August 30, 2024

This week I had the chance to spend a day with a dear friend from college. She lives in Seattle now and though we chat by text almost every day, we do not have many opportunities to spend in-person time together.

It was wonderful to be in the company of someone who has known me so well, for so long. We picked up where we'd left off: chatting, laughing, and in sync as if no time had passed. We texted some photos to our group of roommates from those college years - now spread over many states and even into other countries. One wrote back, "You two look just the same!". We appreciated the sentiment, but laughed a lot at that one.

When we said goodbye, we both said the day together had felt sacred. As I reflected on it later, I went down a path of thinking that meeting God one day must be even more of that: even more a feeling of being fully seen and deeply known. Maybe one day God will smile at each of us and say we look "just the same" - and we'll just laugh, knowing how much our earthly journey shaped and changed us, but appreciating God's lens. 

My prayer for you this week is that you feel seen and heard and known for just who you are. To understand, in some way, that you "haven't changed" at your core, even as you can see your own growth over time. My prayer for you this week is that you feel this is how God knows and loves you. And may there be laugher, at the joy of it all.