Our family’s grow.
I was sitting outside of a local coffee shop a few weeks ago with some friends. A storm was brewing around us. We could feel the cool air being pushed out from the storm just to our south. The giant clouds just looming behind us just as we sitting taking in the moment with each other. I was perfectly content sitting there just being in the moment sharing what was going on in our lives with each other.
Moments like those, I cherish so much. These friends are some of the closest I have. We have been through so many valleys together but we have also been atop many mountains together also. We have all known each other for over 12 years now. We have not always been friends. Many times I have pissed them off, many times they have pissed me off. But that is life. These are the friends I will keep in touch with during the race. They are the ones who will go on road trips with randomly.They will wound me with their honesty in the way that shows me that they love me. These friends will be the ones who will be watching me wait for my future bride while she walks down the aisle later on in life. They are the ones who have transcended friendship, they are family.
It is weird how the word family changes. When we were young, our family were the ones who we spent all our time around. They were the ones who we traveled with, they were the ones who wound us with truth. I argued with my sisters all the time. We would bicker over the smallest things. We would bicker just too bicker. We are now grown. One sister is married and lives in town but we have very different lives now. My other sister is working full time in another City 4 hours away from where I am. I get to see her only 3 or 4 times a year now. They are still my family though, the stage of lives and the distance does not change that. These friends are my family also. I go to them now for advice. I celebrate with them through their victories and they celebrate with me in my victories. They call they life out of me. They see my potential and what Jesus has done in my life and they continue to remind me of who I am daily. I have cried on their shoulders, they have cried on mine. They are my family.
This next stage of my life is scary. They encourage me, remind me of the amazing grace that has led me to where I am currently. I do not want leave behind my family. But that is the funny part, I will be meeting my new family when I leave. I will be side by side my new family everyday for a year. Seeing the world, eating around tables, battling sickness with them, living next to them, and experiencing God with them by my side. I will be meeting my brothers and sisters. We will be worshiping our beloved Creator through the 11 countries that we will be traveling through. The friendship we will be create through this coming year will be unlike any that I have right now. They will be my family in that year. I know I will keep in touch with them as our ways part. I am sure that I will drive hours to go see them again. I am sure I will see their faces when I walk down the aisle later in life also. I know they will wound me with honesty through the phone or in person. I know that with them I will share some of my most amazing memories of my life. I know they will become my family.
Our family is always growing and that is a good thing.
