You've Got a Friend In Me

This past week, we have been loved on by several dear friends.  It felt like we were back in "Ellie Kate Times" actually, with people bringing over meals and goodies.  It was so refreshing to my heart!  Special treats on the porch, wonderful meals for my family, yummy goodies for all of us to munch on during our crazy week . . . friendship was put on display for us once again, and that is something that I do not take lightly.

Sweet goodies left on our porch last week.  One of my love languages!

When you take time out for someone else; when you use your resources, sacrifice your time and energy;when you choose to do for others rather than do for yourself . . . that's friendship.  That is *Reckless Love, which we continue to learn about and experience because of Ellie Kate.

*Reckless Love (the Mike and Ryan definition): 

Reckless Love is taking intentional action in order to benefit the life of another without worrying about the consequences. 

On Saturday evening, some of our best friends invited us over for dinner.  They insisted on taking care of every detail, and honestly I couldn't have helped even if I wanted to.  I just didn't have the energy.  Henry was feeling great and Lucy was much better, so we loaded everyone up and headed to our friends', suction machine, breathing treatments, etc in tow.

Lucy was tired and fussy much of the time, but she perked up because we were at her best friend's house.  Jazzy has loved both Ellie Kate AND Lucy, but she has been able to spend the most time with Lu Lu.  When Jazzy comes over to our house, she jumps right in, playing in Lucy's room and with her toys.  She plays with Lucy.  Do you know what that means to me?  And on this night, Jazzy had made some special valentines, just for Lucy Belle.  

NOTE: I'm not sure why our photos are so fuzzy.  I desperately tried to fix them over and over again.  I'm sorry you can't see them clearly, but they are still so precious!  

Sweet Valentines

She also wanted to play "dress-up" with Lucy.  "Hmmmm . . . I'm not sure that's gonna work", that's what was going through my mind, at least.  But Jazzy and her friend ran in with costumes and wigs and all sorts of things, and were ready to dress Lucy up then and there.  And you know what?  They DID dress her up, and SHE.LOVED.IT.  She loved it!  I was tearing up and taking pictures like crazy.  The other girls dressed up too, playing "princesses".  It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen Lucy experience.  She was playing with her friends - friends who didn't care that she was different than they are, friends who love her and dote on her no matter what.  I'm praying that the memory of that evening will stay with me for the rest of my life.  Lucy was SO happy, ya'll!  Lucy has FRIENDS!  She loves her friends and now she can play with them.  It is amazingly beautiful to me.

Every little girl loves to play dress up! 

Jazzy's friendship with Lucy got me thinking . . . she loves Lucy even though Lucy cannot talk or tell her how wonderful she is.  Lucy can give nothing back to her friend other than smiles, pats and pulls on her golden hair.  Jazzy does this out of pure love and servant-hood, which God has placed within her heart and because that is what is lived out in front of her through her parents.  Do I love my friends this way?  Loving and serving even when they have nothing to give in return? Do you?  That's the way Jesus loves us and that's how we are called to love the world.

The best of friends

What do you live out in front of your children?  Is it servant-hood?  Do you live out reckless love, sacrificing your time and resources for those who are hurting?  For the sick, the widow, the orphan, the poor (including the poor in spirit)?  Do you live out your life like Jesus did, spending time with those who are in need, or are you caught up in you?  Is your focus on the things of this world, gaining the attention of others, finding success as the world defines it?  Or do you make the needs of others a priority?  It's something we all need to face, to think about as parents.  We are raising a generation of leaders, folks.  May we raise them to be servant-hearted, lovers of God and lovers of people!  May it become second-nature to us, and to our children;a legacy that is passed on for generations to come, for the glory of God.  Loving others recklessly without wanting anything in return.  

John 15:13(ESV) - "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends".

Thank you, Lord for showing me what true friendship is all about.  It's not about receiving, but about loving unconditionally and recklessly.  It's about giving even when I do not have, serving even when it isn't comfortable.  I am eternally grateful that my parents still live this out in front of me, and I pray that Mike and I will live this out boldly in front of our children.  May they learn to love YOU well and to love OTHERS well, because of what they see the Holy Spirit doing in us.  And Father, thank you for giving My Lu Lu friends!  And thank you for letting us witness such a precious event. You are SO GOOD. 

 - Ryan

1 Corinthians 13 (ESV) - 

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

*More on Reckless Love: 

What do we mean by "Reckless Love"?  What we mean is this (and it's very much a 'Mike and Ryan definition'):  

• "Love" should be a verb, an action; it's not just a feeling, because our feelings pass and fail us.  
• "Reckless" means to be unconcerned with the consequences of an action; to test the limits and not worry about what might happen, be it good or bad.  

Reckless Love is taking intentional action in order to benefit the life of another

without worrying about the consequences. 

It's stepping up and out and loving, even if it feels awkward, 

even if it causes a stir in your household, community or place of work.