Friends

Courage Giver

| Marie Griffith

I received the best kind of text this morning. A spontaneous one from a friend who thought about me, then texted me to let me know she thought about me. That would have been enough to make me smile but she sent a powerful message of encouragement and some verses for me to think about throughout the week.

Her encouragement turned a manic Monday into a happy one.

Another friend and I are wrapping up our study of Ephesians this week, so I was reading the final verses of chapter 6. Paul ends the letter telling the believers at Ephesus he is sending Tychicus to them.

Ever heard of Tychicus? I’ve read his name several times, but I skimmed right over it without a second thought. His name is found in Acts and other letters and it’s obvious Tychicus was close with Paul and an important part of the ministry. Paul called him a beloved brother and a faithful minister and sent the man to update them on what’s happening with everything. What makes me wonder about this guy, Tychicus, is what Paul says about why he is sending him.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.   Ephesians 6:22

He says the exact same thing in Colossians 4:7-8. He sent Tychicus to encourage their hearts.

Paul knew what it was to be discouraged and feel weighed down with doubt and worry. He knew the pain of loneliness and fear and remembered how words of truth and encouragement were vital during his darkest seasons.

When Paul couldn’t do it himself, he sent Tychicus to give courage to weary hearts. To strengthen weakened faith. To uplift downcast faces. To give hope and light and love.

We are told to encourage one another too. (2 Corinthians 13:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:11) And do it daily, as long as it’s called today. (Hebrews 3:13)

Because every one of us needs courage.

We don’t know what each person is facing each day, but we can guess from personal experience it’s hard a lot of times. A kind word from a friend can bring a moment of sweetness in the most terrible day. Someone cheering us on can give us the extra push we need to keep at it. A note reminding us of God’s promises can lift us from sadness and help us keep believing the promises.

My friend sent a text. Paul sent Tychicus. Both were courage givers and God only knows what good happened because hearts were encouraged.

 

For more information about Monday School, visit the Monday School page.

 

Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

 

Full House

| Marie Griffith

I’ll share what’s been on my mind all day, although I’m not sure it qualifies as Monday School.

Yesterday, we celebrated Father’s Day with the grill going outside and the sound of the U.S. Open in the background on the inside. That’s the way we celebrated Father’s Day when Dad was here. I always thought Dad should get a break from the grill on Father’s Day, but he didn’t see it that way.

Now my husband mans the grill for all the other dads and when he’s finished with that, flips the channel back and forth from golf to rodeo.

We laugh and talk around the table. The uncles tease the little ones and the boys throw the football in the yard. The kids play tag and climb the rope swing and we pose for pictures in front of the prettiest tree.

Here we are, in the same house, all these years later, celebrating the important days much like we used to. Our house was full on Christmas and Mother’s Day and some other days too. It will be full again soon. Same love, new generation.

Good people, good food, good times.

And all I could think about was grace…..God’s boundless, beautiful grace.

 

Photo by Aral Tasher on Unsplash

 

 

Glad You’re Here

| Marie Griffith

Some of my friends and I ran in a Warrior Dash today. The hills, rocky terrain, mud, and obstacles challenged us, and one of us cheered from the sidelines. I know that was its own kind of challenge. But today was not about the race as much as it was about being together.

We started training in 2016 to make our bodies stronger. We continued into 2017 because we realized getting stronger together was a lot more fun. Our workouts did our bodies good, but it did our hearts good too.

Long runs are a great time for long talks. Sometimes sweating it out can lead to crying it out. And laughing while attempting a perfectly executed bear crawl is just good for the soul.

My daughter’s friend asked me why I race. The medal is nice, the crazy warrior hat is fun and I like working hard to get to the finish line.

But more than anything, today was about friendship.

It was about us saying to one another, “I’m glad you’re here!”

“We don’t really make friends, they make us.”
Bob Goff

This Time Tomorrow

| Marie Griffith

As a young girl, I did this thing when I looked forward to something and especially when I dreaded something. I’m unsure why, but the time passed better when I did it.

The day before the fifth grade spelling bee I said to myself, “This time tomorrow I’ll be spelling these words.”

A week before my family’s move to Chattanooga, “This time next week we’ll live in a new house.”

A few days before an oral presentation in my senior English class, “This time next week my presentation will be over.”

I still do this. All the time.

IMG_20180311_140856434_HDRBefore a job interview. Training for a race. Preparing a speech. Looking forward to a trip. Writing my book. It’s just this thing I do.

I’m doing it now.

This time tomorrow I’ve hiked five miles, set up our camp, and I’m sitting around a fire with friends and family. This will be my first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. It’s a three day, two night adventure. We’ve been preparing for weeks for the trip and I anticipate it will be everything I expect and then some.

We’ve gathered our gear, practiced the tent set up, and some of us hiked on Sunday to get the feel of carrying our loaded backpacks. The closer it gets the more excited I get.IMG_6312

The weather says we’ll be hiking and camping in snow. What beauty awaits us!

This time tomorrow……..

 

Extraordinary Things

| Marie Griffith

Today’s Monday School is about friends and faith and the extraordinary things that can happen when those come together.

The story is told in three of the Gospels….Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In my opinion, the one in Luke is the better story. This is a familiar story to some of us but when I read it Saturday morning it meant something to me it’s never meant before.

I won’t type out the story but it’s found in Luke 5:17-26. It begins with “on one of those days” and ends with “we have seen extraordinary things today.” A lot happens between those two phrases with the religious people and Jesus’ authority, but I want to focus on the man and his friends.

The man couldn’t walk and he had friends. Good friends. The kind that lived like it matters and helped their friend be well. They carried the man on his mat through the streets to the home where a crowd gathered to hear Jesus teach. The doorway was blocked because of the crowd so the men carried their friend up to the roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus.

“And when Jesus saw their faith…..”

Jesus didn’t ask a question and the men didn’t speak to Jesus. Jesus saw their faith. The faith that wavered when the crowd was too thick to get their friend in through the door. The faith that grew weary of the long haul through the streets and the one up to the roof. The faith that thought the whole thing was crazy and wondered if it was even worth it. The faith that wanted to give up.

But faith is stronger with friends. When this friend’s faith wavered, that friend’s didn’t. When three of them wanted to turn around and wait until the crowd was gone, the other one was determined. When two of them thought they were too exhausted to go on, the other two cheered them on. When one of them wanted to give up on it all, the other ones patiently reminded him of their paralyzed friend’s need. And let’s not forget about the faith of the man on the mat. It took a lot of guts and even more trust to let his friends carry him around on his mat, then lower him through a roof.

And every step was worth it when Jesus spoke to the man. First, Jesus met the man’s deepest soul need and forgave his sins. Then he took care of his physical need and made him walk again.  

Jesus saw their faith. Certainly not perfect faith, maybe not great faith, but a stronger faith because they were together. The faith that made them do the hard work of helping their friend. The faith to keep going, one hard step after another.

The people were filled with awe and said, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

The 2017 Roundup

| Marie Griffith

Changes bring…….well, changes. No matter what kind it is, loss is difficult. While my family and I dealt with loss because of a necessary but painful ending, 2017 was a grand year. I wrote Broken about a month before the ending. I see now that I was writing anticipating the difficulty of what would come with it, reminding myself of God’s goodness and faithfulness. I wrote Against the Odds too. Although my parents’ story prompted the post, writing it out strengthened my resolve to do what we knew we had to do. There were hard things in 2017 but through them we’ve experienced abundant blessings, and more clarity and peace than we imagined.

2017 was another year of firsts, lots of growth, and wonderful beginnings. I made new friends and reconnected with long time ones. Some friendships deepened while others faded.

I started the year training with some of the same ladies I trained with in 2016 to run our second Spartan race. A co-worker joined us and she and I formed an even closer friendship. Something special happens when you train together on a regular basis. She helped me through a tough time, let me cry at her desk more than a few times, and listened without judgment. IMG_5273Our group conquered the Spartan Sprint in April and I wrote about it in my post Together Again.

I moved at soul-speed more this year than in recent years and got into a healthy rhythm of life. The kind of unforced rhythms we’re meant to live. I was more attentive to my family, took better care of myself, wrote more, and was able to notice the people and what was happening around me so I could live like it matters.

I volunteered as the Content Director at a non-profit start-up for the first five months of the year, rejoined my local Toastmasters club in June to hone my speaking skills, and am a founding member of a writers group called The Thinklings. This group of writers has been a significant source of encouragement, knowledge, and inspiration. I also took on more responsibility in my job and am enjoying the opportunities and challenges that come with it.

I’ve observed Lent in previous years but this year offered a unique occasion to partner with a friend while reading a Lent devotional called Bread and Wine and writing weekly about our journeys. And So I Began was the beginning of my Lent journey. My heart was especially tender and open during this time. A few of my most raw Lent posts are Take Heart, I’m Like Them, and Done. I feel it when I read them even now.

Another friend presented me with an opportunity to write a story for a magazine. I turned him down, but that was fear talking. Fortunately, I realized it in time to say yes and had my first ever article published in an online magazine. I wrote about how it almost didn’t happen in Face Your Fear. This led to another article being published in the same magazine, only this story was personal. Very personal. I wrote about my journey to that article in Out of The Dark. Both posts have links to the magazine stories if you want to read them.

In July, I went to my first writers conference and wrote about all I learned there in The Take Away. In August, my daughters and I enjoyed viewing the eclipse together, and while I wondered at the moon covering the sun, I was in awe of my daughter’s heart. I wrote about it in Eclipse.

bridal party cute af 1.jpgAs summer neared its end, the wedding planning was in full swing. My oldest daughter was showered with lots of love and gifts from family and friends. I was asked to pray for her at one of the showers and wrote about it in Keeping the Promises. Her October wedding was beautiful. She moved in to her husband’s house and her brother moved back in to ours. Our son is home, for now, from Colorado and working toward his next goal.IMG_6095.jpg

My youngest daughter inspired my most viewed post of 2017 and ever. It’s called Look What You Made Me Do. I connected Taylor Swift’s song with my daughter’s experience at a new high school and lots of people related.

I began a new feature on my blog called Monday School in the fall. It was a challenge at times but I didn’t miss a Monday and I’m going to continue my Monday School posts into 2018.

The fall also brought the most challenging race I’ve run to date. With six other ladies, I ran a Spartan Super near Atlanta, Georgia. It was 9.4 miles of hard. Then in December, six of us joined the Spartan Trifecta club by completing the 13.5 mile Beast in Tampa, Florida. I wrote about the anticipation of accomplishing the Trifecta in Making It Happen. Though the Beast was longer and colder, the Super had the hills that killed.

What a way to end the year! IMG_5897-COLLAGE

2018 is full of possibilities. I will do my best work at my job. We will continue meeting in homes for church in 2018 and I want to teach a ladies Bible study this year. I’ll attend another writers conference and hope to collaborate on a few projects with other writers and artists. I will continue to run and now I can see the possibility of a half marathon. Several friends are interested in doing a Spartan race and I may lead them to a 2018 Spartan Trifecta. It’s a good way to keep me training.

But of all the possibilities in 2018…….none is better than love. So with God’s help, I will love my family and friends better and better. I will notice and be present with the people around me. And I won’t waste an opportunity to live like it matters.

“So let us love, dear love, like as we ought, 
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.”            

Edmund Spenser – from Amoretti LXVIII: Most Glorious Lord of Life

featured photo by Joanna Schley from her Doors of Decatur series

Finally

Share Your Story

| Marie Griffith

Each of us has a tale to tell if we would only tell it.
Frederick Buechner

Your story matters. Your little stories, your big ones, the whole story of your life so far.

We learn about ourselves and others and the world through stories. They change us and connect us. Stories deepen our understanding of one another. Stories help us see what really matters…..past what we wear, our age, and the color of our skin. Past what we fix up and try to hide. Stories help us see the heart. A friend recently wrote, “Stories push us to grace.”

But I’m not talking about our Instagram stories, or any of the ones we post to social media. I’m talking about sharing your life. Your life is a story and a collection of thousands of stories and your stories are best told within relationships.

I’m talking about the kind of stories shared with a group of friends over lunch. The face to face kind you share with your teenager because he’s struggling with his faith. Listening to a story that makes you laugh so hard your face hurts. Sharing the stories of triumph or fear, tragedy and faith, joy, failure, hope and love. And especially the stories that bring tears to our eyes.

So no matter how you do it, keep up with your stories. Write them out in a journal. Share them with those you’re close to. Type them out on a blog, whether you publish it or not. Because it’s important to keep track of our stories. Our real stories. The messy ones we prefer no one to know. The ones about living inside ourselves and those that make us uncomfortable.

We keep track of our stories so we don’t forget who we are. So we remember what we’ve seen and felt and lived through. Because when your friend goes through the same thing, you can be there, sharing your story, and making your friend feel less alone. Or you sit there and say nothing at all because you remember the times it was all you needed.

Keeping track of our stories help us remember those things. If we lose track of our stories, we lose the ability to connect with people in the most essential way – heart to heart. We forget how to be with people and try to fix them instead. We forget compassion and empathy.

We forget how it feels.

Jesus was a storyteller and ever compassionate. He was weary and thirsty when he met a woman from Samaria. The woman was an outsider, looked down upon by those around her because of her lifestyle, but Jesus didn’t treat her any differently than he treated anyone else. Possibly for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel shamed. Jesus told her everything she ever did. She was seen and understood and known. The woman was so heartened by this she went into town to tell the story.

She didn’t wait until all her problems were solved or her circumstances changed. She shared Jesus with others right in the midst of her messy, complicated life.

God uses the stories of our lives. The happy times, the messy ones, the ones that almost killed us, and even the ones we think can’t be used. All for His glory.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony,……. John 4:39  ESV

Share your lives. Tell your stories. Live like it matters.

With a Friend

| Marie Griffith

With a friend…..

You can be yourself, but if you’re not she notices.

You can share the deepest parts of you.

Sad or mad or glad. It’s all the same to her because she loves you no matter what.

She knows your story and you know hers.

With her, it’s okay to not be okay.

She listens because she cares.

She’ll let you be scared but help you be brave.

Your laugh makes her laugh. Her tears break your heart.

It always feels like yesterday even when it’s been a while.

She makes you better because she lifts you up.

It’s easy with her because she loves you just the way you are, whenever you are.

And you do the same.

My friends have walked with me through the happiest and darkest of days.

A friend taught me to listen because I watched her listen.

One of them taught me how to give a good hug. Another how to make the best homemade bread you’ve ever tasted.

One taught me how to lead and follow, one how to forgive again and again.

And some have given me the confidence to do what I thought I could never do.

That’s what friends do.

I’m better because I have the best kind of friends.

Friend

Together Again

| Marie Griffith

IMG_5264I raced in my 2nd Spartan Sprint at Fort Benning, Georgia this weekend.

Before you’re tempted to think I’m a hard core athlete or a fitness guru, let me tell you, I am not. I’m a 40-something wife and mother of three who ran my first 5K two years ago in honor of my mother and to support the local hospice organization that helped care for her.

Something changed when I trained for and finished my first race though. I wrote about my journey from believing I could never run to finishing my first 5K in a post called Run.

I continued to train for other races on my own but then joined a group of women training for our first Spartan Race last summer. It was incredible. I wrote about that too in my post Together and here we are together again.

Something special happens when you join a group of people working toward running a hard race. You show up to the workouts when you’d rather not. You work harder because you see the others working harder. You cheer for one another and learn from each other. Then it becomes something more than working out together. You talk and laugh and get to know each other. You conquer fears together. You share life stuff and you care about these people. You want to do your best in the race and you want them to do their best too.

I realize this race wasn’t my race….it was our race. Each one of the ladies in our group made me better in some way. I run better. I’m stronger. I’m more confident. I have more fun. All because of these amazing women! 17862733_625164908415_649471229968310966_n

As part of my Live Like It Matters Challenge, I challenge you to do the same. Gather a group of people…..friends, co-workers, family, whoever and set a goal to do something hard. Find a local 5K and train for it together. Pick a Relay for Life event and raise a certain amount of money together then participate. Gather a team and train to compete in dragon boat races. Do a Warrior Dash or a fun run with your kids.

There are one hundred creative ways to do something hard with a group of people.

Because the thing is:  we are better together.

Always have been.

Now go. Gather. Train. And live like it matters.

Satisfaction