Tuesday, June 24, 2008

So This I Know To Be True 2

I have blogged about friendship before, extensively I think. However, over the last few weeks or so I have had some relational experiences myself and watched a friend or two struggle through theirs. I had lost contact with a heart friend from childhood who I recently found via email and it has been such a joy catching up. I have also just this week "reconnected-still" as they put it, with a friend from not so long ago and it has been life giving to me. It has made me think about what really matters in friendship, in intimate community and in walking together as disciples. God has blessed me with friendships that I treasure.

1. Friendships that matter and stand the tests of life take time, investment, courage and truth.
2. Without truth, nothing grows.
3. Parting really is such sweet sorrow.
4. Unverbalized expectations leave everyone involved angry.
5. If we live out relationships with a sense of expectancy instead of expectation we are all blessed.
6. Going to the hard places to allow light to illuminate all the dark places is priceless.
7. Trust and confidentiality are essential and such an honor!
8. With vulnerability comes depth and friendship becomes something sacred.
9. Intimacy, connectivity and relational chemistry is rare but when experienced incredible.
10.Fun is not overrated.
11.This is what God intended.

5 Silly Summer Facts

A really special friend emailed me this tag message for 5 Silly Summer Facts, so here goes.

1. Favorite Summer Drink: either Mango tea at WaterStill (a local incredible water place) or a Vitamin Water.

2. Favorite Summer Color: White, Green, Pink

3. Favorite Summer Vacation: Beach

4. Favorite Summer Memory: Christmas, I grew up in South Africa...December is summer.

5.Favorite Summer Meal: Anything on the grill, potato salad, beans, corn on the cob, bread, fruit - yummo!

Now its your turn.......add your favorites.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

On A More Serious Note...

It has cracked me up that ever since I promised to write something funny I have had an absolute block. Nothing. Which goes to prove the point of the previous post....:-)

For those of you who know me, you already realize that this has led to hours of self reflection. Several months ago I was in a discussion with some friends that revealed things about myself that I did not know to be true. I have always viewed myself as a funny person. I am extroverted and usually a little inappropriate. I love people and laugh a lot. The logical conclusion in my head was that others would describe me as a fun person. However, I was asked to speak at an event and the organizer was a little concerned that I would not understand the light-hearted vibe of the evening. She was hesitant because I tend to be "heavy." Hmmmm...
I was really shocked by it and so was retelling the story to one of my elders over lunch one day and he cracked a huge smile. That led to more conversation in which he said that he would describe me as "intense." Now factor in the teasing over the snooze inducing blog post and my friend Jennifer telling me that I "ask questions with vigor" and you can see the self analysis crisis that is beginning to brew in my head.

How do people see me? Am I not fun? Am I too intense? Do I scare people? Do I drain them? Yikes.....I started thinking about my friends and the kind of people I am easily drawn to and yep, they tend to be the intense ones too. I started thinking about my favorite conversations and yep, they are the intense ones. I thought about the favorites parts of marriage, and yep one of them is the time we spend discussing the intense stuff. It seems to make sense that given the choice between hanging out with friends talking versus playing a card game, I will picking talking every time. It helps make sense of the fact that spending 2 hours in a movie theatre as a date holds little appeal to me versus conversation or something more engaging relationally. It makes sense that my favorite genre of TV is reality because I am so intrigued by the way the people behave and I can interact with it. It makes sense that being back in school has been my sanity because I can be as bookish or geeky as I need to be and it makes complete sense given the context.

And so I proudly declare today that I am fully embracing my intense self and am mourning the fictional version of myself that I thought was true. Seriously.