Life Together

This has been a week.  A week that is full of Stuff, and yes, with a capital S.  My life is full...and then I get a phone call from a friend.  It wasn't good news.  Tears, pain, and broken prayers lifted high.  A making room for friends.

Enter tonight.  We are a group of friends:  10 adults and 16 kids strong between us.  We do life together.  We don't do it perfectly, but we do it anyways.  We watch each others kids, come over unannounced, share meals, and sing songs.  We have watched at least 4 of each others' children be born.  We have walked each other through loss too.  Tonight we ate, listened to kids run and yell, and we worked out grief.  

When someone is hurting, there aren't always words.  Today, when words failed to comfort, we let our prayers fall at our Saviour's feet; we sat in silence to allow space for grief or healing; we sang songs like salve on open wounds; and we broke bread together.  

I left our regular Saturday evening gathering thinking that anything but "regular" had happened.  God has given us a good gift in each other.  As I lay down to sleep tonight, I continue to pray for miracles, for healing, and give thanks for good friends.