...California dweller for almost a month now.

 The time has been marked by the release of the new Mumford album, the meeting of new people who are becoming friends, adventures in Whiskeytown Lake, a trip to Lake Tahoe, a new church experience and a new Starbucks job.

Transition leaves me at a loss for words, accompanied by brief confusion.  Am I to make this place feel like home?  For me, the connotation of home is more a place of friendship and warmth than a literal dwelling place.  Will the relationships made in this season go deep and last long, or will they be brief, momentary connections to teach lessons that carry into a future time?  And whether they are transitional or here to stay, should the way I live and embrace them be any different?  These questions are some I've struggled to answer most of my life as a pastor's kid, often watching relationships come and go without any official ending, just the sense that you will never see that person again because life just has a way of moving us along in various directions.  However, in the midst of the inevitable transience, I have also come to deeply appreciate and value the friendships that I know in my heart are a knitting together that only God could do.

 This morning I woke up with the realization that everyone I have learned to love in my life thus far, sans my sister Brianna and my mom, lives miles and miles away from me.   And as natural as I want love to feel when it comes to new people and a new place, I think learning to love in a natural way is a process not to be looked upon lightly.  So today I am reflecting and giving thanks to God for the incredible friendships that God has given me, the ones who have taught me so much about being loved and loving.  The process and the journey of that kind of learning is something for which I am freshly appreciative.  To all my beautiful friends, thank you so much for loving well.

It gets so easy (at least for me) to get lazy in loving people, to take for granted the stories that have enveloped me with others in a way that is almost sacred, where without knowing it I caught beautiful glimpses of the heart of another, but also stepped into a revelation of my own heart and wiring.  Today I am just so thankful for friendships which remain present despite distance; for the people in my life for whom I have been given the amazing privilege of knowing in the deep ways that must make God smile so big.  You mean more to me than you could possibly know.

And here's to courage for the present part of the journey--the chance to learn how to love new people well and fully, letting them into my heart, regardless of whether their stay is long or short.