This might come as a shock to you,
but I would definitely consider myself a people-person. I love to surround
myself with people, spend time with people, talk to people, and pretty much do
anything that involves me not hanging out alone. I would say one of the
greatest challenges I have faced since leaving college is not constantly being
surrounded by people. From living in my sorority house to going to classes and
sporting events and the TCU sponsored mixer, “Late Night BLUU”, looking back I
can think of very few experiences where I wasn’t surrounded by people.
While that’s definitely not everyone’s preference, I am all about “All people,
all the time”. I have a bulletin board
up in my office that has a lot of pictures from great times with friends: Friends
I have had for almost 23 years, friends from growing up, friends from TCU, friends
I made one weekend in Clemson, friends I made at summer camp or in Africa or in
Chicago, and friends I just randomly know but we don’t know how we know each
other but I’m really glad we do.
The board is definitely a statement
piece in my office so, whenever anyone walks in, comments like “You have such
cute friends!” or “Wow your friends look so nice!” are always said. Normally, I
just smile and say “Yes, I am very lucky.” or “Oh thanks! They really rock.” However,
today I saw something that made me really think about how blessed I truly am
with these friendships.
This might also come as a shock to
you, but I would definitely not consider myself a morning person. So naturally
this morning I was running a little late for work and totally forgot to bring
lunch. So around noon I decided to head over to the most #loyal restaurant I
know, Chick-Fil-A, to get my usual grilled nugs and fruit (today I actually got
a side of kale salad and tbh I would not recommend). If you have ever been to a
Chick-Fil-A around noon, you know that the line is going to be unbelievably
long. So my car was stopped right by a
door to the Chick-Fil-A and then I saw them. The people who made my eyes swell
with tears in the Chick-Fil-A drive thru.
I saw the back of an older man
pulling a wheelchair, but couldn’t see the person in the wheelchair. I have
always LOVED older people. I think they are some of the cutest people in the
world. They are always full of wisdom and tell the best stories. My mom has always said I should work in a retirement home because I just love these people. So I thought this was going to be an older man pushing his older wife in
a wheelchair. A million thoughts went through my head: “This is going to be
just like ‘The Notebook’.”, “He has loved her his entire life and will push her
anywhere just so they can be together.”, “True love never ages.”, and more Nicholas
Sparks-esque thoughts were rapidly running through my mind. However, when they
turned to exit the restaurant it wasn’t a sweet, frail, white-haired
grandmother, it was an older man. This man seemed to be a little older than the
pusher of the wheelchair, and it appeared that age had taken away his ability
to communicate well.
They were friends.
They were simply friends who were having lunch together. My
eyes filled with tears as I was watching two of the cutest friends ever leaving
their lunch, but for them it was just another day.
Then I
really started thinking. That is the definition of friendship. It doesn’t have
to be an extravagant display or an exciting activity, it’s just knowing that
your buddy is going to be there for you. It’s knowing that someone would rather
push your wheelchair around all day than miss an opportunity to spend time with
you. It’s not letting obstacles such as disability, distance, race,
nationality, religion, age, etc…stand in the way of connecting with someone’s
heart. Heck I worked in upstate New York this summer and consider the people I
worked with to be some of my best friends. Not because we see each other every
day or because we have lavish meet-ups in New York City, but because when we
speak on the phone or text I know they genuinely care about me and care about
how I’m doing, how my day was, how I’m feeling, etc... My TCU friends have seen
me at my absolute best and absolute worst, but they haven’t said “See ya weirdo”
after I’ve had one bad day. They are strong leaders, solid listeners, and just
all-around great friends and people. They challenge me and want me to push
myself to be the best. They include me when I might be feeling excluded or
having an alarming amount of FOMO. My friends from Chicago make me laugh and
help me improve my daily life, my friends from Clemson show compassion and
demonstrate how having Jesus-centered friendships can change your life, my
friends from Africa show me that friendship and love have no borders, my
childhood friends have helped me grow, and this is just the tippy tippy top of
this beautiful mountain of friendship that I really have taken for granted. The
people who I once considered friends that aren’t necessarily in my life anymore
have helped me learn from my mistakes and have helped me find what matters to
me, the kids at the school where I work are so full of life and wisdom and
demonstrate that you can learn a lot from people younger than you. My
co-workers show their friendship through patience and trust, my church family
shows friendship through letting me share a pew with a family of five I don’t
know, and there are so, so, so many pieces of my life that have been shaped
through friendships that I haven’t even given a second thought. Not anymore.
Thank you.
Thank you to my friends, teachers, family, and acquaintances. You have given me
the greatest blessing of all through your friendship, and that is love. Love
came through the door at Chick-Fil-A in the form of a friend pushing another
friend’s wheelchair. Let’s love more in 2017. My favorite Bible verse reads, “Love is patient, love is
kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)
I’ve always dreamed of the day when I could say, “Yes I have this wonderful
husband who is the full definition of love and we love our children and we love
our life and yay go us.” Y’all, this definition of love is surrounding us right
now in our friends. We don’t have to wait to feel this kind of love. Think
about your life experiences and all of the people you have met that have shown
you true friendship and asked nothing in return. Obviously there will be bumps
in the road. Things happen and people make mistakes, but true friendships can
overlook the obstacles. So, let’s go out and simply focus on being friends with
each other. You never know what is going on in someone’s life, but truly a
little friendship can go a long way.
RL
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