Sheltering Trees

Think about those friends of yours. You know the ones. Those friends who are like family. Those friends who are there for you no matter what. Sometimes they are family. You can call them whenever, wherever, whatever, whatever. You can lock eyes with these people and suddenly you know you are all thinking the exact same thought! These are the friends that come to mind when you hear the phrase “we laughed until we cried.” Sometimes these are the friends who know all there is to know about you, and they love you anyway, not despite these things, but because of them. Sometimes these are friends you haven’t actually known for very long, but when you met, there was an instant connection. These are those friends that hold you accountable. These friends love you without judgement. These are the people who wrap you up in love when your life falls apart. These friends accomplish the impossible when they make you laugh through alligator tears. These are the friends that stop dead in their tracks to pray you through your day.

Several years ago, the group NewSong released a song called “Sheltering Trees”. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

We all need sheltering trees

Friends in our lives who'll get down on their knees

And lift us up before the king of kings

We all need sheltering trees

Wow! Is that true or what?! I don’t know about you, but i find life to be fairly difficult without connection. Even if you’re like me and you fall more into the introverted/loner category, when the circumstances of life are rough, I need my friends! I need friends who will lift me up in prayer when I’m too weary and broken to know what to pray for myself. I need friends who will cry out to God on my behalf! On the flip side, when something great has happened and life is smooth sailing, I need friends who will rejoice with me! Who will thank God with me! Who will cry happy tears for me!

The thing about having Sheltering Tree friends is that it’s a two way street. You have to be a Sheltering Tree friend too! That means telling your friend that you will remember them in prayer…and then actually pray for them! That means being supportive, and giving of your time. That means allowing yourself to hurt with your friends, but also to dance and sing and laugh with them when the time is right!

Is being this kind of friend easy? Not really. Luckily, we have the best example of friendship imaginable in Jesus Christ. And he gave us very specific directions about how to be a good friend. I love John 15:12-17. It says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.” Jesus, of course, literally laid down his life for us on the cross. Now I don’t think we are actually called to die for our friends, but maybe “laying down our life” can mean something else. That might mean putting aside our own troubles and concerns and cares…just for a few minutes…and allowing a friend’s troubles and concerns and cares to take priority while we pray.

What an absolute gift friendship is! Especially those friendships that God has blessed. My prayer for each person reading this is that God would sprinkle Sheltering Tree friendships throughout your life. I pray you would find Sheltering Trees at work, at school, in the carline, at your doctor’s office, and YES! At church! It is our sincere prayer and hope that the Sheltering Trees Women’s Ministry at Cross Roads can be a place of refuge for you. A place to connect and to take root. A place to have Sheltering Trees as friends and to be a Sheltering Tree as well. Spread the love gals!

You Are Doing Great!

Read that again. You are doing great. Did you just roll your eyes? You. Are. Doing. Great. Did you just shake your head? Sigh heavily? One more time for the gals in the back: YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!

Let’s all just take a collective breath and accept that this year hasn’t turned into what ANY of us thought it would when that calendar flipped from 2019 to 2020. Because, honestly, how does one plan for a worldwide pandemic? It seems like the whirlwind that is 2020 just keeps gathering strength and speed. And I am here to tell you, because some should tell you, in case you don’t believe it or if you just aren’t feeling it, YOU ARE DOING GREAT.

Hey, Momma! You’re doing great!

No one trained you how to be a teacher! And maybe the thought has crossed your mind that perhaps this Teacher Hat would be easier to wear if the kids you were trying to teach were not, you know…your own children. It’s totally fine that you don’t know how to teach New Math or whatever they’re calling it now. Oh, you didn’t know that triangle was called an “isosceles” triangle?? I promise that your 8th grader won’t need that information as an adult. And you don’t know which word in that sentence is the object of the preposition!? That’s what Google was MADE FOR! Are you doing the best you can? Then give yourself some grace, drink some more coffee, scream into a pillow and KEEP ON GOING. You are doing great.

Hey Actual Teacher! You are doing great!

Nobody, ever in the history of the universe, who graduated with a teaching degree, imagined hat it would be “all in a day’s work” to separate each child at least 6 feet apart from any other child, to make sure each child is wearing their mask correctly, to wear your own mask over your mouth, you know the instrument from which you…teach. WHY didn’t you teach my child some Language Arts today? (for example which word in that sentence is the object of the preposition!!) Oh! you were buys asking them to sanitize their hands and how to use ZOOM, and how to communicate with home via email? Are you distracted hoping YOUR school isn’t on the news tonight with a new confirmed case? Are you doing the best you can? Then, give yourself some grace, eat your lunch behind your plexiglass, remember that these dear children in your class will take more from your love and kindness than they will from today’s science lesson, and KEEP GOING. You are doing great.

Hey, Extrovert Who Has Been Forced to Work From Home! You’re doing great!

When you get your energy from being around others and bouncing ideas around with colleagues, it’s particularly trying to state at the four walls of your home office for months at a time. Instead of the buzz of the workplace (people milling about, phones ringing, laughter, the copier) you hear the silence of an empty house, or your children arguing with each other, or the cat bathing itself. Human interaction is something you will never take for granted again! Zoom Meetings are simply not the same as actual meetings. And maybe you find that you just aren’t as productive without the challenge that coworkers bring to the table. But are you doing the best you can? Then, give yourself some grace, walk outside for a breath of fresh air, call your BFF for a sympathetic ear to complain to, and KEEP GOING. You are doing great.

Hey Health Care Worker! You are doing great!

It’s ok to be weary of the constantly changing protocols and regulations. A brain can only handle so much at one time. Have you acquired adult-onset mask induced acne? That’s ok—people will think you’re younger than you are. You are literally reciting THE QUESTIONS in your sleep: (In the last two weeks have you experienced cough, shortness of breath, fever, sudden loss of taste or small, flu like symptoms? Have you been around someone who has tested positive for the virus? Great! Now let’s take your temperature! 98.6! Great!) You are constantly dehydrated because taking a drink of water requires you to dismantle the wall of PPE that you worked so hard to build and its’s just not worth it. Are you scared for your patients and for yourself? Is it getting harder instead of easier t smile behind that mask? Whatever reaction you are having TODAY to all these changes is normal. You might have been fine two minutes ago and now you want to cry. Are you doing the best you can? Then give yourself some grace, grab that hand sanitizer, pull that shield over your face and KEEP GOING. You are doing great.

Hey Friend Who Had a Vacation Planned but Had to Cancel It Because it’s Difficult to Social Distance While Traveling! You are doing great!

You feel like there’s nothing to look forward to! The anticipation of that vacation was literally getting you through the long days. You are so tired of EVERYTHING in your hometown that you fantasize about driving and driving and not coming back. (Driving is the only option because air travel has quite frankly lost any appeal it ever had…all that recycled breath? No thanks.) Did you just snap at your husband because the sound of his chewing would be so much easier to listen to if you were on a beach somewhere? These are acceptable reactions to the loss of hope that a change of plans can bring. are you doing the best you can? Then give yourself some grace, add some places to your bucket list, browse VRBO for your 2021 dream vacation home, and KEEP GOING. You are doing great.

Obviously there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of new things every human alive is dealing with right now. It’s hard. 2020 is hard. Living through a literal global pandemic is hard!! No matter what your attitude or mood about it is right this second, that attitude is valid and acceptable and REAL! But my point is this: If you happen to be doing well today, the first thing to do is be grateful for a good day, and the second thing to do is look around for the gals who may be struggling. Because the entire point of loving Jesus is to love Him and love others. To be his hands and feet. We, as a church body, as a family, as Sisters in Christ are commanded to be his hands and feet. We, are a church body, ,as a family, as Sisters in Christ are commanded to “carry each other’s burden” (Galatians 6:2). You may think that you don’t have the strength to carry someone else’s burdens because of how heavy yours already are, but that’s the beauty of being connected to each other as a body of believers! If someone else is helping to bear YOUR burdens too, they won’t be so heavy. Who do you know that needs to hear the words, “You Are Doing Great!”? The very last thing I want to do is give trite advice to empty platitude. I shall use the words “unprecedented times” or “we are all in this together” (even though we are). But what I leave you with is a nugget of truth to cling to in the craziest world any of us has ever known. In John 16:33, Jesus himself said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peach. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” One day everything will be ok. So give yourself (and others!) some grace, look around for those who are struggling, bear each other’s burdens and KEEP GOING. Because YOU ARE DOING GREAT.