There is one of those sayings that people always come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime* and I might add some are always part of your thoughts and your being without you realizing it.
When my dear friend had a hellish couple of weeks , beyond the usual bouts of gastro, housework blues and misbehaving children. After her childrens’ lives flashed before her eyes and destiny thankfully brought them back into the safe clutches of her arms, I felt sheer relief that all she had to show for her stress was a mangled car, a flattened gate and irate neighbours who had lost their front fence and favourite old tree.
Rewind to a hectic Tuesday afternoon. My friend drove straight from work to childcare. Next stop was at the grandparents to round up the oldest of the three under-five-years old children. Car was perched at the top of the driveway. It was late and dinner, as usual, needed to be prepared. The four year old refused to get out of the car so my friend sent the twins down to collect the mail and went to close the garden gate. Senses were alarmed when a creaking sound came from the locked car. This was followed by a rapidly moving vehicle that rolled backwards so quickly that all my friend could do was watch. Hindsight** reminded her not to try and stop her car despite her heart aching to wrench open the door and grab her son.
The huge gate was smashed off its hinges. One twin stood with his mouth gaping by the mailbox less than a metre away. The other was with my friend who watched the car hurtle backwards across a busy road with her hysterical four-year-old inside. A huge gum tree was avoided but the car crashed through the neighbour’s fence and took out a thirty-year-old tree. Without hesitation my friend raced to her son’s aid. He was shaken but unharmed. Two little ducks waddled after their mother oblivious to what could have been and what still could be. Thankfully a car wasn’t passing down the busy road…
As I listened to my clearly distressed friend, who has felt the flow of my tears on many occasions, I realised how vulnerable we are. How much we depend on our friends in times of great shock and instability and how much as a friend we ache for them.
Sure we can look back and laugh at the sequence of events and the $6000 car and fence repairs is material at the end of the day, but what brought me great clarity was how much I loved my friend and how she was in my every thought and feeling that day.
I was there for a reason (as was her husband when he came home and knew just what to do,) but my friend is a lifetime gift and on her birthday (today - 2 Sept) I wanted to wish her every happiness that she deserves and say how truly thankful I am that we have been friends for nearly thirty years…Oh and glad we could eventually laugh it off over a glass of Amarula.
*A Reason, a Season, a Lifetime
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason, you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people any way; and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
**
A week prior to my friend’s mishap with her son and a handbrake, a young family in Balwyn was devastated when their 37-year-old mother tried to stop her car, with children inside, in her driveway, but was run over and killed. I also write in memory of this courageous mother who I never knew but completely understand her instinctual actions.
