Wow!  Honestly, I am blown away by the past couple of days.  I have been so moved by the conversations I have been privileged to have with friends I love.  We need each other.  We need to hear each other, to pursue each other.  We need to ask questions that probe, we need to challenge and to love through accountability.  Most of all, we need the connection of our hearts in love.  That connection gives us intention, it keeps us moving through the mirky day to day sludge that can seem to halt our personal legend or journey. Our hearts are united in purpose as we sit across from each other, breaking through the thick glass walls that make us appear to be open, but limit others from walking into our real selves and journeying with us. 

I was talking with this amazing heart friend the other night and listening to him express all that he has been learning.  I am so excited for him about where he is in his process, how much he has grown in just a few short weeks, so honored to get to walk through that epiphany with him even as he anticipates exploring his pain.  He will face into the wind.  He is not afraid.  He is energized.  What a gift to hear his heart.  My own sense of purpose, of running to healing, of staying the course is encouraged by his growth.  That happened because he called.  It happened because we need each other.  It happened because God designed us to know and to need each other.

Last night, I had dinner with a friend I don’t get to see very often.  One of the things I love about this friend is how real he is from the instant we sit down.  He is authentic.  He loves to talk about things he has been pondering or processing.  We talked about intimacy and how much we crave intimacy in our friendship.  We talked about how much we love each other, yet somehow, someway, we let schedule get in the way of our purposeful, intentional pursuit of each other.  Yet, that is exactly what we need.  I need him.  We promised to work on that.  I know we will.  We both meant it.  I left that conversation feeling full, feeling grateful.  Honestly, in a society like ours that places such emphasis on what we do, what we have, who we know and on being busy, it seems like an incredible gift to get to have an honest connection with the heart of a beautiful friend!

I had lunch today with a man I respect greatly!  He has influenced my life in numerous, incredible ways.  He has taught me what it means to be a man who pursues God, who uses his gifts to honor God.  This man has taught me over the years what it has meant to be an authentic leader and friend.  He is a mentor.  Today, as he sat across from me and expressed a need to be real, as he poured out his heart to me, I was moved to tears at the privilege of being in a place he has so often been for me.  I need him just as much as he needed me today.  There really is no clear way to describe how life giving it is to be allowed to connect in that way, to hear and to feel, to love and embrace someone in their need.  We need each other.

If you are reading this, you know that I need you.  I hope and pray that it’s a give and take of purposeful living and intentional connection for us.  You, like these friends, are a gift.  God made us to need.  He did not create us to be independent and in our needing each other, I believe we are made accutely aware of our need for Him.  I need Jesus.  I need connection with the heart of my Savior and sometimes I feel it through the intimacy of my friendship with you.  I love you my friends.  I love Jesus.  I am thankful for our need of Him and each other.