This past week I was able to reconnect with a friend I had not seen in over two decades. We had been coworkers and friends back in the early ’90’s and our lives for no particular reason went in different directions. We both took different jobs, pursued life changing relationships and lived in different cities and states. During the past couple of years we were able to reconnected on social media and had tentatively planned to meet about a year ago but circumstances caused a delay. That all changed this past week, we were finally able to meet face to face for dinner and attend a music concert. We enjoyed quiet conversation over dinner and shared in the events of the past two decades in a condensed, very condensed cliff-note version of what had transpired in our lives. Obviously, we could not hit all the high points or even the low ones. I didn’t want the time to end, I wanted to hear and share as much as possible. The time for the concert came quickly it seemed and that kind of environment does not lend itself to conversation but it was a great experience. My friend had never seen this artist in concert before which made it that much more exciting. We had a blast! We both had obligations to get to after the concert but we are hoping to plan to meet up again sometime soon. I had a two plus hour drive after the concert which left me with a lot of thinking time. I found myself thinking of our friendship way back when it started and trying to remember the last time we actually saw one another and the past conversations we had shared. Those were all great memories and as great as they are, I certainly can’t allow myself to think in the past tense. I’m so hoping to get to know my friend as she is now, we both have experienced many things over the years and each experience and event has molded us into the individuals we are today. And although I am very biased, we both are doing pretty darn well and striving to live as authentic as possible.
I had shared parts of this story with another friend and she made a comment that brought me much joy, “it’s good that we can still experience “first’s” in life. Referencing my friends first concert. I thought about that for a long time and she’s right, as we go through life it can be easy to think of all the things that we will never experience again as a “first.” But there’s so much more to life than keeping count. Don’t get me wrong, remembering first’s can be very satisfying, like your first love, first plane ride, first date, first car, first house, first job, first trophy, the list is endless. What’s even more important is to know that every day is a new day, a chance for another first…take today for example it’s the first Sunday of my life that is recorded as 06/23/2019. It may seem silly to you to think of this as a first and I’m ok with that. What I really want you to know is, never give up or give into what the world or others might tell you to believe. Every day is a blessing from God and is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with someone who doesn’t know him, for the first time, it’s an opportunity to show kindness to someone, in need of kindness for the first time, it’s an opportunity get to know someone new or again for the first time, and in regard to my friend, it’s an opportunity to get to know who she is now for the first time.
Firsts are best because they are beginnings.
Most of life’s big steps require a certain muddling through, a trusting that no one really knows the magical formula for the big firsts in life.
-Lamentations 3:22-26
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to a new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
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HOPE SEEKER 
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