Paul places great value on friends. At the end of most of his letters, he leaves the weighty themes of theology to greet his friends. He tells them he is longing to see them, thanking them for their prayers and practical help.
We took an early holiday this year and have been at home during the school holidays, so we have wanted to use this time creatively.
My sister, whilst researching our family tree, discovered a group of cousins that we did not know existed. Correspondence, emails, and phone calls eventually led to establishing contact. So we put a plan into motion to go to Southport and see one of these cousins, had a wonderful time, short, but full of fascinating discoveries, and the promise of more contact.
As we were working on this, I felt the Lord challenge me about “relationships.” We often just say “hello” at the end of a church service, and yet hardly know the people we are talking with. Equally it’s so easy to think about old friends, wonder how they are, think about picking up the phone or sending an email, and yet in the busyness of life do nothing.
Into such a scenario, I decided not to procrastinate and rang two old friends, which led to a quickly arranged, spontaneous meal together when we soon realised why we valued them and had a wonderful time compressing the events of the past years into a few hours. We were refreshed and re-connected.
We have a large family and it is easy to lose contact or to only hear news by the grape vine, and then to suddenly realise that months have passed with little or no contact – so a family lunch together with Charles’ sisters was a real blessing.
Last Sunday, we had fired up a real charcoal barbecue for our granddaughter Gillian, who will be leaving for university in September. After all the unsettled weather, we were blessed with warmth and sunshine and had a great time with all our family who live near us.
It takes effort to arrange get-togethers but we need each other and ‘family’ is God’s ideal support system. I know of one family that has an annual ‘cousins day’ hosted by different families each year.
If you all bring and share food, the costs don’t mount up, and it makes it easy for everyone. Why wait for funerals or weddings to meet friends and family?
So this summer, we are having fun meeting up with family, friends as well as new acquaintances; phoning those less accessible and planning to do more to keep friendships active.
We took an early holiday this year and have been at home during the school holidays, so we have wanted to use this time creatively.
My sister, whilst researching our family tree, discovered a group of cousins that we did not know existed. Correspondence, emails, and phone calls eventually led to establishing contact. So we put a plan into motion to go to Southport and see one of these cousins, had a wonderful time, short, but full of fascinating discoveries, and the promise of more contact.
As we were working on this, I felt the Lord challenge me about “relationships.” We often just say “hello” at the end of a church service, and yet hardly know the people we are talking with. Equally it’s so easy to think about old friends, wonder how they are, think about picking up the phone or sending an email, and yet in the busyness of life do nothing.
Into such a scenario, I decided not to procrastinate and rang two old friends, which led to a quickly arranged, spontaneous meal together when we soon realised why we valued them and had a wonderful time compressing the events of the past years into a few hours. We were refreshed and re-connected.
We have a large family and it is easy to lose contact or to only hear news by the grape vine, and then to suddenly realise that months have passed with little or no contact – so a family lunch together with Charles’ sisters was a real blessing.
Last Sunday, we had fired up a real charcoal barbecue for our granddaughter Gillian, who will be leaving for university in September. After all the unsettled weather, we were blessed with warmth and sunshine and had a great time with all our family who live near us.
It takes effort to arrange get-togethers but we need each other and ‘family’ is God’s ideal support system. I know of one family that has an annual ‘cousins day’ hosted by different families each year.
If you all bring and share food, the costs don’t mount up, and it makes it easy for everyone. Why wait for funerals or weddings to meet friends and family?
So this summer, we are having fun meeting up with family, friends as well as new acquaintances; phoning those less accessible and planning to do more to keep friendships active.
