Backstage Privileges

As a quick update, I moved back to the Washington, DC area today.  I'll start training tomorrow for my Staff Assistant job in a Congressional office!  

But that's not the point of this post.  As usual, I'm not the point, and I've been especially struck by that in the past few weeks.  My mother has reminded me countless times that I'm not the point, and God has really been working this into me, as I'm beginning to understand and appreciate it.  I was home for about three weeks before coming back to DC for my job, and in that time I have celebrated a friend's 78th birthday, supported and helped a friend stand up to some serious opposition to Jesus, played and laughed with my three nieces, been excited for a friend who's moving to a new state, seen prayers answered when a friend's visa was renewed, watched a friend get baptized, and gone to two weddings.

This is amazing!  None of these things really had to do with me--it was not my birthday, my baptism, my visa, or my wedding.  I was not being persecuted, and my cutie nieces are not my children, yet I got the privilege of being involved in all of these things.  I was a bridesmaid in one of the weddings, between my two good friends Ben and Lauren, who have now been married for two days!  Standing in support of my friends, agreeing with them and lifting them up to God as they begin married life has been such an honor, and this more than anything made me appreciate watching from the sidelines.  God knows we need each other, and He's given us friends to love and support us, and it is such an honor to share people's lives.  I got to learn by watching my friends' relationship, share the joy and fun of their wedding, pray and fight for them when things were difficult, and appreciate the depth and honesty of their walks with God.  All of this, and I was just backstage to their lives, moving around some insignificant props but learning and enjoying it all.

People are a privilege!  It's so easy to enjoy friendships for what we get out of them, but I'm glad to be learning what an honor it is to invest my own time and love in my friends.  Jesus called loving each other the second greatest commandment, second only to loving Him!  So being backstage, turning the focus off of myself to support and honor the people in my life, is an incredibly godly thing.  And like so many things, when we put ourselves aside and obey God, it is SO much fun!  It's wonderful that I am not the point.  I know it sounds funny to say that, and of course I still enjoy attention, but setting myself aside has a secret enjoyment and depth that nothing I can get for myself will equal.

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). While this certainly includes being willing to die for your friends, it also includes being willing to serve them while you live.  That is a life that pleases God!

And honestly, with this gorgeous girl around, who wants to look at me?? :)