best friends

Do you remember being this age and having a best friend?

I do. Her name was Debbie. Our friendship is still alive today, but I remember those days as some of the best of my life. I look at this picture of these two girls and I am shot back through time when life was just about the moment in front of you. You know what I mean? The moment of play, or pretend, or food, or dress-up, or private eye (with special invisible ink). Those were the days that if you were with your best friend, nothing else mattered, not the day before, the next day, the scary school moment or any other "less than perfect" emotion or circumstance.... all because you had one other person who believed alongside of you. One other person who would pretend with you, who would jump in if someone picked on you or who would play "kick the can" when no one else wanted to.

Gosh, I saw these two girls and that is where my mind went, but only for a moment. Then, my mind quickly matured and I started thinking about the responsibilities of the day, my three kids, what happened yesterday and the things I had not finished. I also started thinking about next day of traveling and what I had to get done before we left. Then, I went to the next week and wondering if anybody was going to go to the things you should be going to but John and I are choosing to take a vacation week while still being in Jos. Would that work? Would someone else do what you think you "should" be doing....? So much clutter, so much wasted space and emotion.

There must be a line somewhere, right? A line that says, "LIVE IN THE MOMENT, but it is okay to HOPE FOR THE TOMORROW." Is it always going to be the before and after and not the MOMENT?

I don't know the answer, obviously, but I do think that I want today to be exactly what the moment calls for. It also made me want to pray for my kids to all have a best friend. To pray for the orphans we work with and alongside, that each one of them today, will have a moment with a best friend that even if life is hard, they can slip away and enjoy a moment with someone that will help them live!

AND maybe I will teach my kids "kick the can" tonight in the dark while writing with my invisible pen..... or maybe not, who knows what the moment will call for.