Recently I met two lifelong friends for our annual breakfast. As always, we picked up where we left off, each of us sharing the long version of how it is with our soul. We have journeyed through many seasons together, from hopes to heartaches, high points to hard times. We treasure our enduring friendship.
In this post-COVID world of lingering isolation and loneliness we long to be known, yet we fear it. Past hurts and broken trusts, our own shortcomings and failings, foster our fear. Yet we yearn for safe communities where we can be seen, known and valued.
Larry Crabb observes that life-giving relationships communicate four things. First, “we accept you.” We see and value you; we celebrate your uniqueness in Christ. At this point in our lives, my friends and I are each living very different stories. We each have followed our own path, yet value the distinctiveness of each, trusting God’s hand in that.
Second, “we believe in you.” We see and envision who you are becoming in Christ. We celebrate what God is doing in you and we believe that it is possible. When just one person believes, it encourages us—breathes courage into us, so that with hope and trust we can respond to and participate in what God is doing. When I was a cancer patient and young mom, my mom accompanied me to every appointment, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Her consistent presence breathed courage into me to fight that battle and somehow come out whole.
Third, “we see you and are glad to stay involved.” We delight in the good in you. But we also see your struggles, and we know they do not define you as you grow in Christ. We see the whole of you, and we are with you.
God is like that. He knows us intimately, our every thought and inclination, every word and deed. His love is enduring and generous, and he will never leave us or forsake us. The Apostle Paul confidently asserts, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).“
Fourth, “we give to you.” We give to you by not pressuring you or trying to change you. Instead, we meet Christ in you with Christ in our own broken selves. We seek simply to be present to Christ in you—his slow, gracious work of bringing wholeness out of our brokenness.
At Trinity Lakeside we value these kinds of relationships in Christ and seek to cultivate communities, as Crabb observes, where we are “safe, seen and touched.” Where we are safe to be who we truly are. Where we are seen and known by others. Where the presence of Christ within us touches and transforms us. Join us Sundays for worship followed by unhurried fellowship, register for our next guided day retreat or schedule spiritual direction.