Living Simply: Seasonal Friends vs. Lifelong Friends

Lately, I've been reading a book by Joanne Heim called "Living Simply." My friend Katie Murrey let me borrow it after a deep conversation we had when I visited her in Toccoa a few months ago. It's about choosing less in a world of more, and I love it so far. The chapters are entitled A Simple Life, A Simple Home, A Simple Family, A Simple Friendship, A Simple Sabbath, etc. Last night a read A Simple Friendship, and I just had to share a few things from it! Heim writes, "I think friends can be divided into two groups-- friends for a season and friends for a lifetime. Looking at all of the friends in my life, I'm sometimes surprised by which is which. Friends for a season are those close to us when our lives intersect at a certain point-- living in a certain neighborhood, going to the same schoool/college/church, sharing a similar interest. Friends for life are those friends we are connected to despite divergent interests, distance, or time. They are the kinds of friends with whom you can just pick up where you left off without any akwardness (I was delighted to find my name written in blue pen next to this sentence. This next sentence is something I needed to hear, because I tend to feel guilty when I start to drift away from my seasonal friends). Both kinds of friends are important, both kinds of friends can sharpen us, both kinds are okay and wonderful to have. I want my friends, of any kind, to sharpen me, who will challenge me and gently help me see those things in myself that should be changed, and who will cheer me on to continue to grow in Christ. I want friends who are walking down the same path, not pulling me in another direction (she's referring to Amos 3:3, which says, 'Can two walk together unless they have agreed' (being unequally yolked)). I want friends whom I aspire to be like. I find myself befriending women I admire and look up to." Then she names a few friends and their qualities she loves, and I wanted to do the same! I want to be an incredible wife like Katie, trusting in God and full of life like Lindsey, confident like Emily, a wise mother like Celia, honest and genuine like Jessica, optimistic like Kara, and sensitive to the Holy Spirit like Sandi. I love you all :) 

speaking of greener grass...

Tanner and I have decided how to begin to decorate our house :) Knowing I have (most) all we already need, this is more for gift ideas, registry ideas, and dreams to collect over years and years. We want our home to reflect the place we love the most... the location we hold the most memories in... a natural, comfortable environment... the outdoors (and more specifically, the woods). Here are some dream pictures... 

Grass

I was thinking today about my home. When I have too much time on my hands, I turn on HGTV and watch all the DIY shows about renovating your house for next to nothing, and then start looking around. I wish I had picked different colors. I want to COMPLETELY re-do the bedroom... sick (what was I thinking). I shouldn't have bought that. I wish I had this. Kitty needs to quit shedding on my furniture. I wonder if they make a pet-hair-picker-upper that actually works. What cleans tile grout? Why can't my house get cold enough? Well, Kitty does eat the bugs, so that's good. Then, there are those moments when I come in from fishing outside in July, or from a long vacation, and I just about kiss the floor. Those petty things begin to fade, and I realize that HGTV just gives me a glimpse of greener grass; not a happier, more God-centered home. Then I started to think about my home church: Kiokee. Lately, I have focused on the petty things, like music, ministries for my age group, etc., and have lost sight of the only kids ministry in Georgia that I would place my kids in, its men's ministry that builds men up in Christ, who go home to lead their families to Christ, its pastors who are incredibly educated yet humble, Godly men, and most importantly, its ability as a whole to be Biblically sound and God-centered. Lately, I have lost my priorities in tall, greener grass. But thank you Lord for a grounded, patient, fiance who waited for me to realize this fact, while keeping an open mind to my adventure and praying for me through it. God has a place and a time for all of His people in different churches across the world, and as for us, as for now, it is at Kiokee.