Those five words are powerful. Just think of how often you have spoken them. A friend mentions they have been sick, a coworker has a financial struggle, a family member is worried about loosing their job, and we say, “I will pray for you”.
I’ll be honest I have said those words flippantly and without a second thought. I’m wondering if you have done the same. Thought so.
Today a friend was sharing a prayer request with me. It hit me in that second what a privilege and what a blessing this is. Someone is entrusting me with a deep concern and asking me to go on their behalf before the throne of the almighty God and petition Him for them. Wow!! What an awesome responsibility and gift they have given me.
When I was in the fourth grade my family moved to a new state. The girls at my school passed a note the first day amongst themselves saying, “Don’t play with the new girl”. So every day at recess I stood outside by myself and watched everyone play. This went on for months. My one saving grace literally was church. That’s where I met Kim. She was in the fourth grade as well. She always greeted me with a smile and a bit of excitement. She was happy to see me. So every day at school I was invisible but at church my appearance was met with joy.
Kim and I remained close friends. One of our Junior High leaders said it was this unique relationship that was definitely born of Heaven. He was right. My blessings didn’t stop there. One night my life would change again. I was at a sleep over at Kim’s house with several other girls. There was this one who was such a ham. Her name was Sonja. Sonja was the third musketeer.
The stories I could tell would one day fill a novel. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a blog dedicated just to the three of us. For now we’ll settle on a few moments. We fast forward to dorm move in day. I met my parents at the airport that morning with my brother. Spent time chatting of their trip and then jumped into my already loaded down car to rush to Kim’s house. There we piled Sonja’s stuff into my car, crammed Kim’s stuff into her Dad’s truck and off we went to drive up to college and our dorm rooms. We all had different rooms with different room mates yet we were still always together. We just had this way of letting people in and being apart of us.
The three of us somehow knew how to be best friends and yet lead separate lives but still stay close. We were in each others weddings. Sonja and I have been blessed to often live near each other. Yet, we are always there for each other. We are there during death, the end of a marriage and the blessings of seeing our children born.
No matter the circumstance we seem to know how to speak the truth in love. How to help, how to hold accountable and how to disagree and reconcile all at once. These two women really are my best friends. They are also the sisters of my heart.
I saw this trailer today. I really love this movie. Makes me laugh and cry. Makes me think of Kim and Sonja. I love you two.
There is one Christmas movie I watch throughout the year. I have it in DVD format and an online version. Honestly, it’s my favorite movie of all time. The movie is It’s a Wonderful Life. What I love about this movie is how uniquely it shows the affect of one person on so many others. It shows the effect of choices they made and what it would be like with out that individual and if they had never been born.
For years I have worked in Project Management or Management in one form or another. My choices and decisions that I made could affect policies and often how a company did business.
You know that example of a single drop in the ocean can cause a ripple effect. There is even a listing on Wikipedia for this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_effect Each choice we make can have a wide and ranging effect on the lives of others.
I have been seeing the effects of choices that others made this week. Drops dripped in the ocean of life by friends, politicians and strangers. Just turn on the news and you will get an earful.
I will confess often times I will make decisions or choices based on how it will effect me and at times how it will effect my kids. I’m not proud of it. I’m finding myself reflective this week as I’m bouncing up and down from being hit by a large ripple.
We are so very interconnected with each other, in the end I believe that is a blessing.
As one of my friends always says. Don’t be a stranger.
