Doing LIfe

Over the past several years, I have heard a phrase again and again at church. It was phrase that was supposed to signify the deep relationships that you made with people. The phrase was "doing life" with each other.

I know I didn't really understand that. We had people we knew and waved at on Sundays and even once in awhile had dinner with. But do life with? Not really. One Sunday they even showed a video of a group of people at our church that were "doing life" with each other. Their connections seemed genuine and they talked about how they shared happiness and struggles. I knew that our small group while very nice, wasn't anywhere near that point.

Over the past eight months though I have slowly watched a group of people come together. The circumstances that brought us together were definitely not orchestrated by man. People who I am sure never imagined being friends with each other are.

We are all as different as can be. We are young and not-so-young, black and white, kids and no kids, paper pushers and fixers. We are different and yet we share so much.

The guys have established a night out each week where they watch a sporting event and eat and talk. The woman get together every few weeks and have dinner and talk.

Bud and I share responsibility for teaching a Kindergarten class with one of the couples. We ate Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner with another couple. We text and Facebook. When our house flooded, these people pitched in and helped us move furniture, fed us and cut our grass. We laugh together and sometimes even cry.

We are not perfect and I know we drive each other nuts sometimes. Some of us are structured and always on time, while others of us definitely are not.

Tonight at church we were instructed to get in smaller groups and pray. I looked down our pew and it was completely filled with the people we are "doing life with." How blessed we are.

To Bob and Laurie, James and Cortni, Jeff and Michelle, Tony and Tracy-Thank you for "doing life" with Bud and I.