A Gift From My Friend

Last week a friend gave me a great gift after hearing me complain about being small and weak and not quite up to life’s challenges. He told me: “There’s what God gave you when you were born, your strength and shape, and then there’s toughness. You are tough—don’t get them confused.”

This morning as I reread Kelsey’s blog on Freedom and Privilege I thought again of my friend’s words, and of how many lives I see every day that particular wisdom applies to. People struggling forward, practicing hope, trying to survive.

Sometimes I’d bet you feel, like I do, that one more challenge will be one too many. That you might just collapse and disappear if one more loved one dies or you get laid off from work again, this year, and you feel the panic rising up in your chest. You wonder how everyone around you keeps going on as if their equally crazy lives made sense.

But don’t get confused and don’t be afraid. You are a vital part of this world, made from the elements of earth and marked with God’s image. Try trusting yourself in the midst of chaos and disarray and disaster.

Let your friends be your strength for a while when you are weak.

Accept the beauty and grace that dot your landscape as gifts of light and healing, and let them count as much as the heartbreaks do.

So in the spirit of Celtic Christianity I leave with you the gift of my friend: Don’t be afraid. You are tough inside. You’ve got this.