Rambling Brambles

I'm thankful for good friends in my life. This last weekend my dear friends Sarah and Matt came out from Wisconsin for the first time since they moved there in June of last year and it was like they had never left. It is nice to be known for who you are while being encouraged to be more. Not because who you are isn't good enough, but because who you're becoming is part of a divine plan. We talked about the struggle to keep walking when you don't know where you're going and the discipline it takes to remain on that road when it is hard. I think a big part of remaining on the road is the people around you. I had a really honest discussion with another friend this evening that reminded me to give people second chances (including myself). That grace often seems available to everyone else, but so hard to receive.

We went to a sort of impromptu wedding this weekend and it was beautiful to see how everyone pulled together to make it beautiful and special for the couple in the midst of family crisis. That is what the body of Christ should be. People coming together to make a really good party happen for other people who are hurting and then everyone just having a good time. I thought about if the wedding had been mine would I have been able to let it go and allow people to help me that way and you never know how you would really be in a situation, but I think it would be hard for me to ask for help like that. Watching it from the outside though was so healing to be able to believe that God can work through broken messed up people and situations to bring love and grace into people's lives.

My friend Anna Marie came over today and our plan was to paint together and instead we ended up going through a lot of my old work. She encouraged me to take pictures and send them out to see if I can get them shown. And I have felt so defeated as an artist lately that to have her extend grace to me by offering to help even with a little thing like that I felt renewed and hopeful that this road isn't totally endless with no viewpoints.

So before this wedding there was a shower for the bride sort of last minute and of course being last minute I didn't have a chance to buy anything so I made something instead. I made a small box that had a saying in it and I should probably take my own advice. (Stay with me this is going somewhere) Inside it said "Love is a scenic ride over a rocky trail" (cowboy poetry excerpt) and there was a small rock in the box. I wrote in the card that when the trail gets rocky use the rocks to build an alter. Alters remind us of the places we've been and the places that God has brought us out of. So I suppose that friends are sort of makeshift alters in our lives. They remind us of the people we are and the people we're becoming.