camp when we were 16,17,18, talking about what our lives would be like in 20 years would continue on today; still keeping in touch into our thirties. I am so thankful to still have them in my life, no matter how many years and states separate us. (We are now spread between Texas, Colorado, and Washington!)

And the friends that I get to see at least weekly I have made at my "new" church (of 9 years!) in Southlake. They, too, I know are lifelong, and we have been through so much together - children's births, marriage ups and downs, losing loved ones, sickness, near-death experiences, children issues, infertility - the list goes on!

And now the Lord is opening up a whole new world for me as I meet new people at Gracie's and Wes' schools. Being in the "Mom's in Touch" at her school has allowed me to open up to a group of women I barely know, and being the Room Mom in Wes' class will offer opportunities for developing more relationships. But the "glue" is what binds us. The Lord God Almighty is the steering force behind why we give any of our relationships a second thought. It's nice to have people to do things with and talk about school and fashion and have someone to sit with you at Starbuck's. But true friendship is bound by the Father, grown in the Father, and lasts through the Father.

There are many others I am blessed to call friend not included in the groups above, like my sister, mom, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, my friends from college, from high school, from the fire department and others along the way. For ALL of them, I am thankful to my Lord for giving me what I don't deserve in all these precious people. They are "Jesus in skin!"

"This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:12-13