amy was my prayer partner at camp in 2002... i wish there had been a video, documenting our first few days and weeks at camp... honestly, i thought that amy and i were not going to get along... i really thought she was going to hate me... funny, looking back on it... so it seems weird that 3 years later, amy is one of the best friends i've ever had... i've often thought about what started our friendship... and i think i can narrow it down to...
a purple rubber band...
amy knows exactly what that means... and when i told her at the beginning of the summer that i was going to wear a purple rubber band on my wrist for the summer, i knew it would bring as much encouragement to her as it did to me for 4.5 months of my life when i lived overseas... it's nothing more than a daily prayer reminder, but i'm humbled by the way God can bring people together under the umbrella of prayer and of fellowship in his family... the mutual encouragement that believers can offer to each other, both imperfect creatures, but on the same journey, trying to figure it all out together... a purple rubber band... it's amazing how such a small symbol can mean so much...
mary was probably the best friend i had in seminary... maybe it was because there are so few single girls in seminary, but mary and i were basically insta-friends... she knew a little about my personal history because of a mutual person... (not so much a friend on my end, but someone we both knew in different amounts) regardless, we had fun from the beginning... we endured 2nd semester hebrew together and went to san francisco with the college group for a mission's conference... she introduced me to papa haydn's... but i tried to figure out what solidified our friendship... the deeper kind of friendship that lasts beyond distance and time... the friendship that will provide encouragement for the long haul... and i think i have it narrowed down to...
a margarita glass...
it sounds sketchy, but mary and i used to go to applebee's for happy hour on mondays and tuesdays for half-price appetizers... my classmates had an endless supply of jokes about us going there... we just wanted good food at a pretty cheap price... the jokes were worth the trip, i assure you... because on those nights, it wasn't just food that we shared... i wouldn't trade the talks, the laughs, the tears that were shared over those tables and in the car rides to and from applebee's... right before mary left, we went to nw 23rd (one of my favorite places in portland) and we found these coins that said, "happy hour token" and on the back said, "good for one cocktail" and they had a margarita glass cut out of them... we saw them and immediately dug the money out of our purses and bought one for each other... not only as a reminder of applebee's, but of our friendship... and last week i got a margarita glass-shaped postcard in the mail... and i smiled... it's amazing how such a small symbol can mean so much...
so today i wondered why those two women mean so much to me... why a phone call in the middle of the day from amy asking me if tom cruise and katie holmes are really engaged makes my heart happy... and why a postcard in the shape of a margarita glass can brighten my day... why them?
because my friendship with them exceeds friendship of convenience... it is not always convenient for two of my closest friends to live thousands of miles away... it's really not ever convenient... it's a choice we make, even when the phone bills are high or there is the longest running game of phone tag conceivable between the two of us... i can't possibly keep up with the day to day information... i don't know amy's entire team by first name or what mary does at work every day... but there's more to our friendship than that...
both amy and mary have challenged me to be more - to not be satisfied where i am, but to want to be more... at the exact same time, they love me, unconditionally... for exactly who i am... i hope i'm friends with them for a long time... i like who i am as a result of my friendships with two of the coolest women i've ever met...
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awe. that makes me smile in a very big way. i haven't had the best day today, so it was really encouraging to read that just now. i'm so tired, but for some strange reason, i felt the need to read your blog. keep praying for me, because the Lord knows that i need to be lifted up. thanks for being my friend and putting up with me...even when it's hard and maybe you feel like it's not worth it. sometime soon, we'll have a real conversation...i promise. i don't have time to look at the emails now, but eventually i'll read through them a couple at a time. i love you and miss you a ton!
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