Some seasons last months others last years. These seasons can be or have trials and testing. Usually they do, and until you have 'passed' the test you won't move on to what's next. God is usually trying to get you ready for the next step. Most people including myself struggle with wanting things right now! Instant gratification in life, yes God can do that but more times than not He doesn't. He knows that we couldn't handle the things good or bad if we haven't gone through some testing first to prepare ourselves. It's really having to build your faith before you can move to the next level, if you get to a level too early you would throw it all away or mess it up. And sometimes like me it takes me a few trys to get it right before I can move up. Seasons bring with them different places, opportunities and people. I always like to look back at my life and see how things played out and the people involved, who went with me and who got left behind during the transition from level to level, season to season, which ever you like to call it.
I've seen people come and go out of my life, some I was thankful to see go and others I wish were still around. Some stayed for months, others years and years. A few have even come, gone and come back again but now at a distance. Some people you just meet and instantly know there's a connection between the two of you, something you don't have to force or fake. Some people you just know from first glance or first words out of their mouth there will be a future with them in it. It's kinda crazy if you ask me, how some people can just leave an impression on you so deep that no matter the distance or time apart you never forget them. I usually don't remember the first time I meet most people, I just remember the one day I took more notice.
I'm not a huge believer that first impressions are the most important because of that. I can't tell you the very first time I met Trav but I can tell you in detail the first memory I have of noticing him. And yes I was only 13! Holy Moly I'm getting old! I can't tell you the first time I met Adam (one of my two best friends) but I'm pretty sure it was at this ice cream shop we both were at because we knew the owners. But I CAN tell you the day Cameron (my other best friend) came in the salon to get a haircut with her 'welcome to town, free haircut' coupon haha. There's others who I can't tell you the first time but I sure could tell you in details the day I remember our lives intertwined. Then there are the ones who I can tell you the last conversation we had before parting ways and the people who I don't remember when or how they left. I say all that to say some people are worth the memories. The day they changed your life. For whatever the reason, whether a blessing or a lesson they came, some stayed and some have gone. They were meant to be in my life at the exact moments for specific reasons. Then ultimately to push me into my next season.
Today I've been thinking about the people in my life who always lift me up and encourage me. Not that they don't see or know my weaknesses but they don't continually point them out. They give it to me straight, tough love. They love and respect me enough to not just tell me what I want to hear but what I need to hear. They see in me what I still struggle with to see. Just like I can see in others what they cant see in themselves, I guess it's all the same. It's easier to look at someone else than it is to figure out things about yourself. They take time out of their busy lives to type up resumes for me and push me into opportunities that don't come around often, they go sit and let me vent at Starbucks or ride to myrtle beach till the wee hours of the morning, they make me laugh when they aren't even around and make me a priority in their life, they use to sit with me at the beach when I needed to escape even if we didn't do any talking. I could go on and on. I don't know what I would do without these people or who I would be.
There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now which has me doing some deep thinking, lots of which I write but can't share with you. Through these few days I've just been so thankful for these core people in my life, because they are so rare to find. I hope I'm half of what they are to me, to them. ( do you need to read that sentence over again? hahaha ) I hope they can say that I have made a difference in their lives like they have mine. Well, they already do tell me that, but I hope they truly truly mean it! I want to be that hope for other people, despite what everyone else says. Sometimes it just takes one person to show you your strengths for you get up and keep going.
So to the few of you who really really get me, I love you for it, I'm thankful for you, and you've made a HUGE difference in my life. To everyone else think about the real people who are in your life. Don't go a day without letting them know how you feel. Life's too short to worry about unnecessary things or he said, she said. Those are the ones who don't really matter in the end. In this season of my life there are some crucial people who are only going to make me stronger and wiser for the next season God is sending me in.
