Born to be our Friend

I have some... insecurities... about letting people into my very imperfect, never-cute-enough, never-clean-enough home! (I blame it on 6 kids!) It’s not like we live in an episode of “Hoarders” or anything- we DO clean! But I always feel a bit vulnerable inviting people into our living space, & I get hyper aware of fingerprints, clutter, dinged up furniture... That said, I’ve come a long way & am trying hard to let go & let people in.

Last night we invited friends over for the BYU game. Naturally, we cleaned the house.

Well, the FIRST thing my friend asks is if she can use the microwave for the bean dip she was gonna make.

WHAT. The microwave?! I died!! The kitchen was clean, but NOT inside the microwave! I KNEW it looked like a bomb went off in there!😳

When I realized there was no way for me to nonchalantly wipe it down without her noticing, I said with embarrassment, “Sure, you can use the microwave! But, um, it’s like REALLY messy!” 

And she looked at me & said, “You KNOW there’s no judgment here, Erika!”

I believed her.❤️

She used my gross microwave. 

And she was still my friend. 

A few years ago, I could NOT feel any Christmas Spirit. Instead it felt like I was gonna have a nervous breakdown any minute. It wasn’t like me & I was SO down, like, this is not how it’s supposed to be!

Then I attended a practice for the ward Christmas program cause I was accompanying some of the musical numbers. The last song was "O Holy Night.” And BOOM. 

There it was. 

Christmas spirit. FULL FORCE. 

Everything else melted away. My soul AWAKENED, my anxiety quieted, & I felt God.

It was like I’d never heard the song before. The second verse especially.

"The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger, 

In all our trials born to be our friend;

He knows our need,

To our weakness is no stranger.

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!”

He is our FRIEND! To our weakness he’s NO stranger! 

He KNOWS about our dirty microwaves! He’s seen it all! He wants to come in anyway.

He was born in a lowly, dirty stable!

He can handle our lacking, messy hearts.

He heals & sanctifies those dark corners.

It’s why He was born. It’s why He died. For us.

His friends.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)