The Ups, Downs, and Blind Corners of Life

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by:  Staci Stallings

If you’ve lived very long, you know that life is not a straight shoot to awesome no matter what the Lego Movie song might say.  There can be very big challenges, obstacles, and downright painful things that happen along the way.  There can also be unspeakable joy and celebrations to match a homecoming in Heaven.

Sometimes there are blind-corners and depth in the despair of the unknown.

Maybe you don’t know this, but I guarantee you, my dear Holy Spirit friends know what I am talking about.  When you’re in dynamic relationships, get ready for an emotional roller coaster of epic proportions.  Because in these relationships, you’re not just dealing with the ups and downs of your life, you’re in this ride with someone else as well.

Just to give you a little glimpse of what this means…

I have four incredibly close Holy Spirit friends.  One is going through an employment and family change of epic proportions.  We’re talking changing everything about life for her and her family over the next month.  One of them is facing the unknown of health issues.  One, the unknown of an accident of one of her children and how to best handle that situation.  And one is grappling with if and how to structure life so that her husband isn’t crushed under a financial burden while still maintaining her sanity by not throwing her life down the well of “I’ll do it for the money to make them happy.”

There is not an “easy” thing in the bunch!

Meanwhile, I’m dealing with expanding my book reach, taxes, having a senior and two other children who need attention.

I guess what I’m saying is, don’t expect this whole dynamic friendship thing to be easy because it’s not.  That doesn’t mean it’s not totally worth it.  It’s just not easy.

You don’t get to wall off from the world and do your own thing.  You will get called or emailed at odd hours, asking for prayer, asking for advice, asking for a shoulder to cry on.  And no, it’s not always convenient.  There will be times you will be buried under a pile of your own “stuff” and be called upon to help.

However, like I told one of these Holy Spirit friends today, I have learned to do what I can and let God do the rest.  I may not always know what to do, but I’m going to do something–even if that something is simply storming Heaven with prayers for a particular need.

Yes, we also get together (the ones who are close).  We do things together.  But mostly it’s being there for each other through the everyday things in life.

The other day one of my Holy Spirit friends was in charge of a large charity ball for the organization she works for, and I could tell from her messages, she was stressed out.  I wasn’t particularly surprised by this as it seems to happen just before every ball, but I could hear her cry for a hug from all the way over here.  So the morning before the ball, I came up with an excuse to run over there and see her (20 miles one way).

I walked into her office, and when she turned around, her shoulders slumped as if I’d just taken off a 50 pound pack off them.  The tears came up as I gave her a hug, and she said, “Ah, {our other friend} just left not 10 minutes ago.”

That’s what Holy Spirit friends do.  It’s not a demand to drop everything, and maybe it doesn’t even always get done, but when that friend needs some TLC, we are there for each other.

I think that’s the definition of “encourage one another.”  Being there.  Making the other person important–even in the ups, downs, and around the blind corners of life!