Less Lonely
“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.”
January 1 came and went like a racehorse in my house. A sore throat and cold knocked me down, and I spent most of the day either resting or sanitizing my hands over and over as I tried to make food for my people that wouldn’t make them sick, too. I’m not a very good rester, which usually means I lay there and let my mind wander and spin and try to keep track of the important spots along my train of thought to act on later. Today, I slept more than I swirled, but one thought emerged for action later...
As I was laying there alone and yucky on New Years Day, I thought of other people I knew enjoying parties, picking their top nines, and setting resolutions or words of the year or some other visionary thing. I felt stuck and still and slow and lonely. It made me think of my friends who might also be feeling lonely - the one healing for weeks after surgery, the one in the isolation and exhaustion bubble at home with a new baby, the one who didn’t get the NYE invite they were hoping for, the one who just moved to town, whose whole house got the viral crud, and who has a heavy decision to make and don’t know what to do. I thought of them. Because that’s the stuff we all go through, and I know how isolating some of those things can feel.
The friends who have entered our lives and frequented our home over the years, most often our discipleship family, have truly been ornaments of beauty around here. Memories of their visits bring me light and life. And so the thought that swirled and stuck for me yesterday was being a friend like that for my friends. Reaching out to check on people, dropping off a blessing to let them know they are not alone, and inviting people over and letting them inside - even in the stages of life when it’s messy or hard to do so. Because together really IS better.
Discipleship is relationship. As God's people, we're here to love on folks and to be loved, because God is love and because we experience his love oftentimes through each other. Which of your friends might need you to reach out to them today or to invite them in? Let’s make the world and our imperfect homes less lonely this year.