It was a perfect night for softball. A pleasant evening, the sun peaking thru the clouds, not too hot. The team was doing great. Well. For them. And we clapped for them. Each of those seemingly routine plays. The “easy grounder and throw to first base” type things. Each strikeout, actually, more honestly each strike they threw we cheered for.
Every little thing they did we clapped for.
Because.
It wasn’t always that easy.
This team came from some pretty hard stuff. Sloppy mistakes some would call them. Bad throws to their teammates. A ground ball that got past them. A pitch way lower than perfect. A throw to first when it should have went home. Holding the ball and letting the run advance to the next base instead of getting it right to the pitcher.
Easy things that just didn’t go well.
Because the crowd remembered what team they were watching. Every. Little. Thing. Was. Cheered. On.
Sister, We need to have friends like that.
Friends that know where we have been. Friends that know that life wasn’t always that easy. Friends that know what we struggled with.
Not a million friends on facebook. But a handful of real friends that know us in real life.
So as I sat and watched this struggling team…I learned four little things about friendship:
I need a friend that knows where I’ve been.
I need a friend that remembers how far I’ve come. One that knows what used to get me down last year. One that can see the little bits of progress I’ve made over the years. Do you have that kind of friend? I’ve had some seasons that I haven’t had one… but please if you don’t have one right not.. ask God to provide someone like this in your life. If you do have someone like this, awesome! When’s the last time you’ve connected with her? (I know its super hard to do during summer) But do it, connect with a friend today. Send a text, give them a call, maybe set up a coffee date.
I need to be willing to share the little things I’ve attained with her.
The kind of friends that you can tell anything to are gems. I can tell my little achievements and know they will be happy without feeling jealous. The friend that will be happy over even the littlest things. Like a strike after 3 balls. Or an out after 3 grounders that got past you.
But for any private/introverted gals out there (like me) We need to force ourselves to tell a friend. We have to learn to let them in on what progress we’ve made on those tough places we’ve been.
Maybe it is a comment someone said to you, usually would make you struggle for days and this time you ran to Jesus and asked His opinion first before letting the comment get into your heart and get you down. Maybe it is you stayed on your diet for the day. Drank your water goal for the day. Shed those 10 pounds. Maybe it was you got thru the first week of school with your kids. Maybe its you got thru softball, with only being late once.
What ever it is. We have to be willing to share it.
I need to listen when she cheers me on.
This one is hard for me. . . Let your friend cheer you on. Girl. We are not kind enough to ourselves. When someone says something kind or gives you a complement .TAKE.IT. Don’t scan the comment to see what they are trying to butter you up for. Don’t say whatever she didn’t really mean it. GIRL. Take the compliment. If you don’t know how to do that then learn. . . Or try to learn. (Preaching to me first on this one!)
I need to cheer for her.
Cheer for her. Don’t just receive. Give. Be that cheerleader for someone else. Even if it goes something like this. . . “She’s a homerun hitter
And you’re never gonna get her
So scoot back, scoot back, scoot way, way back.”
Ya, you are welcome for giving you the chant you will say over and over the rest of the day. Lol ? But seriously, we need to be a cheerleader for the friend beside us. . . because we know where they’ve been and we realize that they are doing great!
Who are you cheering for today?
