Good evening, Friend!

I wish I could invite you into my real-life kitchen and ask you about that funny thing your dog did yesterday and what God is teaching you in this season. We would settle down at my old wooden dining table, pray over the bowls in front of us and lose track of time sharing laughs, pausing to tend to kids and playing Uno. (This is what I’m looking forward to the most this year- more time spent with friends.)

However, since I can’t invite you “for real-life” (we’ve been watching a lot of Bluey), maybe we can settle for a virtual invitation? I’ll share a dinner with you and something God has been teaching me in the hopes that maybe you will too. Truly, I would love for you to be inspired to call up a friend of your own and throw together something to eat, grab the playing cards and catch up one night this week! I know life can get crazy busy between work and children and responsibilities and hard things.

But what if the very thing we need (community) is the first thing we throw out the window because we just can’t do one more thing?

I’m not trying to shame anyone here, I’m speaking to myself too. I know our priorities change and different seasons demand more or less of us. Technology provides the gift of facetime, texting, phone calls and IG stories to help us reach out to others. But there is nothing that can replace the feeling of sitting, flesh and bone, next to someone else, hearing their laughter, feeling their presence, watching their eyes light up with passion about a hobby they’ve discovered. Technology can do a lot, but it cannot replace the earth-shattering sobs of life-altering news met by the strong embrace of arms yearning erase the pain.

Technology cannot offer the deep, soul-filling sort of relationship that comes from life lived in proximity and intentionality with one another.

I hope I have made a case for you to plan time to meet up with friends soon. No pressure. No fancy dinners. Bring the kids (or share a babysitter) and enjoy togetherness! Okay, I’ll jump off my soapbox now and get on to what I really brought you here for…dinner and a chat with me. Virtually.

***

Tonight I made poppy seed chicken in the crockpot, as requested by my daughter. I promise it tastes a million time better than it photographs! It’s a pretty simple recipe honestly, I’ll share it here later this week. It would’ve paired really well with either green beans or broccoli, but I didn’t really want to mess with fixing another side. It’s been a long day, good, but long. I think it was the staying up until midnight to celebrate new years with my oldest that has me so worn out. I should’ve snuck in a nap this afternoon…

I also could be tired because I started reading “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover and could not put it down! Have you read any of her books? I’m not sure what it is about her writing, but man it really sucks you in! Before Christmas I read, “Verity” by Hoover, and it freaked me out. I literally read it in a single evening (till 2am) because I was so freaked out and had to know how it ended just so I could go to sleep peacefully that night! Have you been reading anything good lately? What is your favorite genre? Mine is usually Christian non-fiction, or memoir books, but I’m trying to read more fiction again.

What’s on your dinner menu for this week? Are you going to make your favorite meal? I hope so! I always sneak a favorite of my own into the rotation and make sure to include everyone else’s favorites too. Thankfully the poppy seed chicken is a hit for everyone.

It’s supposed to be cold all week. Like really cold. Single digits cold. Is it normally cold where you are or are you one of the lucky few who experience mild winters? I guess I would miss the snow if it never got too cold.

Do you listen to podcasts? I love them. My absolute favorite one is “That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs”. I have loved her show for 8 years now and recommend it to literally anyone who will listen. But she asks a questions to her guests sometimes that I want to ask you…

“What do you know about God right now that I don’t know yet?“

Maybe you’re single or experiencing loss, or have been married for 50 years. I don’t know the exact circumstances you’re in, but I would love to know how God is showing up for you. Maybe it’s in mountain-moving, earth-shattering ways, or so silent and gentle you almost missed the slight rustle of the leaves before you. What are you hearing from Him? Are you frustrated and hurt by something He hasn’t seemed to answer yet? It’s ok if sometimes it’s hard to run to Him. I understand that kind of pain. But as your friend, I hope you know that I will always encourage you to go back to Him. Even if all you can muster out is a weak, “I need you, Lord.” He will meet you no matter where you are or how you feel. I know because He has done that for me more than once.

I’ll tell you what I’m learning… to trust in Him. I base my view of Him off of my view of other people on earth. People I do life with or have experienced in one way or another. Unfortunately, because I have found some people to be untrustworthy and capable of hurting me, I have begun to view God as untrustworthy and able to hurt me as well. Learning to separate my feelings from the truth of who God is has proved to be extremely difficult. But I don’t want to let my circumstances decide for me if God is good and kind and just. So, it has been a very slow process, but one I am determined to work towards.

I know this is sort of rambly and honestly a bit one-sided, but I do hope that by reading it you feel a little less lonely tonight. Maybe encouraged to reach out to a friend and make plans for a dinner or coffee date one day this week? Don’t get me wrong, I loved sitting down with you tonight, but you need your “for real life” friends a little more than a virtual one. I’m going to go make some plans of my own and I’ll see you soon for our next virtual friend dinner date 😉