my friends

family

tonight, kristin and i were at line at sweetgreen, excited to have found a spontaneous bit of time to spend communing together, but right before ordering, i checked my watch and realized i had to be back in madison starting an event in fifteen mintues. my first reaction was to forget eating dinner completely, but then i went for it: requesting a favor. would you mind ordering for me and bringing it by madison? kristin wouldn't even take my money. of course she wouldn't mind, she said. and then she met me in the basement, fed me, listened to me, encouraged me, and texted me after she left saying she was praying for me.

on saturday, katrina really challenged me by honestly replying when i told her to let me know if there was anything i could do for her while she was sick. she let me meet a need, and it brought me tremendous joy to be able to serve her. but bending to request another serve you--for the independent, have-it-all-together people we want to be, can be incredibly humbling. but God has poured blessing after blessing into my life recently through placing people in my life who actively serve me. they have done my dishes and picked up my things and brought me starbucks and treated me and prayed for and advised and met me late at night to talk and hear and love and serve me. i don't deserve to be loved in these ways; in any ways. but their love has given me such a freedom: to ask and accept being loved.

i love the story of Jesus washing Peter's feet, when Peter tries to refuse Christ's act of servant-love. "you will never wash my feet!" he declares. jesus responds, "you will never be part of me unless i first wash your feet."as christians, we have to humbly accept our insufficiencies and needs by allowing Jesus to do all of the saving work on our behalf. we have to realize we can't wash ourselves and let him kindly do that for us. and the amazing thing about community is that we get to act out christ's heart on a day to day basis with the people around us. in serving others, we act show Jesus's relentlessly loving heart, and in letting others meet our needs, we demonstrate that we are lacking, and cannot make it on our own. both glorify Jesus. my friends, my spiritual family, have done this so well for me this year, and i am beyond blessed by this depiction of the gosepl.

kristin is one of the sweetest servants i have ever known. she sees a need and she meets it--with joy. she pours out to fill me up and in the smallest ways, shows her love by prioritizing people over agendas. she always has time for a conversation or prayer and in a place where people are too busy to even smile, this stands out in bold contrast to the rest of the world. but this isn't about kristin or about my discipleship group or sweet guy friends who treat me like a sister. it's about how they have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ and they live their lives as best they can the way he lived his. and i am thankful and overwhelmed with the blessing of having this type of community in my life.