Girl talk...Group Talk

I’m not really one for girl stuff or spending large amounts of time with just girls, it can get overwhelming, but it ended up being a great time with some really encouraging conversation. I had the special privilege of going to pick up my best friend from college. What makes it better is that she had no idea I was coming! It was so much fun and well worth the drive.

The ride back was especially enjoyable. We got to catch up and then we joined in a conversation with her mom and friend who came along for the ride. I appreciated the opportunity to listen and talk. After talking I realized there is so much I have to learn, and yet even these women would say they have not arrived yet either.

Also earlier this week I was able to join in on another good conversation, my family’s small group. It was so good to learn from and talk with these friends. I am so thankful to be home and for this part of my Family here.

            Its interesting how even just these routine conversations can turn a day or a week around, They change a perspective and give encouragement for a new start.

            In today’s conversation we talked about how when we do work, the heart motive is what matters. On one side, that is so scary. I can think of many occasions when I just do what needs to be done, regardless of the attitude behind it. However on the flipside, when everything seems to go wrong we can trust that our hearts were in the right place and know that’s what matters regardless of the outcome. That can turn your day around! I recognize that it’s not about going through the motions and that motivates me, yet I find encouragement in what seem to be failures if I did it with the right heart attitude.

            In our group talk we mentioned something John wrote about. On our own we can do nothing. Like the branch of grapes, we can only produce fruit when we are attached to the vine. That attachment is how we should live each moment and make each decision. We have to day by day, and moment by moment develop that attachment to the vine.

            We were also talking about pride and learning to be teachable. I would love to just stop that point of discussion there as if it was not a problem for me or I can do it that easily; but I cannot claim either of those. I love to talk, and when I’m talking I don’t hear what others are saying, which means I don’t learn. It’s hard to swallow being teachable, because that means swallowing the horse pill of pride and admitting I don’t know it all, and learning from the voices of experience and wisdom.

It’s easy to get caught up in the usual life stuff and miss out on what’s really important. It’s not just some good tips for a trip to Asia; these are lessons I really need to grasp for life. As I prepare for this trip however, I realize even more how much I have to learn.

Isn’t it cool that those little conversations in our lives can seem so unimportant, yet it’s those moments when you’re driving down the road with a friend that something you’ve been Reading about all of a sudden begins to click. It’s like a light turns on, and there is a transfer from words on a page to life.