Old friends, new friends

We attended an outdoor wedding this weekend, and though the weather was questionable, it turned out to be perfect. The ceremony was a lakeshore cabin. It was a humid morning, but by the afternoon, the cloud cover and a nice breeze cooled the crowd that had gathered. The couple had invited people to bring swim suits and towels to enjoy swimming and water activities on the lake, and after the service ended, the sun came out! We had fun chatting with old friends we hadn't seen in a while and enjoying a day away. Our teenage kids seemed to survive fine without us--we were gone from noon till about 10 pm. Nice.

On Sunday morning, we went to a church we don't attend often (our church of many years closed almost a year ago)--because our son Mark is going to CHIC (Covenant High Congress)--a gathering of high school students from all over the country who have connections with the Evangelical Covenant Church. They will gather at the University of Tennessee for a week-long convention with excellent speakers, worship music, activities (Mark is going to do white water rafting) and small group Bible studies. So, we went to the service and interacted with new friends. Then, we went to an 80th birthday party of my father-in-law's cousin, and interacted with family members we haven't seen in 10 years (at his 70th birthday party). It was really lovely to reconnect.

I've been thinking about friendships and how important they are. I have realized this more since our church dissolved. It was easy to connect with people when we would see them at church 2 or 3 times a week. I developed good friendships, but mostly in a group setting. It is a bit more intimidating to invite friends into my home, one or two at time, or make a real effort to keep in touch with those that are important to me.

But I think it's vital--it's best to keep in touch in between wedding, funerals, birthday parties or youth send-off events. But it's scary too.

Suzi