Good Friend, Great God

We had it on the calendar for weeks--"lunch at the Powells" on the 23rd.  In the midst of renovating one home while living in the home of a friend, the Powells' time to hang out was at a premium.

So, for weeks I looked forward to what in other seasons was a more regular time of fellowship for me with one of my closest friends and intense play for my kids with some of their best buds.

Pink carpet got in the way.

My husband I have lived in our current townhouse for 9 years and have yet to rip up the hideous pink carpet that blankets our floor. My apologies to anyone who has pink carpet and thinks it's just darling. We think otherwise and have wanted it gone since we first signed the contract to buy the house. Nevertheless, other priorities jumped to the front of the line for all these years.

Until just about a week ago, I would look at the pink carpet with disdain. Then, on Mother's Day, I finally did something about it.

I started ripping it up, one small section at a time. I knew better than to rip up the carpet from our entire room in one shot. I knew I would pay for it physically. My back simply would not cooperate. I knew better. That's why I worked on one little section at a time, over days, and took days in between sections to rest, and remembered to bend at my hip flexors rather than from my back, and to use my leg muscles rather than my lower back muscles, and to have Lawrence lift all the heavy furniture and rolls of carpet and.... I knew better.

My back did not know better. It has a mind of its own. And, this past Sunday after ripping up a rather substantial piece of our carpet (maybe I got a little greedy), that familiar ache began to gnaw at me.

I mentioned to Lawrence that my back really hurt and I was going to get on the floor right away with ice. I thought I was going to be able to rest and get ahead of it. But, it was too late.

By bedtime Sunday night, just brushing my teeth required concentration and deep breathing to function through the pain. I knew then that this week was going to be spent on the floor.

Thankfully, God has directed my steps to a chiropractor who seems to have the "magic touch" for my back. I have seen a handful of chiropractors, physical therapists and even a surgeon. No one has been able to take me to the point of comfort that my current chiropractor has! To say I am grateful for this man is an understatement.

I was very hopeful that after the adjustment last night, I would be back to my bouncy self. I needed to be.

Right before my chiropractor appointment last night, the kids and I picked up our first box of produce from a local CSA we are participating in this summer. In the box were a few vegetables I had never eaten, some I had never even heard of.  So, after researching online what I could do with these vegetables (from the floor of course), I was hopeful that by today I would be on my feet, able to work in my kitchen, cooking up some green goodness for my family.

This morning came and while the "locking-up" kind of pain had diminished significantly, it was still present and especially so when I stood for more than 3 minutes at a time. Cooking up green goodies was not going to happen.

Waste of any kind is not something with which I am comfortable and especially food waste and even moreso food that is oh so good for you. The thought of letting organic, leafy greens go to waste before their nutrient-dense goodness could be consumed was nearly consuming me.

But, what was there to do?

And then there was my lunch date with the Powells. We had waited so long. We were both looking forward to it so much. I prayed, and God opened my mind to an idea, but it was going to require humility on my part and incredible generosity on the part of my friend. Thankfully, generosity is my friend's strength. And so, the plan unfolded.

Today, the kids and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with our dear friends whom we hadn't seen for quite a while. I switched between laying on a yoga mat on their wood floor to resting on the couch in the kitchen while Jo prepared lunch for all 10 of us and then proceeded to take one of my green goodies I received at the farm yesterday, bok choy, and made a stir fry for my family to eat for dinner tonight. On top of that, she used up a glut of apples I had sitting in my crisper for too long to make 2 apple crisps, one for her and one for me.

When I texted my hubby this morning to let him know how the afternoon at the Powells was going to happen afterall, he texted back, "What a good friend. What a great God."

What a true statement. Good friends are wonderful gifts but mostly because they come from the GIVER of all good gifts and they point us to HIM who loves us in ways we don't deserve.

God made me mindful of HIM and HIS care for me, HIS awareness of my lot through the kindness and generosity of a good friend.

Do you need to be a good friend to someone today and hence cause them to be mindful of God? Or do you need to recognize that the good gifts you enjoy in your friendships are really just evidence of GOD's love for you?