I love random text messages from friends. Why?
Because to me, it means that they thought about me that day. To me, it means we are walking through daily life together rather than living separate lives and coming together to talk about them every once and a while.
It’s such a temptation in this world to be cool, to sound busy and popular, to preserve self-image and self-comfort over inconveniencing oneself to support another person.
Something I have been learning lately is that true relationships don’t just happen. They are built. They are invested in.
It’s easy to dismiss an opportunity to reach out, especially when it’s just a regular weekday and nothing particularly earth-shattering has happened. “No, that’s cheesy. I’m not going to send her a text message just to ask how her day is going.” “No, that’s stupid, I don’t want to butt in.”
But it’s not stupid. Sometimes it makes more of a difference than you will ever know. We need each other, even when we’re not sitting at rock-bottom.
It’s worth breaking the social norms of “checking your schedge” and getting back to someone to instead just say “absolutely; I’ll be there,” and make it a priority.
It’s worth going above and beyond. It’s worth inviting someone over for dinner when their spouse is out of town, even if you’re on a tight budget as it is. It’s worth waking up early to take someone to the airport instead of hoping someone else will do it. It’s worth following up on something your friend told you they were worried about to see how it went.
And it’s worth being honest when your day (or week) has been terrible, and you’re struggling with a lot of doubt or pain or hardship.
Because life is meant to be lived together. Hand in hand. Day in and day out. We’re made for it.
Be cheesy. Be intentional. Be inconvenienced for the sake of real relationships.
No, it’s not normal. But who wants normal when “normal” is often lonely?