Safety in Friends

I'm thinking of my morning...........it started out slowly with some meditation, reading, coffee and breakfast......

.........quiet house with hubby at work, girls sleeping in as they do all summer, most of the summer..........

.......checking Facebook to see if my cell phone problem of setting my status' via the phone was working yet, I noticed one from a friend who is up visiting from Florida.  She used to be in our Got Teens?! small group.  She was asking if anyone wanted to meet for coffee........

.........and I felt the nudge to be hospitable.

Me.

.....with the mess all around of a bathroom ceiling being fixed and repainted......the dust of that, the clutter in a corner of the family room because glass jars of sea glass and shells and  thick hand towels, toothbrushes, toilet paper, and digital scale have to go somewhere while the guest bathroom is being redone...........

...............I hadn't even taken a shower yet!!

.........Yet....something said "invite her over".

So I did

And...there was a safe feeling to this for me..........

.......a "not embarrassed at how my home looks right now" feeling.

I quickly cleaned out the earlier coffee from the brewer and wiped down counters, put dishes in the dishwasher and straightened books on the coffee tables.........took a fast shower and opened my home.

............and what a relief that this friend...this younger mom and I could chat again after so many months of not seeing each other......it was like she had never left!

Sharing the joys and trials of having young teens!

Sharing about churches and ministries and our lives from the past year........

.........and sharing heartaches I've felt regarding mutual friends.........and learning that I am not the only one to be concerned with some things we've been involved with........and....after sharing certain things, the knowing that there is safety with this friend.....we have a reciprocal relationship. Feeling safe to vent, to share, to discuss, to pray...........

............safe to know that someone feels the same way and doesn't judge or dismiss...........safe to know that confidences remain confidences and love remains love and friendships moving on and growing on.......

and the strength to say to self "it's ok to feel the way I do because someone else feels the same way....." for different reasons, but can still relate.

and God melted my heart a little bit....my stone cold heart that has felt frozen on one side and bright and sunny and warm on the other side....He is melting pieces of it by surrounding me with safe friends.........safe meaning emotionally safe....spiritually strong.....and being able to share the struggles and smooth rides, the joy and the tears, the faith and frustrations.

....God gives us safety in friendships............

...........and shows us on earth, the Safe One who is a forever Friend.......waiting for us........

So....thank you to my friend A for coming over for coffee......it reminded me of just what it means to do life together....community......

caring........

.............even when surrounded by a messy house................