Well, here we are, Jess and Madison’s last day (and night) with us. To be honest I’m not quite sure who’s the most excited – Jess, Emily or me. I suspect it just might be Emily. The relief on her face when I told her the news was palpable. Of course it is a shame that the two girls were not able to get over their differences and I’m not sure I did a good enough job of helping Emily to make good choices, but then they are only seven and hardly emotionally mature. (Mind you, is emotional maturity about age at all?? Look at Claire!) I do feel a bit of a failure though.
Perhaps there’s also the fact that some friendships seem to be for a season of life and after that the close connection gets lost. I don’t know why that happens. At times I do wonder whether that’s what’s happening with Linley and me. We were once really close but the more that time goes on, the wider the divide between us seems to get. I don’t know if it’s circumstance (she’s working, I’m not), relationship (I’m married, she’s not) responsibility (I have a family, she just has herself to look after) or ideology (I’m still smarting after her anti-Bible comments) but it does seem that we have little in common any more. But is it right to abandon a friendship of such long standing? Whose job is it to overlook the differences and just love a person for who they are? Mine I suppose. The trouble is that it’s easier said than done when the recipient of the friendship keeps criticising you for the choices you’ve made in return. As clichéd as it sounds, it does take two to tango.
I’m going to put on a farewell dinner tonight as a bit of a send-off for Jess and Madison. What that entails at the moment I just don’t know so I will need to sign off shortly to get myself organised. On top of that, Andrew has invited Cameron and Ashley to come for dinner tomorrow night as well, so I guess I should kill two birds with one stone and get sorted for that too. At first I was a bit put out with Andrew that he invited them to come on our first night of freedom in weeks but in truth it will be good to see them and find out how things are going. We haven’t seen either of them since the funeral.
Anyway, I entrust all of this into your hands, and also want to pray for the other usual suspects in our lives as well. I’m afraid my prayers are not very good, are they, Lord? However, I figure you know much more just what each of our friends and family need so I pray you would be working in each of their lives for good, Lord. We did talk yesterday at Bible Study about godly wisdom and the difference between godly wisdom and worldly wisdom and I know for sure that if I was left to my own devices it would most likely be foolishness all the way. I lift all before you in your mighty name…Amen