Friends and Gates

Today I am taking the children to the pool. Four of my children and two of their friends. Two of my children are at camp at Precept Ministries.

Let's talk about their friends.

One friends is Miss Faithful. She loved us when she met us and she just seems to keep right on doing it. Love people who can love long. That's the kind of friend I want to be and teach my children to be. I always tell my children once a friend ALWAYS a friend. No matter what. Sure there will be seasons of life that people will enter and that people will exit. It's the re-entering part that intrigues me. I've had people who've exited my life reappear and I tend to like fresh starts. Cause time always allows us opportunity to learn how to do life better.... and that works on both sides.

The other friend was a promise. I promised this child that he could come over. Let me share a little bit of his life with you. He is one of five brothers that live in a motel room. His mother is seeking help in rehab right now. I told him he could come over when my son got back from camp. I've known him for a year now through church and he is a sweet, sweet boy. He's the kind of kid that turns you into a "yes mom". Whatever he wants, you want to give him.

There is something about opening your life and home to the poor that makes living good. Real good. There is a depth of goodness that can only be experienced when one is mindful of another's need.

I was thinking about the story of Lazarus in the Bible. Lazarus was poor. He sat outside the rich man's gate and longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. It doesn't say he ate the rich man's crumbs. It said he longed to.

I realized that we all have gates. And we all have someone sitting outside of them longing for something we have the means to give them. Some people long to hear someone sing. Others long to read something one writes. One may long to be included in your circle of friends. The list is endless.

I don't have people longing to hear me sing or begging me to write something. I don't even have a lot of people asking me for money or for me to cook them a meal. But I do have children who long to be apart of our lives. They want to see what a home looks like, how a mother behaves and witness proof of a happy marriage. They long for vision and the comfort being apart of a family provides.

Some people are afraid of doing too much for people. We should be more afraid of doing too little. If Mother Teresa is in heaven right this minute being rebuked for doing too much I would be surprised. Yes, wisdom is a constant need. But so often I think we mistake fear for wisdom. When we fear we'll find that all we've accomplished is keeping our gates securely locked.

Who is outside your gate? Is there anything you can do to help?