I'm in the writing mood and I've been pondering over this piece for awhile. It comes in the wake of the two year anniversary of when mine and 30+ others Christian Internship began. People are the best, people are the worst, people can be your life, or your enmity, people are insane, people are safe, basically people come in all makes and models. But one thing I realize is that certain people are only in your life for a short time or forever, but each role is crucial, necessary, important.
The first stage is a small group of friends when you are young. The ones who were quick to introduce themselves, wanting to play, share their half-eaten chocolate, share naps, get into Mommy's and Daddy's stuff, and go on the wildest adventures. Now if these ones are affiliated with school, church, or another group, they may be a part of your life for a long time, but if they are someone you met at a park, fair, or another random place, then you may only know them for a little while. To this day, only one has remained a life long friend. The important thought here is that you learn how to interact, learn to be with anyone, build human connections. Even if they all disappear but one, that one can be a foundation that carried you for the rest of your life.
Stage two consists of neighbors (adults and kids both) who you see nearly every day. You know them by their full name, some likes and dislikes, and you know what life is like outside the front door, but sometimes are clueless to what goes on on the inside. These ones are around as long as you live in the same place, and fade once you or they move. When I was growing up, there were about five neighborhood kids that I saw/played with every day. We would shout across the street, constantly invite each other over without our parents' permission at times, talk about all kinds of things going on in the neighborhood, and even spend our summers entertaining each other in multifarious ways. The funny thing is that we were all different. Two of us had a father who was a pastor of the local congregation and were the youngest in the group always trying to be the center of attention. Another two of us were ambitious, inventive young lasses who owned a dog and had the best driveway on the block, always looking for competition, and lived in a house filled with antiques. One of us was practically an only child because all of his siblings were grown up and had kids of their own (his niece was two years older than he), who's house was packed to the brim with "stuff", and spent nearly every day over at the house of the remaining five of us who had Christian parents, a gigantic yard, and all the imagination in the world to do and execute all the crazy, awesome, fun things we did.
We did so many things together consisting of flying kites, playing hide-and-go-seek in a cemetery, sneaking around a country club and golf course, bought sno cones, birthday parties, town events, the park; you name it we did it. These ones were a core staple in my childhood and we all had a positive effect on each other (even when we fought) that lasted as long as we lived there. It's now been 10 years since I saw anyone in that group and I know that most of us don't live there anymore, that four of our parent's are divorced (not mine), and that one of us really, really needs the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ to rekindle a flame that once had potential, but the world snuffed out. I grew up with them for 10 years and now I have no idea where three of them are nor have I heard from them, and the others are only brief facebook interactions that seem like the connections we once shared have vanished. In light of all this, those 10 years with those five other people helped shape some of my character, open my eyes to things once unseen, and gave me memories to last a lifetime.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment