Fellowshipping

We had the most fun evening hanging out with the apprentices tonight. We ate dinner together and then sat around on our porch hanging around (and them being poked and prodded by our kids) and also dropping a watermelon off our roof.

It was such a beautiful thing to me because first off, this was just a last minute invite for dinner. A couple of them were already coming over for other reasons, but I thought hey why not just make some food and see if they all can come for dinner. The beautiful thing is they all said yes. It takes people willing to prioritize community over other things in order to have community, and it continues to bless me that all four of them are willing to say yes to opportunities for fellowship.

I have had a lot of conversations with Brad lately about what it looks like to invite them more and more into our lives. If we are truly mentoring these guys I want to be available to them no matter what. Obviously God and our family has to come first, but beyond that I want them to feel like they can just drop by and sit around and chat if they want.

This doesn’t come super naturally to me. Despite all the blogging, I am a fairly private person and I like to be in control of when I see people and when I hole up. Moving to town has certainly challenged that (in a good way) and I am still learning to be OK with not having all of the solitude I used to. When I say solitude I 100% mean that my kids were around. So I guess that’s not solitude, but my kids are people that I feel extra comfortable with.

If I am to fully share life with anyone I have to be comfortable just being me. I cannot entertain them or I will be exhausted. I need to be OK just leaving them to sit with my wild kids for a minute to switch the laundry or change a diaper.

I’m grateful that tonight was just that. They all sat at the table with our kids while Brad and I an Winnie sat in the living room (because we don’t have a table that holds much more than our family at this point). They didn’t need entertained. They helped pick up, did dishes, and put leftovers in containers. They grabbed the baby when he needed help, they played with the girls and they just contentedly sat.

I’ve always imagined The Company would look like this. And I’m so grateful to be a part of it.