Islands

Today has been such a beautiful reminder of how important friendship is to me. God has allowed so many lovely people to surround me. I am so thankful that God answered my prayer to provide kindred spirits in this tiny town we live in. Lord knows I needed it.

There are moments when life gets hectic, or difficult, and it's my tendency to become insular. I am a fairly social person - after all, I chose a career that is people driven, and my mom always reminds me how I was never able to play by myself as a child. I justify this isolation by saying I'm exhausted, an introvert, or just plain too busy to get together with someone. And you know what? That's how I know that Satan is creeping in, because it's during those times that I become depressed, lonely (go figure), and negative.

God must be showing me something, because I've had the same feelings twice: we have some friends that we haven't seen since March (tsk tsk tsk), and I've been meaning to call her. When I would actually think about calling, I would feel silly waiting all of this time to call her and chicken out, or my workload would be heavy that week, leaving me with one day off (which is normally errand day).

Well, this week I worked four days, but happened to run into my friend very briefly, as I running late to something else. She was on my mind the rest of the week, and finally on Friday afternoon, I just sucked it up and called her. It was a forty five minute conversation and a "let's get our kids to do this" and "let's get our kids to do that". And instantly, it was like we had talked to each other every day during this time. Why do I wait so long?

And just today, my wonderful hubby was busy working on his car, so I was in charge of kiddo care. It was fun for the most part - farmer's market, park play, spraying each other with the hose. Honestly, I was torn between calling a friend or napping. And even more honesty, I regretted it a little because a nap did sound good. Thankfully though, friend was the right choice, and for four hours we talked, and teared up, and shared, and laughed, and ate. A nap wouldn't do for my soul what my dear, sweet friend did for me. Praise God for knowing me better than I know myself.

Aren't you glad that we were never meant to live as an island?