I’ve been debating whether or not to share this, but I’ve decided I will. Death eventually happens to all of us—as Ray Comfort likes to say, ten out of ten people die. Over the last few months, two good friends of ours, both older Christians, have gone on to glory. Here are my goodbyes to them.
The following was written the evening we heard of Barry’s passing on.
Last Saturday, I had just gotten back from my walk and picked up a pen to do some more review editing when my phone rang. It was Dad, asking if I could come with him and the boys to show them where the walnut trees were that my boss had offered to us. Sure! So I grabbed my camera, and soon we were on the way. My only job was to show them the trees, which meant I had enough time to take a few pictures of the workers. (Don’t worry; I did pick up my share of nuts when we went to another friend’s place to get some more!)
Last week was a great week! Somewhat different from what I expected, but still a good week.
This week is looking interesting—our washer died about a week ago, so we need to get another one. That’s one day away from home, and then this weekend we’re hosting a Creation ministry meeting, which will be lots of fun but there will be some prep work that needs to be done. We’ll also get to have friends visit or come for dinner then, which is extra wonderful!
Anyway, with three different days full this next week, I’m planning a fairly light workload. Hopefully, I’ll have more time to work than I think I will, but we’ll see.
These last few days, I’ve been really wondering what a Biblical perspective for guy/girl relationships is. How are we girls supposed to treat guys? Is it possible to be friends with a guy, and yet not have to worry about coming across as romantically interested when all you intend to do is simply be a friend? For me, it hasn’t been that hard to be friends with other girls. Yes, I’m always nervous when I meet new people, and am generally pretty quiet until I get to know them better. But I’ve never really had the chance to be friends with guys, probably at least partly due to the fact that I’m always worried that I’ll come across in a different way than I intend to.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about this, and while I’m sure I don’t have the entire answer yet, I think I’ve found the key to the solution.
My problem is that I’ve always imagined friendships with guys with the view of them being possible future marriage partners. Never simply as “friends”.
Last week was a success in my opinion, and even though I didn’t get everything done I’m satisfied with what was accomplished.
Planning has always been a sore point for me. I love the idea; love the feel of paper under my fingers and seeing plans take shape before me. I can easily spend hours reading productivity blogs about how one could go about making a plan for what you want to do in a year, broken down into quarters, months, weeks, and finally days. I love it, I really do.
Yet this morning, as I was mulling over the words from Proverbs: “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule…” (12:24), I realized how very lazy I have been about my work lately. How little I’ve accomplished, and how much I’ve let the important things slip.