God's mercies are new every morning. Today has been a better day.
My friend is actually a he--our good friend and area Young Life director. His wife is a precious friend, so today I was with her for a bit. I was reminded of how much in life is about simply showing up. I think we can so often get paralyzed by our fear of 'what will I say' or 'what do I have to bring' that we forget 99% of our value is in just being present for the folks in our life who need us. I had no great revelation, so real wisdom to bring--so we sat. We laughed, we prayed, we cried a bit. We just were. And it was enough for those moments.
I received an e-mail timestamped 1:42am from a mutual friend. She is not a blogger, but her thoughts were so poignant and so beautiful, I had to record them here...
"Thanks for the call tonight. I am sitting in my childhood room. Can't sleep. Watching my daughter sleep. Praying. Listening to clock. Remembering something I meant to say earlier...With my birthday around the corner(yours, too), I was just thinking at what point did I grow up. When do you pass the threshold from childhood to adulthood. There is certainly no magic number. Was it when I became a mother? When I became a wife? Had a home of my own? I think it was in the middle of all that. I distinctly remember being in a crisis and not wanting my mother, only wanting my husband there. And like that, the apron strings were cut. Until now, I never wondered how my mom felt. Now, I wonder how S.'s mom feels. We want our children to grow up. Find someone that loves them desperately and that they love in return. Find someone that loves the Lord more. Someone that that brings out the best in them. Then, they make that jump. And when that happens, we have to sit back and let the person that we have prayed to come into our son or daughter's life hold them, care for them and be all that we longed for them to have in a spouse. For now, I think I will double knot the apron strings and hold my children close.
Good night."
4 comments:
Thank you for sharing your friend's email. I am the Mom about to lose some apron strings. My 22 y.o. son is getting married in 9 months. While I am filled with GREAT joy at the impending wedding, and am totally in love with my daughter-in-law to be, this has really hit home for me today. Prayers for your mutual friend, AND his mom. Even though he is grown, I can tell you from experience that her heart still hurts as he embarks on this battle.
Your baby is always your baby. I have a friend who use to say *You never get off the birthing table*. My three are 27,28 and 30. They are still my heart even today. (See my last three posts on my BLOG).
As the sister of a melanoma survivor, the pain you must be feeling is very familiar to me. I will certainly be keeping your friend in my prayers.
I attended a MOPS meeting at First Pres this morning and Randa Mixon was our speaker. She told the story of her journey through cancer and a portion of her message was exactly the same as yours. Just GO sit with a sick friend...you don't have to know what to say or what to bring (although good food is always nice!!) Just be there, hold their hand and breathe with them. You are a good friend to be there.
Your transparency is beautiful! Bless you!
Kitten
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