Heart friends

The day I got the call about the job in Missouri, Jon Acuff wrote this Serious Wednesday post. I urge to read the whole post, but the gist of it is that he wrote about the importance of relationships and described what he called heart friends. One excerpt:


"Friendships are ineffective. The ROI on relationship is pretty horrible. They can take years to develop. They might lead nowhere. They will definitely hurt you at some point. And you couldn’t quantify them if you tried. But Christ sought them out. Christ knew what it meant to be known."

It was interesting to read this on the day that I got the news about the job. While I am excited about what's in store for me in Missouri, I am really sad to leave this place where I have found such great friendships.

When I left Georgia two years ago, I was running. I didn't admit it at the time, but I was running and never looked back. I did know some great people there, but I wasn't invested and I didn't have anything keeping me there. Thankfully, God gave me a direction in that running and blessed me with two years in this place.

I have friends here that really know me, friends that I've invested in and who have invested in me, friends I've opened up to and lived life with. And when I shared my news with them, they were happy for me. Yes, we are all sad, but they still wanted what was right for me and are cheering for my success in this new adventure.

I know our friendships don't end when I drive out of town and that we will stay connected, but this is the hard part of this transient life I lead. I used to think that loneliness was part of the package as a twenty-something, single woman and that finding friends in that same place in life when you aren't in college was impossible. But these friends have proved me wrong. And it gives me hope that if I'm willing to dig in and be open, God has some more friends He wants me to meet in Missouri. But it still scares me.

This is also a hard time to walk away from the relationships I have here. I have a friend going through something really tough right now, and it's going to be hard not to be here. But it does put things in perspective. There are bigger things than a new city and a new job, and there are friendships that transcend all of it.

This time I'm not running, and I will look back. I'll even be back — at the very least — to visit. This is not a week of good-bye but of "see you later."