Two are better than one ...

I have this handful of friends from back in the day.  Okay, they are from waaaay back in the day.  Girls that go back to my high school, even grade school, days.  They know most everything about me.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  They have all the dirt on me.  Not that it's any big secret or that anyone really cares, but I would bet big bucks that if they were asked to spill the beans about all of my ugly past doings they would choose to walk the other way.  They would take the high road.  That's just the kind of women they are.   I know, I'm pretty lucky to have friends like them.

This past year I've come to know a few of Evan's friends a little better.  They are people that have been around him but I didn't really know them until recently.  I'm learning he has friends like my old girlfriends.  People that love him just for who he is.  No expectations.  No standards to reach.  Nothing in return.  They just want to hang out with him.  So awesome!

These are the kind of friends I want to surround my boy.  I want him to have friends that aren't speaking badly of him behind his back.  (Because we all know that kind of thing gets around eventually.)    He needs friends that aren't 'talking out of both sides of their mouth'.  I want him to have solid friends that aren't acting one way with him but then we find they are a complete different person elsewhere.  The Bible also says in James 3:10 "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this should not be."  I've been guilty of just this.  But I want to aim be the kind of person like these friends of my son and my old girlfriends.  Not only do they speak well of others but others have only kind things to say of them.  They are a joy to be around.  My son and others can't wait to see them again.  (Proverbs 22:24-25)  My son can't wait to get to school lately.  That's how much some of these people bring him joy.  He usually hates school.  Now that's the kind of joy I need to be aiming for!  It hurts to find out your your friendship has all along been based on being someone's charity.  I never want my boy to experience this falseness.  It is such a comfort to know these genuine hearts are surrounding my son.

It's exciting to see the people God is placing around my son without any of my doing.  As a mother I work so hard to make things 'right' for my children.  And yet, there are so many circumstances that I have no control over.  I recently read in A Praying Life, by Paul E Miller, that some of the best parenting we can do is in prayer.  It is an amazing sight to see our prayers come to life in our children's lives when God starts to do his thing.  I am so thankful for these young people that are allowing God to doing great things in their lives and seeing my son be a part of that also.

Bible Verse I'm Loving Today:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor: 
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.