Consistency? What's that?

When I was in high school - yes, they had them back then - keeping a diary was all the rage. I heard friends talking about theirs, how they hid them from their mothers and little brothers, how they wrote their deepest secrets in them. So I started one. I wrote in it a few times, and kept it locked and in the back of my closet. I really didn't have any shameful secrets to write about, thankfully, and found it difficult to find ANYTHING to put in it most days. So I skipped a lot of entries, then just stopped altogether. I don't even know what happened to that diary.

After our daughter, Tracee, was born, I started a journal (sounds more grown up than "diary") that I planned to give to her one day so that she would know what her childhood was like. I think I lasted about two months. I'm seeing a pattern here.

Now I find myself pressed to make time for blogging. It's hard to find anything to write about that might be remotely interesting to anyone else. Is this hard for anyone else???

So, as old-time story tellers used to say, the moral of the story is this. I'm reminded that I am a waverer, not completely reliable, inconsistent, in many areas of my life. I want to be more disciplined, but not to the point of becoming so predictable that I'm boring. (Ever know anyone like that?) I desire consistency. I find such consistency not in me, but in the Savior I serve. "Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:7,8 What a fantastic truth. Me? Not consistent. Jesus? ALWAYS CONSISTENT. NEVER CHANGING. ALWAYS HERE WITH ME.

Now that's worth writing about!

A visit from a friend...

Today a long time friend came to my house for lunch. We've been friends for more than 25 years and live less than 20 miles apart. But we usually never get together more than two or three times a year. This year has been different, though. We saw each other about eight weeks ago, also for lunch.

I thought after she left what a refreshment to my spirit her visit was. We ate chicken, pasta salad, watermelon, and blueberry cobbler. We drank iced tea and laughed. Talked about her trip to the mountains planned for this Fall.

You know how it is, ladies, when you get to spend time with a friend who encourages you, loves you with all your flaws, genuinely likes being with you. (And I think it is a girl thing that men just don't understand completely.)

Paul, the Apostle, mentions the mutual encouragement of believers in several of his New Testament letters. Romans 1:11-12 "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong - that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." That is what happened today. Each was encouraged by the other. Built up. Edified.

I'm so grateful for the friends I have been blessed to have. But wait, there's more. The God of the universe counts me His friend! That is almost too much to grasp. But He does. Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants...instead I have called you friends." John 15:14-17. And better yet, He will never leave me. Never. Ever.

Awesome truth from an Awesome God.