With guests around da the table, our conversations bring our souls to life in a different dimension. We have pretty epic conversations late at night after we put the girls to bed, or over dinner where the girls partake in the brilliancy of mind in of thought provoking thoughts pondered and expressed. 

Yet knowing others and letting ourselves be known, our thoughts, our hearts, our strong opinions. Speak them clearly and give others the chance to be moved and challenged and to challenges us. It takes more and more courage to speak up in today’s contexts of politics or religion, wars and history, but as we put on the table our own stories, the hearts strings are pulled. Never share your life with an agenda. But with discernment and clarity. 

Oh, I love mom’s invitation to step into the light and share a love story, for a couple who is well know for anything else but their romantic heart. But that brings such a context to the rest of it. God prepares people for challenges and gives them the resources to succeed in the most challenging situations. 

Or our guest, Amy, who is absolutely brilliant and warm,  beautiful inside and out. It took me a long time to slow down and see her. Our trains sped up on different continents and life contexts, and we saw each other on zoom, in passing. We’ve impacted each others lives but as our life proves to be more and more like a “glean as you go” life, we all feel pangs of guilt for not focusing more on the gifts at hand. Yet our cups are always full. How can we enjoy more, invite more, welcome more of even the best of people? 

We are at the point where we bless on the go and the special moments are where different people decide to slow down enough to see each other, to hear their stories. Yet those moments are magical. 

May we have the courage to make space, make room in our lives, as our hearts will expand, to know well a few rather than know many in a superficial way. Let us not succumb to the trend of speed scrolling through life. Let us be old fashioned and specific. Tender and vulnerable. Present.