I don't have anything particularly novel to say in this post. All I have is a very simple and honest reflection on the powerful presence of a friend.
I experienced two such moments yesterday, both life giving, and both on the surface, very brief and insignificant seeming. But they were not insignificant.
In one of these moments, I spent time with an old friend from back home, who also lives in this blessed land of sunshine and warmth in winter. We walked around Add's campus and talked for no more than an hour. In the other, the lady we live with returned home after about a month of being out of the country, and it would be untruthful of me to say that I was not very, very encouraged by her presence back in the home we share. We spent an hour or two reconnecting with her at the dining room table last night.
Two small blips in my day. Nothing "significant" or very personal was discussed either time. My primary focus of the day was not centered around these moments, yet when the day was over, I found myself reflecting, surprised by the deep capacity they had to make me feel so many different things- hopeful, relaxed, blessed, strong- what blessed and intoxicating air to breathe.
So simply, thank you to my friends, who help encourage me to be who I want to be, who I know I am, who God made me to be- if by nothing more than a few moments of simple, presence. It can have the power sometimes to be nearly inexpressibly delightful.
